Did the media give Spitzer a free ride?

Eliot SpitzerDid you read the Kimberley Strassel op-ed piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal entitled “Spitzer’s Media Enablers?”
 
She hit damn hard, with great detail, saying the press was Spitzer’s “enabler,” “most reporters were his accomplices” and they were “adoring.”
 
Strassel said, “Yet from the start, the press corps acted as an adjunct of Spitzer power, rather than a skeptic of it. Many journalists get into this business because they want to see wrongs righted. Mr. Spitzer portrayed himself as the moral avenger. He was the slayer of the big guy, the fat cat, the Wall Street titan – all allegedly on behalf of the little guy. The press ate it up, and came back for more.”
 
Strassel cited several media examples, including Time magazine naming Spitzer “Crusader of the Year;” Fortune calling him “the Enforcer,” and Atlantic Monthly “fawning” that he was “a rock star” and “the Democratic party’s future.”
 
Strassel continued, “What makes this more embarrassing for any self-respecting journalist is that Mr. Spitzer knew all this, and played the media like a Stradivarius. He knew what sort of storyline they’d be sympathetic to, and spun it. He knew, too, that as financial journalism has become more competitive, breaking news can make a career. He doled out scoops to favored reporters, who repaid him with allegiance. News organizations that dared to criticize him were cut off. After a time, few criticized anymore.”
 
There’s an undercurrent in the blogosphere – and a little bit with select traditional offline media – that the Fourth Estate ain’t what it used to be. Some people believe reporters aren’t tough enough, investigative enough, relentless enough. They think some political and corporate stories aren’t pursued as aggressively as they should be. They’re frustrated with the media giving too many free rides to people, issues and companies that should get the full treatment.
 
What do you think?
 
Has the high-level print-based U.S. media changed dramatically from, say, the Watergate era when Woodward and Bernstein grabbled hold of their story and never let go? Is it about the same? Or has Strassel painted an unfair picture?    

Can journalists and bloggers play nice in the same room?

In his recent blog entry , veteran CAD journalist Roopinder Tara addresses the “blogger vs. reporter” debate. This post is based on his first person experience of “co-mingling” with bloggers at an industry event. Roopinder intends to write a series of postings on this very issue.
 
Many of us in the PR community are wrestling with the very same topic.

Traditional journalists have a code of ethics to abide by, while many bloggers post what they want when they want. Can the two happily co-exist? Will bloggers become more like journalists, and journalists become more like bloggers?
 
The answer lies somewhere in between, I’d guess. We’re already seeing crossover, as “traditional” reporters are turning into bloggers, including Om Malik and Paul Gillin. The blogging community has a voice, and that voice seems to be getting louder. PR practitioners would be foolish to ignore it.

CNN Diggs it

Mediaweek is reporting that CNN is jumping on the social news bandwagon with a new site called iReport.com in which any citizen journalists can publish content unvetted by CNN editors. It will function much like other popular community-governed news sites like Digg, Reddit and Mixx, though more YouTube-like video centric.

So is CNN finally crying uncle to the unfettered social news onslaught that has eroded its web readership? After all, it's been dabbling with user-generated content since 2006 through its iReport submission site, though with strict editorial oversight. According to the report:

CNN executives acknowledge that iReport.com’s openness is something of a departure for a news organization that prides itself on accuracy and editorial judgment. But iReports have become increasingly popular, and in many cases have even proved beneficial in the reporting of breaking news. Some of the most compelling footage from last April’s shootings on the Virginia Tech campus came from the 420 user-gen video clips CNN received, while last year’s California wildfires yielded more than 11,000 submissions.

7 PR lessons from the Patriots

If the Patriots are successful in winning their fourth Super Bowl in seven years, the team will cement its legacy as one of the true dynasties in the National Football League. Nobody has gone 18-0 in one season, and if they go 19-0, they will likely be remembered as the best team of all time.
 

But the Patriots aren’t just successful a football team … they’re also a great PR machine. Here are seven things PR pros can learn from the Patriots:

  1. Stay on message – Everybody has a different style, but the bottom line is to stick to your core message. For the Patriots, the message is “one game at a time.”
  2. Keep your cool under pressure – Witness any of Tom Brady’s media interviews and he’s as cool in front of the camera as he is in the pocket.
  3. We’re a team – With the Patriots, it’s always “we” and never “I.”
  4. Trust your management – Bill Belichick has earned the respect of his players and sets the tone in the locker room and on the field.
  5. Keep your sense of humor – Plaxico Burress guarantees a 23-17 Giant win? Tom Brady jokingly acts dumbfounded that Plax thinks the Pats will only score 17.
  6.  Address issues head on with confidence, then move on – Spygate? It happened and it’s behind us. Rodney Harrison using steroids? He admitted it, served his suspension and moved on.
  7. Communicate, communicate, communicate – Every Patriot player knows his role because the coaches effectively communicate their expectations and demand high performance.

Many players have come and gone in the past seven years, but the management and the team philosophy has remained consistent. We can all learn from the Patriots run for perfection.

Go Pats!!! 

Bond with your bloggers!

I was in San Diego last week, speaking at a client’s annual customer conference. More than 5,000 people attended this popular event.
 
One of the most noticeable transformations we witnessed this year was the rise of the blogger. Out of the 150+ journalists who attended from around the world, about 10% were bloggers. Despite being “non-traditional” journalists, our client had the wisdom and insight to embrace their bloggers and make them part of their community.
 
Sure, some bloggers are a bit funky; with a different demeanor, attitude and style compared with the typical Fourth Estate (if there is a “typical” Fourth Estate). But bloggers have become a fresh voice in communications flow because they have bottom-up (vs. traditional top-down) grassroots impact as “citizen journalists.”   
 
Bloggers at the San Diego event weren’t ostracized or treated differently; they were mainstreamed with all the global press. They had the same access to senior-level execs and were invited to every press event.
 
I bring this to your attention because of today’s news about Target, the retail giant.
 
Today’s New York Times ran a story about Target’s reaction to ShapingYouth.org, a blog focused on how marketing impacts children.
 
The blog’s author called the company to complain about a new Target ad showing a woman with arms and legs spread out on a bull’s eye. “Targeting crotches with a bull’s eye is not the message we should be putting out there,” the blogger told the company.
 
I’m not here to pass judgment on the Target ad. A Target spokesperson told the NYT it appeared in a Times Square billboard and in sales circulars. But I would like to highlight Target’s corporate reaction to the blogger, delivered via e-mail.
 
“Unfortunately, we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets,” a public relations spokesperson wrote to ShapingYouth. “This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.”  
 
A Target spokesperson told the NYT, “We do not work with bloggers currently, but we have made exceptions.” The spokesperson said the company is reviewing its blogger relations policy and “may adjust it.”

I believe such an adjustment would be in Target’s best interests. After all, it’s a grassroots world and consumers are empowered like never before. Anyone can become a blogger. The impact of an ardent voice on a company’s brand reputation can be instant, widespread and profound.

Hillary’s tears – PR stunt or true colors?

Were Hillary’s tears the master plan of some superstar PR person behind the scenes, or a genuine display of emotion from a tired, but still committed, presidential candidate? (See Maureen Dowd’s New York Times column for an interesting perspective.)
 
Pollsters and pundits are scrambling to figure out how they got Hillary’s surprise NH primary win so wrong. Whether it was a genuine emotional display or a calculated campaign stunt, the outcome was the same: it recast her from a toughened political automaton to a warm and vulnerable human being in the eyes of many voters.
 
Personally and professionally, I looked at this from several angles.
 
First, I’m a woman. My instinct was to believe her. After all, she was simply showing her emotions, and hasn’t she been criticized for being “the ice queen?” Give her a break, I thought, isn’t she allowed to shed a few tears in her quest for the top job? See Courtney Barnes of PR News blog on this topic. Men get emotional and people find it endearing. Women cry and we’re labeled weak.
 
Second, I’m a PR professional. If it was contrived, I’m impressed. Not only did her strategic advisors help her orchestrate an unexpected comeback, but they must have given her some phenomenal coaching to have appeared so genuine.
 
Third, I live and work in Portsmouth, NH – the scene of the actual “ice queen” meltdown! We’re smart people here. We don’t like the wool pulled over eyes. We want the straight facts and are rarely swayed by tears and sob stories.
 
Fourth, I’m human. I get tired. I understand where she’s coming from and everyone has a vulnerable moment. I admire her passion and tenacity, as well as all the candidates who keep going under such exhausting circumstances.
 
I wonder how this split-second event actually affected how people voted. It was reported the woman who asked Hillary the now infamous question ended up voting for Obama.
 
The bottom line is this: whether the crying bit was a brilliant PR move or a sincere response to one voter’s question it doesn’t dictate our vote. We still get to choose. It’s our right, our decision.
 
What do you think? Did she create the cry or was it from the heart? Does it matter in the end?
 

 

Best news release lede ever

Though a bit dated, this news release from outdoor gear retailer Backcountry.com contains the best lede (lead) ever written in the high tech industry. Worth reviewing again, as we gear up for a new year of the same old stilted, formulaic news announcements.   

Future of press conferences

Naked Conversations author and tech geek blogger, Robert Scoble, says he has witnessed the future of press conferences after attending a virtual press conference hosted by chip maker AMD.

Nothing particularly remarkable here...except for its transparency, which runs contrary to control-the-message mindset of press conferences. AMD chose to gag their PR handlers, turn the cameras on themselves and wing it relatively unscripted. 

 

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