Category Archives: Journalism

December 5, 2011 · 9:40 AM

Brownback Wrestles With Pig; Facts Don’t Keep Him From Getting Muddy

George Bernard Shaw once said, “Never wrestle with a pig. You get all muddy and the pig enjoys it.” (I’m paraphrasing.)

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback would have been well-served to follow such advice, and as Christopher Budd points out, his office did an excellent job of making a minor blip into a major media circus. To make matters worse, much of what appeared in the original news story never actually happened.

Long story short: Emma Sullivan, an 18-year-old high school student, in Topeka for a Youth in Government session with the Governor, posts the following off-color Tweet:

The Governor’s office sends a nasty-gram to Youth in Government, (rightly, in my opinion), expressing displeasure at the student’s lack of respect for the Office. Her school principal calls her on the carpet and demands she write a letter of apology. The story lands on the front page of the Kansas City Star, becomes a free speech issue, and the Governor ends up apologizing to the student.

And the student’s roster of Twitter followers grew from 65 to 15,851 and counting.

Is this a great country or what?

Unfortunately, the meeting in the principal’s office, which became the eye of the media storm, didn’t happen the way it was reported.

The Star’s Nov. 23 story stated that Sullivan’s principal was, “forcing her to write an apology to the governor’s office, with the principal even giving her talking points to hit. [Shawnee Mission] East principal Karl R. Krawitz declined to comment on the matter Wednesday, calling it a disciplinary action: ‘It is a school issue, a private issue, not a public matter’.”

Turns out, Krawitz’s reluctance to initially discuss the matter became a “Three’s Company” moment. Only there’s no Regal Beagle in Kansas.

According to a blog post by Star columnist Yael Abouhalkah:

“It turns out one of teen tweeter Emma Sullivan’s original claims—that her principal was forcing her to apologize for an offensive tweet last month about Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback—wasn’t true.

Shawnee Mission East Principal Karl Krawitz says in a blunt email to Brownback’s staff that ‘The governor should know we did not force any letter of apology.’ (The email is in a report by NBC Action News.)

And Sullivan belatedly this week acknowledged the same thing: No apology was ordered.”

Turns out the story was fed to the media by Sullivan’s older sister, a poli sci major at Wichita State, and many facts of the case were lost in translation.

But why should the facts ever stand in the way of a good story?

Personally, I agree with with the Governor’s communications director, Sherriene Jones-Sontag (as quoted by the Star):

“[The tweet] wasn’t respectful…In order to really have a constructive dialogue, there has to be mutual respect…It was important for [Youth in Government] to be aware of the comments their students were making…It’s also important for students to recognize the power of social media, how lasting it is. It is on the Internet.”

Listen up, corporate big-wigs, government leaders and persons in power: YOU ARE NOT GOING TO WIN AGAINST THE LITTLE GUY IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION. Not ever.

But feel free to pig-wrestle. Just do so at your own risk. And think twice before going after someone smaller than yourself.

2 Comments

Filed under crisis communications, Issues Management, Journalism

Tagged as , , , , , ,

April 21, 2011 · 11:53 AM

In The Race to Be First, You Lose

A thought-provoking post from Tom Gable in today’s Daily Dog, responding to a claim by the Harvard Business Review’s Joshua Gans that, “Facebook is the largest news organization ever.”

While Gable spends a lot of time distinguishing between the “news” value of your cousin Sally’s Facebook post about her labradoodle puppy and, say, the situation in Libya, the larger point he makes about social media and the importance of “being first” should keep your CEO and IR department awake at night. Gable writes:

“Professional journalism traditionally aims for accuracy, enlightenment and fairness. Some Bloggers and Twits claim to practice citizen journalism, which others dismiss as fluff, hype and churnalism. Legitimate media, including top bloggers, post corrections and updates when stories are wrong. Doing a search for corrections on Twitter doesn’t turn up much. Younger consumers of news and information may have difficulty discerning the difference between professional journalism and faux fast news. The race to be first is having an impact on financial news coverage as well.”

Gable cites an article entitled, “Twitter, tech bubbles, and the nostalgia of the technology press” by Tim Carmody, which notes that Twitter, bloggers and Quora are driving corporate stock prices, with information moving as fast or faster than the traditional journalists covering the industry.

When anonymous messages appearing from out of the ether have the same or greater impact as well-researched articles published by reputable news organizations, millions of dollars and jobs are at stake.

Today’s investor relations officer must spend at least as much time monitoring what’s being said about his company as he does getting the word out. It’s like playing Whac-a-Mole while simultaneously making a phone call and typing a press release.

Hope your multitasking skills are up to snuff.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Journalism, Social Media

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

February 17, 2011 · 8:43 AM

Is Obama Bypassing the MSM? And If So, Is That a Bad Thing?

A thought-provoking story published Tuesday on ABC News.com asks whether the Obama administration is attempting to bypass the mainstream media in an effort to both control its message and connect with the American public.

Reporter Devin Dwyer observes:

“The White House Press Office now not only produces a website, blog, YouTube channel, Flickr photo stream, and Facebook and Twitter profiles, but also a mix of daily video programming, including live coverage of the president’s appearances and news-like shows that highlight his accomplishments.”

The White House recently has launched a series of online programs, including “West Wing Week,” “Open for Questions” and “Advise the Adviser: Your Direct Line to the White House.”

The Obama campaign was widely applauded for the successful use of social media that helped sweep him into office in 2008, but now it seems those very same strategies are running afoul of the mainstream media, who bemoan the lack of access to the President they feel they should have.

Dwyer reports that the White House press corps were barred from the President’s START Treaty signing ceremony and from his post-State of the Union cabinet meeting, and that reporters were limited to one question each during a joint Q&A session with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

I strongly believe in the role of a strong media apparatus and its role in questioning our leaders and providing the public with the information we need in order to make informed decisions and ensure that we’re appropriately represented in Washington and elsewhere. The White House should be open and allow journalists to do their jobs.

On the other hand, creating a direct-to-the-consumer (or electorate) news channel is a brilliant strategy that can and does help the governors connect more directly to the governed, and one that my friend Ed Lallo of Newsroom Ink has employed this “private label news strategy” for clients including Imperial Sugar and Louisiana Seafood.

In an age when newspaper staffs and news-gathering budgets are shrinking and the race to be first is more important than the responsibility to be accurate, the Web offers a wealth of opportunities for your organization to share “what’s really happening” with stakeholders and balance what’s being reported by the mainstream media.

Are you relying on the news media to tell your story? If so, are you missing out on ways to share your story directly with those whose opinions and perceptions truly affect your business?

Leave a Comment

Filed under Journalism, Social Media

Tagged as , , ,

December 3, 2010 · 11:20 AM

Who Makes the Rules When the Public Airwaves Are Used for Profit?

I heart FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who was quoted Wednesday in a Los Angeles Times blog post on the state of journalism in the USA. His take:

“American media is not ‘producing the body of news and information that democracy needs to conduct its civic dialogue,’ Copps said in an interview with the BBC’s Katty Kay. That trend, he added, has to be reversed or ‘we are going to be pretty close to denying our citizens the essential news and information that they need to have in order to make intelligent decisions about the future direction of their country’.”

Copps spoke Thursday at Columbia University in New York, delivering an address entitled, “Getting Media Right: A Call to Action.” You can click HERE to get links to a live broadcast of the address, along with a link to the Katty Kay BBC interview and a related panel discussion. You can also follow coverage using the #cjcopps hashtag.

Copps said that the FCC shares the blame, enabling media consolidation to reduce public access to a diversity of opinions and straight reporting of issues that affect everyday Americans. Additionally, he calls for a more stringent licensing renewal process for local television stations:

Copps wants stations to commit to covering more debates and issues-oriented programming during election years. He also wants stations to be more in touch with the communities they serve.

A position that elicited this response from one reader of the LA Times blog:

“Deregulation” is merely the battle cry of meddling bureaucrats like Mr. Copps. In this case, an FCC commissioner desires to anoint himself judge and jury on what is “proper television news.” Placing the government’s seal of approval on news programming as Mr. Copps suggests is a very slippery slope that leads in only one direction – propaganda a la George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth and the Two Minutes Hate.

Mr. Copps, how well broadcast journalists and their news organizations are doing their jobs is quite frankly none of your damned business. Have you ever heard of the First Amendment? It couldn’t be more clear on this subject. It says that if you’re a bureaucrat whose legal authority derives from Congressional action, as is the case with the FCC, then you are cordially invited to BUTT OUT.

Posted by: Sid Vicious | December 02, 2010 at 08:54 AM

Nice of Mr. Vicious to come back from the grave and offer his opinion, don’t you think?

But therein lies the rub. Whom should have the right to decide what’s in the public’s best interest? And how is it that the public’s airwaves are being used by for-profit enterprises to deliver those messages in the first place?

I understand that the media companies pay handsomely for the licenses that allow them to broadcast, but where does the proper balance between profit motive and public interest exist…and who decides?

Anyone?

Leave a Comment

Filed under Journalism

Tagged as , , , , , ,

November 17, 2010 · 10:00 AM

All The News That Money Can Buy

Paul Farhi from the WaPo has a story today that will harden even the most cynical heart.

In “Checkbook Journalism,” Farhi notes how pay-for-play is no longer relegated to tabloids such as the National Enquirer or sites such as Gawker.com, both of whom openly offer cash for scoops.

Although the major television news networks openly claim not to offer money for stories, many admit to offering money to “license” personal photos or videos, which just happen to accompany interviews with the family members or subjects of said visuals. Farhi writes:

“ABC News and NBC News acknowledged that they paid the families of three rescued Chilean miners who were featured in ‘exclusive’ reports on ‘Good Morning America’ and the ‘Today’ show last month. In both cases, network correspondents told viewers that home videos included in the reports were ‘licensed’ by the networks, a vague disclosure that revealed little about the nature of the agreements.”

And of course, the “mainstream” media have no issue repeating stories cultivated by their more financially liberated brethren.

How else would we know about Brett Favre’s junk, had it not been for the almighty dollar?

And do we really need to know about Brett Favre’s junk in the first place?

According to Nick Denton, founder and owner of Gawker Media, the end justifies the means:

“[Denton] proudly points to huge spikes in traffic to his Web sites as a result of [stories based on purchased information]. He says that Gawker has gone from 300,000 visitors per week in 2008 to 1.4 million, in part thanks to scoops it paid for.”

Denton continues:

“All sources [compensated or not] have an agenda, whether it’s bureaucratic rivalry, mischief-making or the mercenary impulse. They always have to be doubted. . . . I’m content for us to be judged by results.”

In other words, “everybody’s working an angle and trying to get ahead any way they can. If I can make a buck helping them screw their fellow man, then all the better for me.”

Makes me proud to be an American (sarcasm intended).

I’m considering offering a big cash reward for anyone with compromising photos of Mr. Denton. Let’s see how he likes it.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Journalism

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

November 16, 2010 · 9:37 AM

Why Newspaper Publishers Are Insane

The old cliché defines insanity as trying the same things over and over and expecting different results.

As Rick Edmonds observes today in his Biz Blog, while business is improving for the nation’s newspapers, the industry remains very sick.

It’s the same old story. Advertising revenues are down, online versions have failed to pick up the slack. The price of newsprint continues to rise. Blah blah blah.

When will newspapers decide that maybe their product sucks and a change in direction might right the ship?

Heck, anything is better than nothing. To quote Barry Corbin from War Games, if I were a newspaper publisher, “I’d piss on a spark plug if I thought it’d do any good.”

The one thing that puzzles me is that newspapers, who could and should OWN local news, refuse to cover what’s going on in the cities they serve.

Here in KC, The Star continues to run national and international news prominently, and buries neighborhood news—including the pending mayoral race—somewhere in the middle. This in a city that risks losing 40 percent of its funding should citizens vote to eliminate this city’s one percent earnings tax this spring.

The once-proud Tuesday Business section is now just a few pages of fluff, much of it pulled from the wires, while at the same time the paper continues to print a full-on features section, complete with the latest gossip from Hollywood.

I’m sure the folks at McClatchey (owners of The Star and other papers) have mountains of data supporting their choices. But if they’re so smart, why do they continue to lose ground.

Seems to me, most folks seeking international news or the latest on the Kardashians will seek out other sources.

Meanwhile, those of us who are smart enough to actually read lack the information necessary to make the choices that will affect our lives and the lives of our children. In my mind, that’s nothing short of a dereliction of duty.

Okay, I’m done. Would someone in the newspaper business please tell me why I am wrong?

1 Comment

Filed under Journalism, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

September 16, 2010 · 1:54 PM

This Just In: Honesty is the Best Policy

It appears being honest and bull$h!t-free really is a good policy for PR after all.

Burson-Marsteller (that’s B-M for short) reports that the mainstream media “loses” the intended message of PR pros roughly 48 percent of the time.

PR Week magazine published a story on B-M’s “Message Gap Analysis” study yesterday, which found that roughly half the time, the story that reaches the public is radically different than the one the client and its messengers had hoped to see.

European media get the story right six times out of ten to lead the world. In Asia, the intended messages escape the media prism intact a mere 42 percent of the time. In the U.S., there’s a 45-percent chance your story will get “lost in translation.”

As you might guess, bloggers skew and/or skewer the intended message 74 percent of the time in the United States.

The Oracle of the Obvious speaks:

Your spin don’t work the way it used to.

Here’s a tip: if you’re going to issue a news release, don’t put lipstick on the pig, don’t try to steer the news and don’t try to be cute. Tell it like it is. Be human. Be honest. Be humble.

That way, regardless of how you get treated by the “objective third parties” who deliver your messages to your target publics, you at least won’t have to remember what you said.

3 Comments

Filed under Issues Management, Journalism

Tagged as , , ,

September 3, 2010 · 8:46 AM

Newspapers Suing PR Firms? WTF?

Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, but I’ve really had it with the news media’s treatment of PR firms.

For years, my peers and I have worked to provide content that not only serves the interests of our clients, but also gives reporters (many of whom have butts the shape of their chairs) something to write about.

Today, the Las Vegas Sun reports that its rival paper, the Las Vegas Review Journal, is suing a PR firm, Kirvin Doak Communications, for the posting a Review-Journal story profiling one of its clients on its company website

Even though the story is attributed to the Review Journal (and by the way, the same news story can be read for free on the Review-Journal website), Righthaven, LLC (publisher of the Review Journal) is suing Kirvin Doak for $75,000 charging that the firm “caused and will continue to cause irreparable harm to Righthaven.”

The kicker? The article in question carried quotes that were lifted verbatim from the original Kirvin Doak news release, which was made available to the Review Journal and other media outlets.

Pardon my French, but what a crock of $h!t.

I mean, who’s plagiarizing whom here?

When PR firms have to live in fear of the news media, it’s time for us to exercise our clout and bypass the MSM completely in favor of direct-to-consumer communication.

Comments welcome.

1 Comment

Filed under Issues Management, Journalism

Tagged as , ,

August 31, 2010 · 7:32 AM

Come for the Candy, Stay for the Spinach

Great piece from the American Journalism Review on how the news media are gaming the system to drive traffic to their Websites. According to Paul Farhi, who writes for the Washington Post, “[o]n an ordinary weekday in August, the following stories and videos were prominently displayed on the Web sites of some of the nation’s most respected news organizations:

–CBSNews.com‘s “recommended” videos included “Miss Transvestite South America,” “Shark Swims Ashore Caught on Tape” [sic] and “Newlyweds Pay for Wedding by Recycling.” Its “most popular” list featured “Diary of a Showgirl,” “Smoking Baby is Real,” “Fired for Being Too Sexy” and “Alligator Feeding Frenzy Caught on Tape.”

–ABCNews.com had “How to Guide Your Dreams,” “Sharks Scare East Coast Swimmers,” “Lindsay Lohan Heads to Rehab” and ” ‘The View’: Lady Gaga’s Vagina Monologue.”

–NBCNews.com‘s top-of-the-site display box included links to MSN.com stories such as “50 Stars from 50 States,” “11 Telltale Signs He May be Having an Affair” and “6 Diet Trends You Should Never Try.” Some of the site’s own video news features were “Volunteers Drive into Russian Blaze” and “Falling Ice Kills Girl, 11.”

–HuffingtonPost.com had such headlines as “Sex Tape Pics…,” “Kardashian Visits Cowboys,” “Killer Bat Fungus,” “World’s Worst Urinal” and “Naked Lady Gaga Talks Drugs and Celibacy.”

Farhi goes on to observe that traffic counts are what matter in the news business today, and that search engine optimization (SEO) rules when it comes to attracting online readers and advertising dollars.

What’s considered “news” is driven more by what people are looking for and less by what constitutes actual information that people need to know. One could argue that without readers, the legitimate journalists would have no audience and therefore be out of work. (Which seems to be happening anyway.)

As far as the PR business is concerned, smart marketers such as Southwest Airlines have been optimizing their news releases for months in an effort to generate greater readership and even to drive sales of special fares and deals.

But in the spirit of the new world order where SEO rules, I’ve re-written the headlines for some [fictional] clients’ news releases and submit them for your approval (emphasis added):

“O Bama! Manufacturer Opens New Plant in Birmingham”

“Lady Gaga Over Gentleman’s New Cologne”

“Developer Wins High Stakes Gamble Despite Holding Lohand” (get it?)

“You Can’t Spell Bill Patterson without BP“

“Paris Hilton Unveils Redesigned Ballroom for Banquet Events”

“Tiger, Woods Added to Jungle Habitat in Effort to Boost Attendance at Walla Walla Zoo”

There. THAT should get us some pick-up.

Suggestions welcome. PR folks, what headline have you been dying to write? (extra credit if it’s for an actual client.)

Leave a Comment

Filed under Journalism, Return On Investment, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media

Tagged as , , , ,