15-Seconds Blog

Don't Rain On Your Own Parade

2012-02-09T08:58:00.000-05:00

Its hard enough responding to charges opponents make. Don't respond to ones they don't offer.

There is a controversy raging over when and how to honor returning U.S. troops with a ticker-tape parade in New York. With the Iraq war officially over -- some folks think the time is now for a march down the "Canyon of Heroes" to recognize those who went in harm's way.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the city is ready to spew fake ticker-tape but that the Pentagon has said: "Not so fast." Their position is it is better to wait until combat operations in Afghanistan are over and a single welcome home march in Manhattan can be arranged.

On her MSNBC show yesterday Rachel Maddow spent five and a half minutes setting up the argument explaining that there was a parade in New York when WWII ended in Europe while troops were still fighting in the Pacific. What's the harm in having two parades now?

Then she brought on Assistant Secretary of Defense Douglas Wilson who tried mightily to defend the Pentagon's seemingly indefensible position.

Our mission here is not to debate the merits of the argument but to point out at the very beginning of Wilson's comments he offers the statement saying :

"We are having the wrong conversation We are having a conversation about a major ticker tape parade in New York - and whether the Giants, the New York Giants deserve it and those who served in Iraq do not. This is a specious argument..."

Maddow jumped in a correctly pointed out that she hadn't mentioned the Giants. This is an example of someone who prepared for a tough interview and had in mind what he would say about certain allegations. And then under the bright lights of television he offered the N.Y. Giants answer when the question wasn't even asked. To be sure other commentators over the past two days had raised the Giants vs Vets issue -- but Wilson was spring loaded to respond to the argument that Maddow did not make.

As can be seen in the clip below, Maddow did give Wilson a ton of air time to ramble on about what Americans should be doing for returning vets (jobs, healthcare, conversation etc) but he never once explained how a parade would interfere with doing all that. (Wilson's interview starts at about the 5:30 mark)

He also had no clear answer for why two parades -- one for Iraq vets and another down the road for those returning from Afghanistan would be a bad thing. Hey Doug, we guarantee you if the Giants win next year's Super Bowl New Yorkers won't mind lining the Canyon of Heroes yet again.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Err Gingrich

2012-01-30T13:02:00.000-05:00

Like it or not (usually not) political campaigns need the press. The Gingrich campaign apparently hasn't figured that out yet.

Yahoo! News reported on Saturday that Team Newt has kicked a bunch of reporters off their press plane for refusing to pay more than $2000 a seat to accompany the candidate from Orlando to West Palm Beach to go to a dinner.

News organizations traditionally chip in for the costs of bus or plane trips on the campaign trail. The travel can be pricey. When some reporters figured out how costly this particular flight might be -- they opted to skip the dinner and drive themselves to the next event.

A small number of reporters who were willing to pay the two grand were then told that since the number of participants was shrinking -- their actual costs would go up to $3,000 a seat. Some, understandably, thought that was too steep - even if the campaign promised that "bags fly free" and there might be something in each seatback pocket from Tiffany. Most of those who had agreed to pay two grand tried to cancel their reservations - only to be told by the Gingrich campaign: "too bad, this ticket is non-refundable" that their credit cards would be charged the higher price anyway.

A number of journalists threatened to protest the charge and direct their credit card companies to refuse to pay -- which resulted in the campaign announcing that no reporters would be permitted to accompany the candidate on his flights today -- which are expected to cover more that 1000 miles across the state.

When asked why the media were nixed from the manifest -- Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said: "I don't have to give you a reason." We are guessing "R.C." doesn't stand for "Really Competent."

Gingrich scored some points when he got feisty with CNN's John King in a recent debate. But when he tried the same tactic with the much savvier Wolf Blitzer in a subsequent debate he came across looking like a petulant loser.

It is never a good idea picking fights with the media. Their barrels full of ink and unlimited airtime are bound to outmatch whatever spin all the "R.C. Hammond's" of your campaign can invent.

For the record -- we have been wrong about the Gingrich campaign in the past. As far back as May and June we predicted the imminent collapse of Newt's presidential ambitions in large part because of his abysmal handing of the media. You can win some skirmishes by attacking the journalists covering you - but in the end, bad press relations are likely to result in coverage which will doom your campaign.

It is a pretty fair bet that the management of news organizations are now rooting against Newt. If he wanted to charge $3000 for the 150 air mile flight from Orlando to West Palm Beach - imagine how much a seat on the press charter to his colony on the moon would set you back.

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Facebook Discloses Incompetence

2012-01-26T21:04:00.000-05:00

"Don't be evil" is the unofficial corporate motto for Google. Apparently Facebook's unofficial slogan is "Do Be Dumb."

Seattle NPR station KPIU reports that the social network and the Washington State Attorney General's office scheduled a joint press conference today at Facebook's Seattle office.

Invited reporters got an email from the AG's communications staff this morning saying that if they want to get in they'll have to sign a "non-disclosure agreement":

“Facebook asked me to pass this on to you. They require it of all visitors to their facilities. It only applies to things that you might accidentally stumble upon while you are there and covers nothing discussed during our news conference. Please either bring a signed copy or be ready to sign upon arrival.”

The document is full of convoluted, boiler-plate legal mumbo jumbo which may make sense on some occasions -- but sends entirely the wrong signal to media invited to the press conference.

Zuckerberg's boys may be whizzes at social networking but they are zeros when it comes to PR. You don't invite a gaggle or reporters into your workspace and tell them "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

Lots of organizations have trade secrets, products, and methods they want to keep under wraps. But if you can't literally throw a sheet over secret stuff reporters might "stumble upon" when media visit -- then take them somewhere else. Rent a hotel ballroom. Do something other than ask the media to sign a silly, over-lawyered document which makes you look paranoid -- and dumb.

After a few news organizations such as the Seattle Times and Associated Press refused to sign the non disclosure document, Facebook wisely scrubbed the requirement.

Taco (Dumb) Bell

2012-01-26T11:41:00.000-05:00

Joe Maturo is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Well, perhaps that is not the best fast food metaphor but the East Haven, CT Mayor delivered a whopper of a bad interview the other day.

While being questioned by WPIX-TV about the arrest of four police officers who were charged with unlawfully targeting Latinos in town for searches and abuse -- the mayor was asked what he was doing for the Latino community. Kind of a broad open question. The Mayor opened his mouth and stuck his foot in it by saying "I might have tacos when I go home." Yeah, that will help.

In the video below Maturo can be seen digging himself in a deeper and deeper hole. He turns away from his questioner to stare directly at the camera to utter one inanity after another.

Eventually the mayor figured out that he might have erred and issued a written statement apologizing. But then he went on camera trying to explain what he was trying to say. He might have been better off letting the written apology stand.

h/t Jim Brooks

The Arrest of the Story

2012-01-23T17:10:00.001-05:00

A Mississippi man wanted by police surrendered on Friday to a local TV crew. Seems like an odd choice. Apparently the law thought so too. The Sheriff's department cuffed him on camera.

As odd as that may seem -- we've seen an incident even more strange. Take a look at this clip from a San Diego NBC affiliate where a murder suspect walks into a live shot.

Rounding out our CSI News Crew edition...take a look at this video from WXYZ in Detroit where one of the station's camera tripods gets a little too close to the action.

Down for the Count - On Live TV

2012-01-22T10:32:00.000-05:00

Don't enter the ring for a title match without having done a lot of sparing first.

Former fight judge Chuck Giampa had an unforgettable debut on Friday as a commentator on Showtime.

Just after being introduced by host Al Bernstein and invited to explain what he would be contributing to the broadcast Giampa says: "Thanks Al, tonight I will be taking you inside the mind of a judge..." and then his mind goes blank. After a standing eight count Chuck repeats "Tonight I will be taking you inside the mind of a judge.." followed by another pause and a mournful expletive.

Giampa needs to know that there is a world of difference between appearing live on TV and on tape. You have to have gone a few rounds in rehearshal to cut down the likelihood of brain-lock on live TV. Throwing in the towel on air is not good for your career. Perhaps Giampa needed a ring girl standing by with a few words scribbled on cards to hold up off camera.

We tell our clients that you play like you practice. Giampa probably thought he could rattle off some things off the top of his head. Instead he looked like he just walked into a haymaker.

h/t Awful Announcing

Mass Pol's Slippery Excuses

2012-01-16T17:21:00.000-05:00

In trouble? One good explanation is helpful. Three or four different ones -- not so good.

Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray wrecked his state-owned Crown Victoria sedan on November 2nd.


Mass. State Police

Initially Murray said he was driving within the speed limit and wearing a seat belt when he hit some black ice.

According to the Boston Globe Murray said he was out surveying damage from a snow storm. After someone noted that at 5:26 AM, the time of the crash, its kind of dark and not the best time for snow damage assessment -- Murray's story evolved.

He subsequently said he was looking for coffee and a newspaper, although the crash site was reportedly 18 miles from his home. Then he said he couldn't sleep and went for a spin to "clear his head."

State Police speculated that he had fallen asleep at the wheel just prior to the vehicle hitting a rock ledge and twice rolling over. They said his car reached speeds estimated to be over 80 MPH. The LT Gov said -- yeah, maybe that's it -- although he couldn't remember falling asleep.


Mass. State Police

But cars these days have little "black boxes" which remember things that drivers don't. The Boston Globe hired an outside expert to examine the one in Murray's mangled Crown Vic. That expert says the box shows Murray maneuvered twice during the 14-second crash and that the vehicle sped up to 108 MPH suggesting that he might indeed have hit an icy patch just as his first story indicated.

Despite careening around the Crown Vic as it ricocheted off of rocks (turns out Murray wasn't wearing a seat belt after all) - the Lieutenant Governor escaped with just a couple scratches.

We know what you are thinking -- we thought that too -- but the Globe says Murray immediately demanded a sobriety test after the crash. The newspaper's story today fails to report how he did on it -- but one has to presume anything short of flying colors would have made it into the article.

So why are we, a blog about dealing with the media, telling you all this?

Because the Globe reports that the Lieutenant Governor hired a crisis communications firm LAST WEEK to help address his November 2nd crash.

Most people in car wrecks don't need crisis communications consultants. Of course some do (see: T. Woods) And if YOU do -- we're here to help.

But if you are the slippery type who keeps coming up with new stories -- we recommend you reach out for professional advice quickly and preferably long before you have invented multiple explanations for your mishap.

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Don't Screw Up the Apology

2012-01-12T13:22:00.000-05:00

Media Rule #1: Don't Say Dumb Stuff. Media Rule #2 - When You Violate Rule #1 don't make it worse by fumbled apologies.

The Jaguars new owner was doing well with the locals. Shahid Khan promised to keep the NFL team in Jacksonville. This delighted the team's small but enthusiastic fan base. So much so that some of them started to show up at games sporting fake mustaches to emulate Khan's.

But then the owner was being interviewed and was asked what it takes to be a Jaguars fan. His answer: "..for me a fan is somebody who is a season ticket holder...for the Jaguars." So all the folks who go to only one or two games, or watch them on TV, listen on the radio, or buy their jersey's and other gear, got defined as "not fans."

The franchise's disenfranchised fans let their displeasure be known. Khan made a quick appearance on a local radio station to try to smooth ruffled feathers and a spokesman issued a written statement describing the remarks as both "off-the-cuff" and a joke.

Khan and his representatives refused to make a similar clarification on-camera to local TV stations.

Anyone can make a mistake when talking to the media -- but when you do, it is important to move quickly to correct the record and to avoid playing favorites.

Telling TV stations that Khan has addressed the issue on rival radio stations is not good enough. He should have made time to speak on camera to all the local media and offer his clarification. Jacksonville hasn't won much lately. It is a shame for their owner to waste his recently won goodwill.

Where Did You Pick Up That Outfit?

2012-01-08T09:20:00.001-05:00

It is almost always wise to wear your Sunday best when appearing in the media. A California assemblywoman provides the exception to the rule.

Mary Hayashi (State of Ca)

Mary Hayahi, a state assemblywoman was charged with a felony for shoplifting nearly $2500 worth of merchandise from a San Francisco Neiman Marcus store in October. At the time she said it was a misunderstanding and that she was texting and phoning with two cell phones and inadvertently stepped outside with the goods.

Neiman Marcus Union Square

This week, however, the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor. She pleaded "no contest." Her punishment was three years of unsupervised court probation and a requirement to stay 50 feet away from her favorite Neiman Marcus. Tough justice in California, eh?

The reason hinted at for the lenient sentence is that her lawyers apparently told prosecutors that Hayashi had a benign brain tumor (now miraculously gone) which might have caused her to act inappropriately.

It is not our mission at 15-Seconds Blog to comment on the Justice system. Ms Hayashi knows more about it than we do --after all she is married to an Alameda Superior Court Judge. What caught our eye was a sentence in a KCBS-TV story which said this:

Hayashi, who was wearing a pair of cheetah-print high heels, a green jacket and black slacks and had a black Chanel purse slung over her shoulder, declined to speak to reporters following the hearing.

We teach clients to dress the part of successful leaders when they are in the media spotlight. But when you are in the news for granting yourself a five-finger discount on high-end clothing -- it would have been smarter for her to choose an outfit that looked like she might have bought it at Target or Walmart.

It might also have been a good idea for her to say a word or two to reporters at the courthouse expressing some remorse for the trouble that she and her benign tumor had caused. As an elected official you owe the voting public at least an "I'm sorry." Yet Hayashi let her lawyer speak for her - and he has only one vote.

Mountain Dews and Don'ts

2012-01-05T21:19:00.000-05:00

Probably sounded good to some lawyers. PepsiCo, makers of "Mountain Dew," are duking it out in court with a guy who says he found a dead mouse floating around in his just-opened can of yellow-green refreshment.

"Impossible!" the Pepsico defense team announced. They are trying to prevent Ronald Ball, a 52-year-old man from Madison County, Illinois, from getting the $50,000 in damages he seeks in compensation for (he claims) having had the mickey scared out of him.

The Dew defense is that if a mouse had been doing the backstroke in a can of their golden goodness for 74 days (the time since the can was reportedly sealed) -- it would have dissolved into a "gel-like substance." Ball says he found an intact rodent rolling around his soda can -- which the opposition says can't be true - their product would have eaten through the flesh of the critter long before.

The case goes to trial in Wisconsin on January 11th. No doubt it will fuel countless late night comedians' jokes about the effects of the soda which used to advertise that "It'll Tickle Your Innards."

While we are not recommending paying off scam artists $50,000 just to avoid hundreds of thousands -- if not millions of dollars of bad PR.....the company would have been well-advised to temper their court filings a bit and to have written them a little less colorfully so that they didn't play into the hands of those intent on mocking their brand. The lawyers should have checked with the PR guys before they came up with some soundbites which may sour the company's profits.

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Spokesmen: Zip Your Lips

2012-01-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

Never interrupt your elders. 60 Minutes last night aired an interview with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Correspondent Leslie Stahl was questioning the Congressman about the need for bi-partisan cooperation and said even Cantor's hero, Ronald Reagan, compromised and raised taxes.

At that point, Cantor's press secretary off-camera shouted: "That just isn't true. And I don't want to let that stand." Naturally, 60 Minutes included the unhelpful interjection in their piece.

A spokesman's job is to prepare his or her boss BEFORE an on-camera interview starts. Once the cameras are rolling, just about the only time a press secretary should interrupt is to announce that the building is on fire. Well, it might be permissible in a taped interview to say: "We have time for one last question" - but that is it.

When spokespeople starts inserting themselves into an interview they give the impression that their boss is not up to the task.

What makes Cantor's press secretary's gaffe even worse -- is that he was wrong...as Stahl demonstrated through the use of video from the Gipper era as seen below.

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For Those Who Were Otherwise Occupied On Christmas Morning

2011-12-26T09:26:00.000-05:00

Here are clips of Fred Francis's appearance on CNN's Reliable Sources.

(Don't miss the 15-Seconds Top Ten List for the Year here)

Media Scandals of 2011

Politics:

Arab Spring:

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Top 10 Media Mishap Messages of 2011

2011-12-19T08:04:00.000-05:00

We focus on the 15-Seconds Blog greatest hits about media misses for 2011.

Here's our list of our favorite interview crack ups of 2011. This list is not necessarily the biggest or most dramatic media mangles of the year -- but rather items from which we think our friends, colleagues and clients can draw some important lessons. (The full blog item on each entry is linked from the item title.)

10. There Is No Such Thing As: "Off-the-Record"

A very media savvy Secretary of State Clinton was traveling to Europe with her usual press contingent. During a mid-flight briefing and she got a question about U.S. aid to Egypt during the "Arab spring." The briefing transcript shows her asking the reporters to "turn their little machines off" so she could answer off-the-record. While the stenographers didn't transcribe her answer -- if any of the reporters present wrote about that subject in the coming days -- it would be pretty clear that their answers were informed by "off-the-record" comments aloft.

9. There Is Such A Thing As "Too Much Information"

Normally we recommend to people who get in trouble to make their case to the media. But there are exceptions. Exhibit one: Duane Starkenburg, a Seattle man arrested for allegedly molesting women joggers met with reporters. While declaring his innocence, he tells reports that he likes watching women joggers because they "run around half-naked." His unhelpful interview is below:

8. When All Else Fails, Think

In late October we took note of Texas Governor Rick Perry's interview with Parade Magazine in which he dredged up (without apparent forethought) President Obama's birth certificate issue. The Presidential candidate spent the next few days back pedaling from his off-the-cuff comments and going so far as telling the St Pete Times that he was "only kidding." Our point was the Perry didn't seem very prepared for his interview. That observation was driven home in spades about ten days later when Perry came up with his 53-second brain freeze during a Presidential debate in which he couldn't remember one of his own major campaign positions. As Perry would say: Oops!

7. Honesty To A Fault Is Not A Virtue

It is important in interview situations to speak clearly. And speaking colorfully can ensure your stuff gets used. In November, Major General Peter Fuller gave us an example of what happens when you go too far. The General, who was stationed in Afghanistan, called that country's president "erratic" and went on to object to some recent comments by Karzai saying:

“Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care’?

Fuller no doubt was right. But as a result of his un-diplomatic language he is now a FORMER senior official in Afghanistan and is not in a position to help make things in that troubled country better.

6. Get Your Signals Straight

Presidential candidate Herman Cain provided a mother-lode of examples of bad communications practices. None, perhaps, more telling that the day he appeared on Wolf Blitzer's program and tried to preempt a story about to break from a woman who claimed to have had a 13-year long affair with him. But at the same moment that Cain was on live TV saying there were no truth to the allegations which had not yet been publicized -- his lawyer was issuing a written statement saying it was a private matter and said Cain had "...no obligation to discuss these types of accusations publicly with the media and he will not do so."

There was no good strategy for Cain to deal with the mess on his hands -- but the single worst strategy was to adopt two polar opposite paths and employ them both at the same time. No surprise he effectively dropped out of the race shortly thereafter.

5. You Can Hide But You Cannot Run.

In an item we titled: "Ex-Witch Walks Off Piers" we described how former Senatorial candidate (and rumored former witch) Christine O'Donnell walked out in the middle of an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan. No one makes people agree to do interviews. But once you are on the air...it almost never helps your image to walk out in a huff. O'Donnell did nothing to lessen her image as a flake when she pulled her disappearing act on CNN.

No matter how uncomfortable the questioning might be -- you need to know how to defend yourself and avoid running away.

4. Invention:Mother of Unnecessary Interview Trouble

Being creative can have its rewards -- but you should never make stuff up in an interview situation hoping it turns out to be true. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis provides illustration. At a press event she got what appeared to be a soft-ball question about why she got rid of her big limo and was driving around in a Chevy Equinox.

The Secretary cited the car's fuel efficiency and said she also wanted to: "send a signal that we are for supporting our American workers, (and) American made products." Unfortunately, the Equinox is assembled in Canada. Maybe she meant to say she wanted to support NORTH American workers.

3. All Publicity Is NOT Good Publicity

There are times when the whole world thinks you are an evil bastard -- that the best thing to do is to keep quiet rather than to provide them with proof they are right. Accused Penn State pedophile Jerry Sandusky mysteriously keeps doing media interviews which serve only to foster the impression that he is one warped dude.

It would be bad enough that Sandusky is such an unsympathetic character. But his lawyer also seems to reveling in the limelight despite the damage he appears to be doing to his client.

2. Getting Feisty With Media: Rarely A Good Idea.

(Former) Congressman Anthony Weiner provided a cornucopia of good examples of bad media relations this year. Trying to hide his very damaging personal circumstances, Weiner seemed to do everything possible to ensure he could not politically survive. As bad as the reports were -- Weiner got cranky with reporters -- going from interview to interview providing lies that were fairly easily discoverable. You would think that someone who had been publicly humiliated could (at least fake) being humbled -- but Weiner proved to just be a dork.

1. A Little Training Might Have Helped

Media trainers around the world owe so much to former British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward. He has single-handedly provide the rationale for many government and corporate executives to decide they should invest in some training.

Although BP's oil spill was on 2010...Hayward continued to work on our behalf this year too. In June he made a speech to some British PR execs about the lessons learned from his mis-adventures in the Gulf.

Hayward described the media coverage of the spill as "vicious" and said his company was "at war with the media every day."

Hayward said he wished he had had a more senior team in charge of responding to the media - a recommendation that we, as very senior media relations, consultants heartily endorse.

Tony also suggested that corporations should test their crisis plans regularly and admitted that BP wasn't ready for what hit them.

People like Hayward need lots of practice on shaping the tone, content and delivery of their message. In-house PR shops are often ill-equipped to tell the boss that he is sounding arrogant, heartless, or oblivious -- but someone needs to be brought in with the clout to save them from themselves.

Hayward is right about crises situations can lead to war-like situation with the media. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld -- you go to war with the leaders you have. It is clear that BP was not battle ready.

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That's our list of 10 top media bungles of 2011 -- no doubt you all have your own.
For those who just love lists, here is our "Top-15" list from 2010 and a similar list from 2009.

We wish our reader's a happy and prosperous new year in which you all are prepared to make the most of your time in the media spotlight.

Bill & Fred

Lawyer Jokes - Bad In Every Case

2011-12-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

The accused Penn State pedophile either has the worst lawyer in America, the unluckiest, or both.

At a press conference today on the courthouse steps, lawyer Joe Amendola was trying to explain why his client, Jerry Sandusky, had just waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Such a decision didn't happen on the spot -- so Amendola must have had a chance to think about and prepare his remarks.

Instead, he decided to speak off the cuff and crack wise during an hour-long news conference. In an effort to knock down the grand jury report which says Penn State wide receivers coach Mike McQueary witnessed Sandusky rape a boy in an on-campus locker room, Amendola said:

"If you believe that, I suggest you dial 1-800-REALITY."

Couple problems with that:
1. A lot of people DO believe it
2. It is a pretty dumb comment and
3. 1-800-REALITY turns out to be a gay phone sex service.

Doh! Not exactly the message Amendola was trying to send, we suspect.

This was not Amendola's first fumble. In addition to inexplicably allowing his client do a phone interview with NBC's Bob Costas (in which Sandusky was unable to articulate whether he was attracted to young boys or not) -- Amendola later allowed his client to give four hours of interviews to the New York Times - which is about three hours and fifty nine minutes more than the coach needs to hang himself.

The counselor made matters worse today with some corny football related commentary, for example saying that "This is the game of (Sandusky's) life."

It is not a game, Joe. But if it were, Sandusky would be penalized for not having enough (smart) men on the field.

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Canon Fail Run

2011-12-08T09:45:00.001-05:00

Doncha hate it when you accidentally fire a cannon ball through someone's house? The TV show "MythBusters" did that on Tuesday while taping their program for Discovery Channel.

If you missed the details of the science experiment gone wrong the video is below:

The projectile escaped a testing ground, flew through a nearby neighborhood, ricocheted around one home, bounced off another and ended up in a parked mini-van.

The next day the show's hosts showed up on scene, hats in hand, to express regret to the folks whose homes were unintended targets.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, after assuring one family that the program "would never again blast a home with heavy ordnance" the hosts, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage said the incident was "the worst thing that had happened during thousands of experiments over eight years on the Discovery Channel show."

It appears that despite their near miss, the MythBuster crew did a good job of damage control. They promised that they would not air footage shot of the errant cannon blast (avoiding the possible perception that they might capitalize on their mistake.)

More importantly, they said and did the right things. They met with the affected families privately and then met with the press.

The Chronicle quotes the apologetic Savage saying: "Honestly, the feeling of embarrassment is not something we're indulging in right now. We feel for the families and the people affected by this." The hosts agreed to pose for pictures with neighbors saying "You've forgive us for not smiling. It's not smiling time."

Give the MythBuster crew credit for decent aim with their response. They could have stayed away for fear of saying something that might be used against them in a future lawsuit. There WILL be lawsuits. But the hosts were on target with appropriate expressions of concern.

There are PR lessons in this for all institutions. Sure, you are unlikely to fire a cannon into unsuspecting neighborhoods -- but unexpected things happen all the time. The military even has an acronym for one subset of the problem: TFOA, which stands for "Things Falling Off Aircraft."

Despite your best efforts, dramatic unforeseen things can happen to any organization. These events can blow a hole in your public persona. How you react to the incident will impact whether the damage is fatal to your reputation.

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Dare to Be Boring

2011-12-06T20:05:00.000-05:00

Sharp spokesmen occasionally need to be really dull. Press Secretary Jay Carney offered Lester Kinsolving, quirky correspondent for WorldNetDaily, a chance to ask a question at Monday's White House briefing.

Normally spokesmen try to duck Kinsolving questions because they tend to be pretty wacky. But saying he was full of "holiday spirit" yesterday, Carney let Lester have a shot. He quickly regretted it.

Here is what Kinsolving asked:

"The Family Research Council and CNS News both reported a 93-to-7 U.S. Senate vote to approve a defense authorization bill that, quote, “includes a provision which not only repeals the military law on sodomy, but also repeals the military ban on sex with animals, or bestiality.” Does the Commander-in-Chief approve or disapprove of bestiality in our armed forces?"

Vladimir Putin & Horse

Carey quickly responded that he didn't have any comment and tried to direct the questioning to Jake Tapper of ABC News. Tapper decided to torment Carney by asking if he was sure he didn't want to "take any more questions on bestiality."

Jay was sure.

The spokesman did a good job of moving quickly to an easier subject (the next question had to do with anti-semitism) but his smirk let him down. PETA subsequently attacked Carney for laughing off the question.

Let the record show, however, that Carney wisely did not fall into the trap of joking along with Kinsolving. It would have been easy to come up with some snappy response...e.g. "Lester, what you do in your private life if your own business" -- but he'd be in deeper trouble with PETA than he already is.

The Kinsolving-Carney exchange is in the video below courtesy of CSPAN

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The Pedo File: Dumb Interviews Continue

2011-12-03T15:33:00.000-05:00

Jerry Sandusky's lawyer must want him convicted. That is the only plausible explanation for why he continues to facilitate media interviews for the accused Penn State pedophile.

Someone needs to tell Sandusky that the Freedom of Speech includes the right to shut up. No doubt it is disturbing to have most of the public assume you are a creepy old man -- but it makes no sense to open your mouth and remove any doubt.

The New York Times has a lengthy story (accompanied by some video and audio) from four hours of interviews conducted over two days at the home of Sandusky's lawyer Joseph Amendola.

As bad as the written interview is, the video is worse. Sandusky laughs inappropriately and engages in long pauses reminiscent of his stupefyingly dumb interview with Bob Costas.

There are so many things wrong with Amandola's approach to defending his client it is hard to know where to begin. Some situations are so serious and so troubling that the accused should never try to justify their actions through the media. This is one.

It is rarely a good idea to sit down for four hours of interviews. The most articulate and innocent person (which Sandusky doesn't appear to be) will say something stupid given that much of an opportunity.

Even when trying to generate sympathy, Sandusky only succeeds in convicting himself. Toward the end of the article he is quoted as saying:

“I miss coaching,” he said. “I miss Second Mile. I miss Second Mile kids. I miss interrelationships with all kinds of people. I miss my own grandkids. I miss, I mean you know I’m going to miss my dog. So, I mean, yeah, I miss, yeah. Good grief.

"I'm going to miss my dog"? Sounds like Sandusky has figured out that you can't take your pooch to prison.

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Plane Stupid

2011-11-29T20:26:00.000-05:00

U.S. Airways is not buying any of that "friendly skies" nonsense. They've told a woman with stage-4, terminal cancer she can't get a refund on non-refundable tickets she purchased for herself and family.

According to the WUSA-TV report below, the woman and her family purchased tickets for a dream trip to Belize. But now she'll be in chemo therapy trying to extend her life. A spokesperson for U.S. Airways initially offered a voucher so that the woman could use her ticket "at another time." Somehow, we don't think they have flights to and from where she is going.

The reporter handling the story relates a late breaking update that the airline essentially said if the woman dies they'll let her bequeath her ticket to another family member.

The tickets involved cost $4200. But the airline has managed to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars of bad publicity with their slavish insistence on sticking to policy.

What were they thinking? If they give in to this woman -- soon everyone will be trying to get terminal cancer to avoid flying with them?

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Cain Not Able To Muster Coherent Defense

2011-11-28T20:44:00.000-05:00

Herman Cain and his attorney proved today that there is no story so bad you can't make it worse.

A local television station, MyFoxAtlanta, carried a lengthy interview this evening with a woman who claims she had a 13-year-long affair with the presidential candidate. The video is below.

Georgia Woman Claims 13-Year Affair with Herman Cain: MyFoxATLANTA.com

The Cain camp had some inkling that this was coming and the candidate rushed onto CNN this afternoon to preempt the allegation by essentially saying: "Something is coming, don't know what it is -- but it isn't true." Getting ahead of a bad news story can be a wise move -- IF you have a solid and coherent defense. That doesn't seem to be the case here. Cain's discussion with Wolf Blitzer can be seen in part, below.

To make matters worse, at about the same time Cain was on the air describing what he knew about the accuser and assuring Blitzer that he did not have a sexual relationship with that woman, Ms. White -- his lawyer, Lin Wood, was issuing a written statement saying that Cain had no obligation to talk about consensual affairs and would not do so. And while Wood didn't directly say so, his statement implies that Ms. White's claims might be true, but it is none of your damn business. Here is his statement:

"Mr. Cain has been informed today that your television station plans to broadcast a story this evening in which a female will make an accusation that she engaged in a 13-year long physical relationship with Mr. Cain. This is not an accusation of harassment in the workplace – this is not an accusation of an assault - which are subject matters of legitimate inquiry to a political candidate.

Rather, this appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults - a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public. No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life. The public's right to know and the media's right to report has boundaries and most certainly those boundaries end outside of one's bedroom door.

Mr. Cain has alerted his wife to this new accusation and discussed it with her. He has no obligation to discuss these types of accusations publicly with the media and he will not do so even if his principled position is viewed unfavorably by members of the media."

Huh? Do these guys talk to each other?

It looks like in media relations -- as in other relations -- Cain want to have things both ways.

When you are in a hole this deep, you need to stop digging. What little credibility Cain had is now shot. He went on TV minimizing the significance of his relationship without knowing that within hours the woman he called "just a friend" would be showing cell phone and text records detailing hundreds of contacts and telling a much more believable story.

Badly played, Mr. Cain. Your next TV appearance might be to declare you are leaving the campaign to spend more time with your family.

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Foot In Mouth Disease

2011-11-25T10:41:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you just have to put your foot down. And sometimes you need to keep your mouth shut.

Professional athletes give us fodder for our blog daily. Yesterday, Ndamukong Suh, a defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions, gave us the perfect example of our rule: When what you have done is so egregious, so out of bounds -- just say you are profoundly sorry and make an exit.

Suh, already discredited as being one of the dirtiest players in football, was thrown out of a game for stomping on a Green Bay Packer who was on the ground.

Trying to explain himself afterward, Suh rambled on and on and on with one feeble, self promoting excuse after another. Even, at one point, saying GOD knows there was no aggression in his heart when he stomped on the arm of an opposing player.

Maybe there was no aggression in his heart...but there seemed quite a bit in his foot.

Update: Apparently the Detroit Lions agree with us. According to press reports the situation continues to bubble and Suh is likely to face a large fine and suspension. Perhaps this led the Lions to issue a statement condemning their tackle's footwork and issuing a statement on his behalf in which he reverses field and calls his own actions "unacceptable."

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Need to Know

2011-11-18T15:06:00.001-05:00

15-Seconds Co-founder Fred Francis hosted a panel of military experts on PBS November 18 to discuss the wisdom of spending on multi-billion-dollar airplanes and ships, and whether it compromises troop training and safety.

The program is called "Need to Know," and the segment is titled: "The Pentagon: Hard Times, hard choices."

Watch The Pentagon: Hard times, hard choices on PBS. See more from NEED TO KNOW.

Francis, former NBC News Pentagon correspondent, and the panel explore whether military health care benefits and pensions should be cut, if overseas troop deployments dating from the 1940s and 1950s are still necessary and how the Pentagon can deal with foreign threats without spending too much during difficult economic times.

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Chef Stirs Up Trouble

2011-11-09T22:40:00.000-05:00

Chef Mario Batali left a bad taste for some of his customers. The celebrity chef was part of a panel discussion organized by Time Magazine.

Chef Batali - What a croc - Time photo

The panel was a non-event set up to promote another non-event - debating who should be selected as Time's "Person of the Year."

Apparently Time figured having NBC's Brian Williams, Saturday Night Live's Seth Myers, law professor and alleged sexual harassment victim Anita Hill, and Batali gassing on about the "POY" might cook up a little buzz. It did.

Whether a chef's opinion on such matters really matters -- could be debated. But there is no debate that Batali salted his remarks with some controversial stuff. Rick Stengel, managing editor of Time and moderator of the event, pointed out that some of the past "persons of the year" have been evil guys. Batali then said that "the entire banking industry" might be candidates because of "the ways the bankers have kind of toppled the way money is distributed and taken most of it into their own hands is as good as Stalin or Hitler and the evil guys..."
(his comments are at the 6:40 mark of the video below)

While bankers have done much to earn the distrust of the public - comparing them to two of the biggest mass murderers in history may be a bit over the top.

Apparently large chunks of the banking industry in New York objected to the comparison. Transcripts of the chef's comments have been passed around virally along with recommendations that colleagues cancel their reservations in the baker's dozen or so fancy restaurants that Batali owns in the Big Apple. Some of Batali's bistro's are so fancy that you almost have to be -- well, a banker, to afford to eat there.

A reporter from Forbes approached Batali after the event and gave him a chance to let some of the air out of the bankers=Nazis souffle. "Oh that was just a metaphor" the chef said (good start) but then Batali doubled down on stupid. "I do think bankers change lives as much as a repressive (inaudible) autocrat. But that said, it was more direct." (Apparently he means gas chambers were more direct than debit card fees.)

Whether the bankers' boycott has any bite remains to be seen. But Batali would have been well-advised to season his remarks a little more reasonably. He could have made his point about the negative effect of the banking industry's actions firmly and colorfully without going for the Hitler and Stalin comparison. There are certain metaphors which should be used only the rarest circumstances. It is next to impossible to generate any sympathy for bankers -- but calling them Nazis may be the recipe for such an unlikely outcome.

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Honest to a Fault

2011-11-04T20:45:00.001-04:00

Sometimes the only thing worse than lying is telling the truth. A top U.S. general was fired today for being too candid with a reporter.

Major General Peter Fuller, was relieved of his duties in Afghanistan today for telling a Politico reporter that key portions of the Afghan government were "isolated from reality" and fail to appreciate how much "treasure and blood" the United States has spent on trying to secure their freedom.

The General understandably is unhappy with some recent comments from Afghan President Hamid Karzai who has said if necessary he would side with Pakistan in a war against the U.S. Politico says Fuller called Karzai's comments "erratic" and quoted him as saying:

“Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care’?”

While U.S. troops are in the region to win freedom for the Afghan people -- Fuller's own freedoms don't include openly insulting (no matter how well-deserved) the host nation.

With some focused media training -- and a clear plan of what he was going to say before he said it, Fuller would have been able to convey a strong message without sacrificing the rest of his career. Committing truth doesn't need to be a suicide mission.

In giving Fuller the brush off, his boss, General John Allen said in a written statement:

"The Afghan people are an honorable people, and comments such as these will not keep us from accomplishing our most critical and shared mission: bringing about a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan."

It is a shame that while trying to fire a warning shot across Karzai's bow -- Fuller ended up shooting himself in the foot.

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Public Offender

2011-11-03T13:55:00.000-04:00

It must be something in the water in Ohio. First a woman gets arrested for driving 100+ MPH, drunk, and nearly naked.

Erin Holdsworth, 28, led cops on a high-speed, low-clothes chase on October 11th.

Then this week following her court appearance, a local crew from WOIO-TV tried to ask a few questions. Erin's public defender came to her defense by cursing at the reporter and hitting the camera with a stack of legal briefs. Adding to the solemnity of the situation -- the papers went flying.

Reporter Paul Orlousky says no one was hurt in the incident -- but we're not so sure. He finished his report by reenacting the traffic stop and appearing to get out of his car without clothes. The only explanation for that action is brain damage from being bonked with briefs.

We don't know what got into the public defender (perhaps the same stuff that got into Holdsworth before her late-night ride) but it should go without saying that if you are trying to defend your client for ill-advised irrational acts -- you ought to avoid them yourself.

h/t TV Spy

BoA: Slow Listeners

2011-11-01T21:05:00.000-04:00

The Bank of America had a deficit of clear thinking. Today the Bank announced that it was backing away from plans announced a month ago to start charging customers $5 a month to use debit cards.

The reversal of fortune was revealed in a terse two-paragraph written statement. The bank has been getting hammered by politicians, in the media, through on-line petitions, and by demonstrators across the country. Justified or not, the Bank's fee scheme had become a symbol of greed at a time when public sentiment is running high against blatant displays of corporate excess.

Last week a senior Bank exec whined that he was "incensed" that his organization wasn't appreciated enough by its critics.

In the statement today, Bank co-CEO David Darnell said "We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee." One has to wonder...if they were listening...what took them so long to hear?

"We Have Listened To Our Customers"

In a debacle this bad -- the Bank should have recognized the need to change its course much sooner. It also should have put a senior spokesperson on camera to explain their action. Instead, the written statement released today has all the warmth of a bank robber's stick up note.

The Bank did have spokespeople talking to reporters on background today blaming recent changes in the law for the need to increase revenue from things like debit card fees.

That argument might have been undercut a bit by profits for the Bank which were announced two weeks ago -- totaling $6.2 billion for the 3rd quarter.

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(Not) Praising Cain

2011-10-31T19:36:00.000-04:00

The Cain campaign gave a tutorial over the weekend on how not to respond to a negative story.

Politico broke a story which claimed that two women receive financial settlements from the National Restaurant Association (which Herman Cain led in the 1990s) after lodging sexual harassment complaints against the man who is now front-runner among Republican presidential candidates.

Cain was confronted by a reporter outside CBS News Sunday (where he had just appeared on Face the Nation) and was asked if he had ever sexually harassed anyone. Taking a page from another Herman, Pee Wee Herman, and the "I know you are but what am I?" school of public affairs, Cain responded only by asking the reporter if HE had ever been accused of harassment.

Things went (further) downhill after that. A Cain spokesman, J.D. Gordon, called in to Geraldo Rivera's show on Fox News Sunday night. With the host awkwardly holding a cell phone up to his lapel mic to catch the spokesman's spin, Gordon kept trying to denigrate the story by calling it "thinly sourced" and saying his boss "deserved better." Maybe so, but is it true?

Geraldo tried time-and-again to get an answer to the question of whether there was a cash settlement to no avail. At one point he told Gordon "What you are doing now is a recipe for disaster, mate." You can see the video below.

Clearly Gordon's spin wasn't working. Today the candidate himself came out and said on several different programs that he had been falsely accused back in the 90's and that his organization may have made some cash settlements to make the issue go away but that he had never sexually harassed anyone. He said the charges were "totally baseless" and "totally false."

We're betting Cain's spokesman would have liked to have been armed with those words when he went on "Geraldo at Large" the night before.

You have to wonder why it took the campaign almost 24 hours to come up with a plausible response. It is not as if they were blindsided by the allegation. Politico says they had been asking Cain's people about the charges for several days before publication.

There are some questions -- and some stories which you can finesse your way around. But this was not one of them. The only way to deal with these kinds of allegations are to get the facts out instantly. Cain & company are thin on experience -- and the last day has delivered a painful lesson.

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Bank of America Incense Nonsense

2011-10-28T14:46:00.001-04:00

We're lovable, dammit! So says the BoA CEO. Brian Moynihan, teller-in-chief at the Bank of America, is annoyed at all the ungrateful depositors out there.

Speaking at a "global town hall meeting" last week, according to Bloomberg News, he told employees the Bank is not getting enough (public) credit:

“I, like you, get a little incensed when you think about how much good all of you do, whether it’s volunteer hours, charitable giving we do, serving clients and customers well...”

Someone needs to tell Moynihan that if your customers think you are ripping them off you don't get points for turning around and giving a portion of that money to charity.

Adding to the tone deaf lecture, Moynihan had words for the bank's detractors:

“You ought to think a little about that before you start yelling at us,” he yelled.

Hopefully, Moynihan is smart enough to understand that he wasn't just speaking to an internal audience. Remarks like that were clearly going to reach those who don't have warm and fuzzy feelings about the bank. Whining about it won't help.

The tone of his comments are exactly the kind of elitism on which journalists feed. Everything an embattled bank CEO says should be part of a carefully orchestrated messaging plan. Moynihan looks like he was vying for the "BP Tony Hayward Dumb Boss of the Month Award."

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The Birther News Blues

2011-10-27T17:41:00.000-04:00

Nearly as bad as saying something dumb to the media on the campaign trail -- is saying your were wrong too slowly.

Governor Rick Perry is on a roll. Or perhaps it is a roller coaster. First he scored a cover story in Parade Magazine over the weekend and managed to create some controversy (which is hard to do in a Sunday supplement.) Right after explaining how he once shot a coyote to save a puppy he had this exchange with a reporter:

Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?

I have no reason to think otherwise.

That’s not a definitive, “Yes, I believe he”—

Well, I don’t have a definitive answer, because he’s never seen my birth certificate.

But you’ve seen his.

I don’t know. Have I?

You don’t believe what’s been released?

I don’t know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.

And?

That came up.

And he said?

He doesn’t think it’s real.

And you said?

I don’t have any idea. It doesn’t matter. He’s the President of the United States. He’s elected. It’s a distractive issue.

It is "distractive" alright -- but for Perry.

The seemingly dead birth certificate issue was all the media wanted to talk to Perry about over the next couple days. Perry told CNBC's John Harwood it is just a "good issue to keep alive" adding that he is "not worried about the President's birth certificate" but that it was "fun" to "poke" him about it.

When that didn't go down well, Perry told the St Pete Times that "he has no doubt that Barack Obama was born in the U.S., saying that he was only kidding around when he voiced doubts" earlier.

In political and other types of communications, you need to decide what your message is and stick to it. If you stumble and get off message, you don't want to make a slow retreat. If Perry had said right off the bat that he didn't mean to suggest the President's birth certificate was bogus he would have had a chance to talking about his own qualifications much sooner.

Jets PR Fumbles Intercepted Interview

2011-10-24T17:03:00.000-04:00

PR people can sometimes gently steer print interviews with their clients that are going off track. But live TV and radio interviews? Once the questioning starts -- any interference from the spokesman should draw a flag.

A New York Jets PR man is receiving flack for breaking in to an on-going telephone interview All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis was having with WFAN radio's Mike Francesa on Friday.

Francesa was riding Revis about a play the previous game in which the radio host suggested Revis should have received a penalty. From the clip below -- it appears that Francesa was mostly kidding -- but Jets PR staffer Jarey Winley jumped on the line and directed Revis to hang up. Which he did.

According to the New York Times, Winley later called the show's producer and apologized. But even the apology was lame.

“In my judgment, given the tone of the interview, I should have asked Mike to move on to another topic, instead of instructing Darrelle to hang up the phone. That was an error on my part. I’ve called Mike’s producer and I apologized,” Winley said,

Wrong again, Jared. You don't insert yourself in the middle of an ongoing live radio interview (especially when the host doesn't even know you are on the line.)

Your job -- or the job of the people the PR staff should hire -- is to train the players to handle any adverse situation an interviewer might throw at them.

Francesa's joshing was about a 1 on the 1-to-10 scale of tough interview tactics. By inserting yourself into it -- you gave the issue a thousand times more attention than it might ordinarily have gotten. And you allowed Francesa to run up the score on the Jets.

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BTW - readers may wonder what the images below have to do with this story. The answer is: nothing. We noticed that our website gets a ton of hits from people who are not looking for PR advice but are shopping for images used in some of our past postings. So we tacked on some of the most popular images below as a sort of one-stop-shopping place for those who are in the market for pictures of pink Rugers and Tang.

Pink Ruger


Breaking News Sign

Dr Kristin Snow

The Electric Barbarellas

Tang

Gumbel: A Slave to Silly Arguments

2011-10-19T13:13:00.000-04:00

To make an impression, media commentators need to be provocative. But there is a fine line between colorful and crazy -- and Bryant Gumbel just blew past it.

Hosting HBO's "Real Sports" last night Gumbel ended with a rant about the current NBA lockout. Bryant blamed NBA commissioner David Stern for the current state of non-play. Fair enough.

But in going after the commissioner, Gumbel committed a flagrant foul saying that Stern "...always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer treating NBA men as if they were his boys."

Gumbel is free to inject race into the dispute, as he often does in his other reporting, but to try to portray NBA players as plantation slaves -- when their average salary last year was $5.15 million seems like quite a stretch.

Even if you factor in that the "average" was skewed by a few superstars making upwards of $25 million a year, it is hard to dismiss the median salary of $2.33 million as indentured servitude.

The number one no-no when making analogies in the media is that you should never compare anyone or anything to the Nazis or Hitler. Running a close second is the rule that you should never try to win sympathy for millionaires by calling them slaves.

Video below from HBO:

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What Made Sammy Run?

2011-10-17T14:13:00.000-04:00

If you want to stay off of the evening news, threatening to kick a reporter's butt is a bad way to accomplish your goal.

Investigators in South Carolina are reportedly looking into Lieutenant Governor Ken Ard's handling of campaign contributions.

Last week a Grand Jury took testimony from a number of people regarding the case.

WIS-TV in Columbia, SC decided they'd ask some folks about their Grand Jury testimony. Among those they sought to question was Sammy Ard, the LT Gov's brother. Ard's response was spirited and resulted in him getting about a minute of airtime out of a four minute story. Here are some highlights:

Contrast that with someone else who reportedly spoke to the Grand Jury.
LT Gov Ard's former campaign manager politely told WIS that her lawyer didn't want her to grant interviews. But since she did so nicely, they briefly included photos of her in a pleasant setting, watching a little girl play on a scooter. That clip is below:

So the lesson here is that you can turn them down nicely, or the Ard way. You be the judge as to which is more effective.

The complete WIS report is below:

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Just Answer the Damn Question

2011-10-15T11:53:00.000-04:00

Turning water into wine is a miracle. Turning whines into good press coverage is harder.

At a press conference this week, President Obama took a shot at Fox News Correspondent Ed Henry for asking a question based on comments made by Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Instead of simply answering the question the President said: "I didn't know you were the spokesman for Mitt Romney." The exchange can be seen in the video below.

It wasn't just a one-off slam. This White House has a long history of going after a certain segment of the media -- particularly Fox.

According to Politico, on Friday, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley told CNBC's John Harwood:

"...I know it may surprise people, some people that there are certain people in the media who do seem at times to carry the water for certain — piece of the political spectrum."

Some outlets have tried to portray Obama's comment to Henry as a joke.

Mediaite says he was ribbing the reporter but also points out that when ABC's Jake Tapper cited the same Romney info in a question at a White House briefing he got a straight answer.

Whether or not Fox carries water for the Republicans or whether outfits like MSNBC peddle Kool-Aid for the Dems is not the point.

It does a spokesman no good (either seriously or jokingly) to denigrate the questioner.

Our advice: save the jokes for the fundraisers and just answer the damn question.

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Unsportsmanlike Press Conference

2011-10-11T20:11:00.000-04:00

Maybe Steve Spurrier played too many games without a helmet.

It is hard to figure what he thought he would achieve today by his actions at a scheduled news conference at the University of South Carolina.

The "Head Ball Coach," as he likes to call himself, had a head of steam built up because one of the reporters in the room, Ron Morris, apparently wrote an article Spurrier didn't like over six months ago. Man, when that guy holds a grudge, it is a doozy.

In the video below you can see Spurrier wobble around the meeting room, like a badly thrown pass, saying:

"I'm not gonna talk when he's in here. That's my right as a head coach. I don't have to talk to him, and I don't have to talk to him when he's in here so what we're going to do: All you TV guys, I'm gonna do a personal interview with you in this other room and the writers that are still left in here, I'll come back and talk to you right after that."

Good example for your players, coach. When faced with adversity -- run away.

Ah, but there may be an explanation. Cynics might think that Spurrier was creating a distraction -- because the real news was that he had thrown the team's starting quarterback off the squad today for failing to live up to team rules -- multiple times. The ex-QB, Stephen Garcia, reportedly had been suspended five times for alcohol related offenses. Perhaps the sixth time was the charm -- either that or his worst-in-the-nation interception record did him in.

In any case - Garcia apparently failed to live up to acceptable standards -- and today, so did Spurrier.

Football coaches are supposed to teach their student-athletes. Today Spurrier did. He gave a perfect demonstration of how NOT to deal with the media.

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Are You Ready for Some Dumb Stuff?

2011-10-03T21:14:00.001-04:00

Hank Williams Jr should leave the political analysis to Hank Kissinger or Brian Williams. Or almost anyone else.

The country music singer who has opened Monday Night Football telecasts for nearly a quarter century was interviewed on "Fox and Friends" this morning and accepted an invitation to provide his "expert" political analysis. Williams proceeded to compare President Obama playing golf with House Speaker Boehner as being like "Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu."

While we think analogies are generally good for explaining complex concepts on TV - comparing anyone to Nazis is guaranteed to be viewed as unsportsmanlike conduct.

ESPN reacted swiftly by distancing themselves from 'ol Hank and announcing that they planned to start tonight's program without Williams and all his "rowdy friends."

The folks at Fox and Friends are guilty of teeing up Williams to say something stupid. When he showed up this morning at a studio wearing sunglasses and slurring his words -- producers should have pulled the plug on the segment or, at a minimum, limited the questioning to softball items about football.

The main lesson here is that just because you are a celebrity that doesn't make you a qualified political analyst. Any athlete, movie star, or singer who wants to step out of their comfort zone and start doing political commentary -- needs to get some PR counseling first. An experienced PR pro would have set up a "murder board" practice session with Williams to see how he handled himself. Perhaps Williams would have ignored good advice -- but at least he would have been warned about how not to sack his career.

It remains to be seen if Williams' mouth has taken him permanently out of the line up like "Jimmy the Greek" Snyder's did back in 1988 -- about the same time Hank started opening Monday Night Football broadcasts.

This evening's game started without music and quickly segued to the national anthem -- which, even more than ever, seemed intended to send a signal.

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Stepping Out of Line At the Bank

2011-10-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

The Bank of America has managed to overdraw on its account of good will recently.

The largest bank in America annoyed a lot of depositors by announcing it plans to start charging them $5 a month for the privilege of having a debit card. The card allows customers to withdraw their own cash which the bank is holding in checking accounts -- which pay no interest.

Lots of news organizations have been checking on the reaction of customers. The New York Times sent a reporter to a BoA branch in Fayetteville, Arkansas to collect opinions. The Bank, apparently seeking to solidify its reputation as a bunch of angry old cranks, "booted from the sidewalk" the reporter for "soliciting customers."

Unless the Times reporter was selling newspaper subscriptions, the Bank was out of line. When your company is in the news for doing something controversial, you can count on the media to try to get reactions from those affected. Get over it.

BoA had three options -- the dumb one (harass the reporter), the neutral one (stay out of the way) or the smart one (send someone out to talk to the reporter -- sharing information about how the policy is being received and why it is necessary. They could have opted to explain the change to customers within earshot of the journalist -- demonstrating that they care about, and listen to, their depositors.)

It is no surprise that BoA opted for the bankrupt course of action.

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Compared to What?

2011-09-19T11:58:00.000-04:00

Want to explain some hard-to-grasp statistic? Compare it to something people already know.

The website Gawker has a item today called "How to create a shocking statistic."

They point out a recent story in the LA Times which reported that each year more Americans now die due to prescription drug overdoses than from car crashes.

Gawker, incorrectly in our view, calls the comparison a "false statistical hook," since they say there is no connection between the 37,485 people who died in 2009 (the most recent year where stats were available) from prescription overdoses and those who died in car wrecks.

The connection is that most people have some sense that a ton of people die from car crashes. They couldn't give you a number -- but they know it is a lot. So when you tell them that prescription drug overdose deaths outnumber that amount -- they think to themselves: "Wow...that is a lot." That was the impact the reporter was hoping to achieve.

Gawker itself points out, is that virtually all of the many news organizations which followed up on the LA Times story used the same statistic -- so it worked.

You don't have to use morbid statistics like deaths to make a point. Last week a news story compared the amount of rain that fell in the Northeast to how much water it would take to fill Yankee Stadium to the brim X thousand times.

We don't know how much rain it would take to top off the stadium in the Bronx...but the image clearly evokes a sense of "Man, that is a lot of water."

Just today, when describing the U.S. tax laws President Obama said that the tax code is over 10,000 pages long. Well, how big is that? He went on to say if you stacked up the regulations on the floor they would reach over five feet high. That is an image you can understand.

So if you are doing a media interview and need to convey a large numerical concept -- find some unique and colorful way to express that figure by using a unit of measure that readers and viewers can get a grip on.

By the way, the 15-Seconds blog is coming up on its 500th post. These posts, if printed out and laid end to end, would be as long as the Washington Monument is tall.

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Crash Course In Getting On TV

2011-09-16T09:50:00.001-04:00

Want to make sure your TV interview makes it on the air?

It helps to speak colorfully and with animation. In the clip below, Phoenix resident George Lindell perhaps goes a bit too far in proving the concept.

Lindell was driving to the grocery store yesterday when he was rear-ended by another car. His colorful description of the event is in the clip below. "Reality hits you hard, bro!"

After his dramatic reenactment of the crash -- Lindell comes down to earth and explains that he hopes the other driver involved -- who was still trapped in his car at the time with live electrical wires nearby -- would soon be rescued so he could "get his insurance card" to pay for repairs.

The clip below if from MyFoxPhoenix.com. When Lindell completes his trip to the grocery store -- we recommend he pick up some decaf.

Rejected Reputation Transplant

2011-09-15T22:40:00.000-04:00

Recovering from a damaged public reputation can be a tricky operation.

The Aviation Institute of Maintenance, a small employer in Philadelphia has shown how not to do it.

Claudia Rendon took a leave of absence from her job at that company to donate a kidney to her son to keep him alive.

According to the Fox affiliate in Philly, Ms Rendon has been having a tough year. Her mother died, her uncle died and her father was diagnosed with leukemia. After taking eight weeks of unpaid leave to recover from the kidney surgery which saved her son's life, she tried to go back to work. Her employer told her, however, that they had given her job to someone else in the interim.

Since the company is a small outfit -- they were within their legal rights. But the optics were awful. A MyFoxPhilly reporter showed up to ask the manager about it and was somewhat rudely shown the door.

There followed a somewhat predictable (even international) outcry about a heartless employer being mean to a woman who is now minus a kidney and a job.

The next day management recognized they were damaging their brand and announced Rendon could return on full salary and when another job opened she could "apply for it." Huh?

The same manager who threw the reporter out the day before said they had recognized the earlier decision was a mistake but snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with a legalistic explanation about how their "policy" precluded just saying she had been re-hired.

Rendon later said she didn't trust them and feared they were going to make her life "a living hell" and oh, by the way, she is getting a lawyer.

The Aviation Institute of Maintenance should know that if you want to repair your image and recover from a botched communications operation -- don't do things half-way. Anything short of saying "We are sorry. She has her job back" is just media malpractice.

Ex-Yahoo CEO F's Herself

2011-09-09T20:30:00.000-04:00

Not since Tiger Woods hit that hydrant has an exit potentially been so costly.

We've heard of people writing checks with their mouth that their body can't cash -- but former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz may have ripped up a check with her smart mouth.

Carol Bartz

The crusty Californian was understandably unhappy about getting the news over the phone on Tuesday that she was being axed from her job as CEO of Yahoo.

The next day she vented about the Yahoo board during an interview with Fortune Magazine saying "These people f---ed me over."

Bartz described how she challenged chairman Roy Bostock during the call saying "Roy, I think that's a script" and asked "Why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself?"

She went on to describe the company's directors as a bunch of "doofuses."

It must have felt good to get that off her chest. At least until the moment when Fortune pointed out that she has a clause in her contract with Yahoo which requires that she never disparage the company.

Under the contract, (which she may have just breached) Yahoo still owes her $10 million. If Bartz thinks she was "f---ed" before...she might want to wait for the next installment.

The lesson here -- as much as you would like to lash out when your man, or your board of directors, has done you wrong -- chill out. If you can't stay calm in the hours immediately after a business reversal -- stay away from reporters until you cool down. After all, revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold.

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Aw Schnucks, Don't Lie

2011-09-07T16:02:00.000-04:00

Schnucks is a Midwest grocery store chain running short on honesty.

Word started swirling recently that the company would sell its Memphis stores to bigger rival, Kroger, and retrench elsewhere.

The local Memphis paper, The Commercial Appeal, decided to check out the matter and called the company spokesperson, Lori Willis.

"There's no truth to those rumors," Willis said on August 25th. "It's business as usual at our stores," she added. "Most questions have come from The Commercial Appeal. We have not had any questions outside that."

To prove Schnucks is a caring employer she told the paper: "We've done everything we can to assure out teammates there's nothing to worry about."

That's a pretty firm knockdown. Unfortunately, eight days later, the company announced it was selling and closing the Memphis stores - a move the newspaper says will cost hundreds of jobs.

Willis' past assurances didn't register right with The Commercial Appeal, so they asked her about it.

"I did not lie to you," she lied. "I gave you the best information I had at the time..."

Willis said that if she had simply refused to comment -- her words would have been misconstrued. In other words, she feared a "no comment" would be accurately interpreted as meaning....a sale was likely.

Her tactic of telling the reporter essentially: "we're not hearing these rumors from anyone but you" is also a sure loser. Tell a reporter that they are the first one on a story and their interest only grows.

There is, of course, a chance that Willis didn't know a sale was possible and was lied to by her bosses. If that is the case, those schmucks should receive the grocery sack. But we're guessing Willis just didn't want to say anything which might cause Kroger to ring up a "no sale."

A much better response would have been for her to tell The Commercial Appeal: "As a matter of policy we never discuss actual or rumored business discussions. If there is ever anything to announce -- rest assured we will let you know."

Perhaps the St. Louis-base Schnucks didn't care if it burned a few bridges in Memphis. They (and Willis) should understand, however, that reports of their lack of honesty will spread far beyond the city they are abandoning.

The next time the grocery chain tells a reporter anything -- the media are likely to remember Schnucks cooking the truth and leaving a bad taste in Memphis.

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You Can't Make This Stuff Up

2011-09-01T11:50:00.000-04:00

Well, when dealing with the media -- you can but you shouldn't.

Gary Fabiano- Dept of Labor

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis was taking part in a media Q&A breakfast on Wednesday when she got what appeared to be an unexpected softball question.

She was questioned about the vehicle she arrived in. Rather than rolling up in a big, black armored limousine, Solis came in a relatively small silver Chevy Equinox.

Solis launched into a soliloquy about why she picked that vehicle for her official car. She said she wanted to "send a signal that we are for supporting our American workers, (and) American made products."

"The Bullet" as she calls the car is relatively fuel efficient and Solis seemed quite pleased about her selection and tied it to the "proud men and women" who make autos here in America.

Bedard

Our buddy, Paul Bedard, of U.S. News, discovered, however, that the vehicle is assembled at two Canadian plants.

Video of Solis' answer is below.

There are two possible explanations for how the Labor Secretary got things so wrong. One is that she was just making up the answer on the spot and assumed that the car was American made. The other is that she did indeed instruct her staff to purchase a car to "send a signal" and they screwed up horrendously.

We are not sure which is worse.

By the way, screw ups are not uncommon at these Washington media breakfasts. For a time Pentagon officials (facetiously) accused the breakfast sponsors of slipping something in the scrambled eggs - because so many top military leaders let their guards down and said stupid things at the morning sessions.

The lesson here -- there are no softball questions. Don't make up answers that you hope to be true.

A Labor Department spokesman later tried to make chicken salad out of Solis's comments by pointing out that 66% of the car's parts were made in the USA. Not good enough. The Secretary's comments made clear she was not talking about parts.

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Deep Six Sarcasm on TV

2011-08-31T13:58:00.000-04:00

Sarcasm might be an effective tool in some debates but it can sink you in a TV news interview.


Orange Cty Sherriff's Dpt

Sloan Briles, a 35-year-old dad recently charged for throwing his 7-year-old son off a tourist boat in Newport Harbor, CA, provides the latest example of someone who should stay off TV when defending themselves.

Briles, who is alleged to have been drunk when he chucked the lad overboard, now claims he was just rough housing. Eyewitness said he was angry at the boy for crying and Briles helped the boy do an impromptu cannonball when he failed to stop.

Briles' bad judgment on Sunday was nearly matched yesterday when he granted an interview with KTLA-TV. In response to the question: Were you trying to kill him? he responded "Yeah, I trying to kill my son." Briles quickly added "No, of course I was not trying to kill him, we were playing in the- in the shallows."

Some of the blog and press accounts use the supposed admission -- in their lead -- only later adding the denial. For example, Gawker's headline reads: "Boat Dad on Throwing Kid Overboard, 'Yes, I Was Trying To Kill Him.'

Briles doubled down on stupid by responding to the reporter's question that he "absolutely" would have done the same thing if he had not been drinking. In one word he confirmed he was drinking and confirmed he is an idiot.

When asked why he would throw a fully clothed boy in the drink, Briles asks: "What do you want me to do, strip him down?"

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Marshall Plan Exposed

2011-08-25T13:46:00.000-04:00


Marshall wishing to get hands on PR person?

Sometimes news isn't released -- it escapes.

We're betting there is a job opening for a PR person in a Las Vegas congressional race because someone revealed more than they intended.

Democrat Kate Marshall is running in a special election for Nevada's 2nd Congressional District.

Her staff put out a press release yesterday touting her support for Israel. Fair enough.

Unfortunately -- her staff left in the release a "background" note (apparently explaining to the candidate) why she should sign off on the release. The goof was first reported in the Las Vegas Sun. Here is the note:

Background: Israel has been in the news lately, and will be even more in the news with Beck's "Rally to Restore Courage" in Jerusalem. In an R district, it will be useful to express support for Israel and demonstrate some foreign policy prowess while it is a timely topic - especially for people who are likely paying attention to Beck's event.

Doh. Someone mindlessly released the entire document in the form of a press release -- highlighting the cynical, manipulative nature of politicians trying to make news.

The gaffe is not really Marshall's fault -- unless she is handling her own press communications. But she does get the blame for hiring a press person who didn't bother to read the document before pressing "send."

We note that Marshall's website no longer contains the pro-Israel statement (with or without the explanatory note.) It does have a video which describes her as a "serious detail oriented" person.

Brevity is the Soul of What?

2011-08-24T22:40:00.000-04:00

The only thing Biden and brevity have in common is the letter "B."

CNSNEWS.com reports that the Vice President was making a public appearance at Sichuan University in China on Sunday and a student asked a question on the importance of public speaking. That is like asking him if he likes trains.

Biden launched into a lengthy answer which included what CNS called "an incoherent sentence of 68 words" on the importance of brevity.

While we normally restrict ourselves to commenting on goofs, gaffes, and occasional successes in dealing with the media -- we couldn't resist sharing this public speaking "how not to" example.

To the Chinese student who asked about the importance of public speaking -- we would say: it is very important.

But it is also important to remember that in the history of oration -- there is no record of any audience member complaining about a speech (or an answer to a question) being too short.

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Ex Witch Walks Off Piers

2011-08-17T19:43:00.001-04:00

She may not be a witch, but Christine O'Donnell likes to disappear. The failed Senate candidate from Delaware has a book out and was taking part in a taped interview with CNN's Piers Morgan today when she took offense at being asked her views on gay marriage.

After ducking the question a few times (which is any interviewee's right) and after calling Morgan "a little bit rude" - O'Donnell seemed to fall under the influence of an off-screen handler who was encouraging her to walk off. And walk off she did.

Why she walked off is more than a little unclear. As we have said dozens of times in the past -- no one looks good walking out of a television interview in a huff. If you don't want to answer a question -- don't. Talk about what you do want to talk about -- but don't cut and run just because the spirit moves you.

O'Donnell needs a new attitude -- not to mention a new handler.

Here is a compilation of some other TV interview walk offs that didn't make the interviewee look too good.

Punt, Pass and Tic

2011-08-16T19:58:00.000-04:00

People who appear on TV occasionally have verbal tics. Some say "umm" -- others like "like." And then there is "this guy."

ESPN commentator Jon Gruden has a habit of referring to players, coaches, and everyone else without using their names. He just calls them: "this guy."

Generally, he does it before heaping praise on a person -- e.g. "This guy is a heckuva football player." He does it so much that he has inspired ESPN watchers to tick off each time Gruden goes to the tic.

It has practically become a drinking game. This may explain why various outfits have different totals for Gruden's performance last night. One website clocked him in at 14 "this guys", while another put just under a dozen on the board.

Turns out Gruden got off most of his "this guys" in the second quarter -- suggesting to us that he may be aware of the problem and tried to avoid it at the start of the game only to succumb to "this guy"-ing after he got comfortable in the booth.

While not nearly as annoying as "umm" or "like," the "this guy" thing runs the risk of distracting viewers who will spend too much time keeping score of tics thereby missing the TDs.

Oddly, a couple years ago, ESPN ran a commercial based on the "this guy" phrase.

h/t Sportsgrid

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Getting Burned By the Media Can Be Child's Play

2011-08-15T16:43:00.000-04:00

Politicians frequently whine about being taken out of context. Often they set themselves up for this by being unclear in their statements to the media.

But occasionally journalists do get caught playing fast and loose with the facts and create enormous mis-impressions. Here is a remarkable example:

WBBM-TV recently aired a report about a drive-by shooting which killed a 15-year-old boy in Chicago. The anchor setting up the story said it included a "very disturbing reaction" in the neighborhood.

The on-scene report includes video of a four-year-old boy saying he is not afraid because when he grows up "I'm going to have me a gun."

What the initial TV report didn't show is included in the clip below however. The boy is asked why he would want a gun and he says "I'm going to be the police!"

By omitting the explanation, WBBM gave the clear impression that toddlers in the area were reveling in the gun violence.

WBBM subsequently said in response to a question:

"We accept responsibility for the mistakes that were made, both in the reporting and editing of the story. The video of the child should not have aired. As soon as news management identified the problem, they took immediate steps to ensure that the video would not air in subsequent newscasts. In addition, we have followed up with our employees to make sure that we all have learned from the mistakes that were made."

That's nice. But you need to protect yourself too. The lesson for interviewees young and old is -- whenever possible -- try to have your own recording of what you say. Of course you can't always have a tape recorder at the ready in case you are selected for a man-on-the-street (or boy-on-the-street) interview. But when possible, it can be very valuable to have your own record of what transpires. It may not prevent you from being taken out of context -- but it can do wonders in proving what your intent really was.

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h/t TV Spy

Gotcha, Gotcha Goof

2011-08-12T00:03:00.000-04:00

The heat must be getting to them. At the Iowa Republican presidential debate Thursday, Newt Gingrich bristled at a tough, but fair question from Fox News' Chris Wallace. The former Speaker spoke sharply to Wallace telling him to put aside the "gotcha" question.

Earlier in the day, Gingrich told a group of journalists: “All of you who want to play ‘gotcha,’ I’ll go to the next question...”

What Gingrich and other whining pols seem to fail to grasp is that by complaining about "gotcha" questions -- they are pointing out that the reporter actually did "get them."

In the case of the Iowa debate, after kvetching about the question (which was about perceived disarray in the Gingrich campaign with mass defections of his staffers) Newt demonstrated that he DID have an answer (reminding viewers that Republican icon Ronald Reagan had turmoil in his 1980 campaign -- which turned out well in the end.)

Why Gingrich didn't just smile and deliver that answer - rather than frown and be dragged kicking and screaming to it -- is a mystery.

Gingrich, of course, is not alone in his Gotcha-aversion. Sarah Palin has a long history of labeling every questions she muffs -- a "gotcha question." New York magazine ran an extensive feature on the ex-Governor's predilection for calling every question she does badly on "gotcha" journalism (for example, what newspapers do you read?) .

And it is not just Republicans who lean on the gotcha crutch. Following a 2008 Democratic presidential debate, then-Senator Obama complained that one of his opponents, Hillary Clinton, was "playing gotcha games" by raising questions about his relationship with a 1960s-era radical.

Whining about "gotcha" is never good. That doesn't mean that there aren't unfair or inappropriate questions which you might be asked. And if they are really unfair and inappropriate -- you don't need to answer them. The right solution is to have a strong, positive answer on something you DO want to say -- and to say it without the preamble about how mean the questioner is being to you.

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Twit Apology

2011-08-08T23:11:00.000-04:00

Twitter helps people say dumb stuff more efficiently. There seem to be gigabytes of examples daily.

Take last Friday, when syndicated radio sports talk host Tony Bruno felt motivated to take to Twitter and opine:

Gutless #!@%*# Giants Bochy is a coward for having his illegal alien pitcher hit a guy since mighty Frisco boys …

Bruno was displeased apparently because a San Francisco Giants pitcher, Ramon Ramirez, hit Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies with a pitch.

Unhappy with that bit of baseball action, Bruno decided (momentarily) that it would be fun to call Ramirez an illegal alien.

Setting aside for a moment that the Tweet was nonsensical (it almost goes without saying that Twitter postings are not complete thoughts) it was almost immediately clear to everyone, including the author, that this was not a wise comment.

Faster than you can say "Jackie Robinson" Bruno realized the comment was uncalled for. He says he deleted the Tweet within a minute. But a number of people saw it and some reacted by calling Bruno a "racist" and suggesting he be bounced by his employer.

Instead of just saying he was sorry and moving on -- Bruno issued a 501-word statement on his Facebook page explaining and sort of apologizing for his 130 character Tweet. The statement sounded more accusatory than apologetic, however.

Here are some of the highlights:

“Saddened to see the vulture mentality and bad knowledge by the many who have joined the sheep on facebook,twitter and blogs who did not hear my radio show yet jump to conclusions about me without knowing a single thing about me or my 40 year career. My stupid and insensitive twitter post was up less than 1 minute before I realized it was caustic, it was removed immediately and I typed a quick apology on twitter and here. Since I was doing my live radio show, I apologized more emphatically on the air, and the podcast is available on my website(tonybrunoshow.com, hour 3) for those who choose to actually get some facts to go along with the hearsay or bloggers who spread falsehoods about my apology not being “sincere”.

He concluded:

"The fact that 2 or 3 people who want to destroy my life are fanning the flames of true hate by spreading this all over the world wide web just disappoints me as someone who prides himself on being a man who embraces all races, religions and opinions. Most of my rational thinking audience and followers can attest to that fact. Hope this provides a better understanding to many who remain confused, mis-informed or just like to hear the whole story.”

Way to fan the flames Tony. The Twitterverse is littered with people who write dumb things and then blame others for saying equally dumb things in return.
By keeping the story going -- Bruno served up excuses for the mainstream media to replay and rehash his offending comment.

The issue would much more likely to go away he had simply said "I'm sorry."

h/t Sportsnewser

Man U Serious

2011-08-04T19:27:00.000-04:00

The difference between good and bad media relations can be like knight and day.

Alex Ferguson is the manager of the Manchester United Football Club (soccer to us Yanks) and the most successful guy in his line of work. He's been so successful that the Queen knighted him in 1999.

Perhaps being dubbed "Sir Alex" gives one the feeling that they are royalty. In any case, Fergie apparently didn't like a story which appeared in the Daily Mail newspaper recently which talked about his efforts to hire additional players for his team which is popularly known as "Man U."

After an exhibition match (known as a "friendly") against a squad from Barcelona, Sir Alex happened across Bob Cass, the reporter who wrote the offending story.

Ferguson spared no time in sharing his not-so-friendly views with Cass . "You and your paper can f*** off."

Yeah, that'll get you better coverage

NYPD Spin: A Shred of Truth

2011-07-28T14:06:00.000-04:00

Get caught doing something dumb and it is tempting to shift the blame.

A spokesman for the New York Police Department fell victim to that tendency as reported in a story in today's New York Daily News.

In May a blogger by the name Bucky Turco (which sounds like an alias to us) reported that he found a bunch of sensitive police documents in a trash can outside the NYPD Manhattan South Task Force on W. 42nd St. The papers included a small portion of the city's counter terrorism plans. Not the kind of stuff which out to be laying around. There was a mini-flap over the incident at the time.

Well, Bucky went back by the same trash bin Monday and guess what he found? More internal police documents. This time they don't seem to be quite as sensitive (instructions on how to resolve confrontations among police officers, how to deal with hostage situations and the like) but still probably not the best material to make available to Times Square dumpster divers.

The Daily News quotes NYPD spokesman Paul Browne as admitting that their officers shouldn't litter the city with such stuff but apparently he couldn't resist taking a shot at Bucky:

"While none of the documents appear to be sensitive, the command should ensure they're shredded," Browne is quoted as saying, "especially since someone with a lot of time on his hands is going through the garbage there."

Ouch. We're sure Browne felt good getting a shot off at Turco but, as he knows, terrorists and criminals have a lot of time on their hands too.

While it may well be true that the most recent documents were not particularly important, there is little advantage in hanging your police hat on that fact. The impression left but such a defense is that the NYPD is cavalier about protecting sensitive stuff.

Browne would have been better advised to simply say the documents should have been shredded and that they'll do better in the future. Full stop.

A Tale of Wu

2011-07-23T11:17:00.001-04:00

What people DON'T say is often as important as what they do.

Congressman David Wu (D, OR) is in trouble (again.) The Oregonian newspaper is reporting that a young woman has claimed he forced an "unwanted sexual encounter" on her.

Hard to believe Wu would have trouble pitching women. The image at the right is not photo shopped. He previously admitted sending out bizarre shots of himself dressed as a tiger to people.

The woman, reportedly just shy of 40 years his junior, is said to have left a voice mail message at the congressman's office "upset, breathing heavily and 'distraught'."

The newspaper says it tried for four days to get Wu to respond to the report without success until late Friday when he issued this one-sentence statement:

"This is very serious, and I have absolutely no desire to bring unwanted publicity, attention, or stress to a young woman and her family."

OK class, what is missing from that statement? How about: "I did nothing wrong." The absence of any such formulation leaves the reader with the impression that the Tiger was on the prowl.

The woman has not pressed charges. But Wu's worrisome statement does little to remove the notion that Wu is a crouching tiger, hidden wacko.

h/t Chickaboomer

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Rahm Rage Over School Q's

2011-07-21T15:26:00.000-04:00

Rahm Emanuel losing his cool? Who'da thunk it? OK, anyone who knows his rep. But over this?

A reporter from NBC's Chicago affiliate pushed the Mayor's buttons Wednesday by asking Emanuel where his kids would go to school. The nerve! At first, Emanuel ducked the question pleasantly -- even jovially, as can be seen in the video below.

But when reporter Mary Ann Ahern pressed for an answer, Hizzoner got all hissy and walked off -- dropping his microphone to the floor and saying "I look forward to our future interview" while giving the clear impression it would be a cold day before Ahern got another crack at the mayor.

Just before her boss blew a gasket, Emanuel's press secretary, Tarrah Cooper, (who has less time alive than Ahern has as a reporter) tried to avoid a mayoral meltdown by declaring time was up ten minutes into a scheduled twenty-minute interview.

If Emanuel had stuck with his initial answer -- repeatedly smiling and saying he'll make the school choice decision as a Dad and not a mayor, the moment would have passed unnoticed. Instead he drew attention to the controversial issue by highlighting his notorious hot temper.

View more videos at: http://www.nbcchicago.com.

Ahern instructed her cameraman to stop rolling when Emanuel evacuated the interview seat. Too bad. Because, as she tells it, the mayor then:

"...positioned himself inches from my face and pointed his finger directly at my head. He raised his voice and admonished me. How dare I ask where his children would go to school! You've done this before," he said."

THAT would have made good TV. You can make a legitimate argument that where a politician's kids go to school is not a subject on which the public and the media should have a vote. But Emanuel needs to learn that while he has a right to not answer the question -- Ahern and others like her have the right to ask it.

Staff Gives Bachmann Headache

2011-07-19T22:45:00.001-04:00

Michele Bachmann is having a bad day. First, The Daily Caller ran a story quoting former staffers of hers claiming she suffers debilitating migraine headaches which can "incapacitate" her for days at a stretch. Not the best resume builder for someone who wants to be President -- which is a 24/7 kind of job.

But it gets worse. Campaigning in Aiken, SC today, Bachmann looked out on the crowd of about 150 people and saw ABC News' Brian Ross -- a reporter known to induce headaches among lots of government officials.

The candidate made a short statement to the press minimizing the impact of her migraines, a condition she says she shared with 30 million Americans. But then she attempted to depart quickly without answering questions. Ross pursued her shouting questions about whether she had ever missed a House vote due to migraines. Two Bachmann staffers turned on Ross and went into overdrive. They "pounced on him, grabbing and pushing him multiple times with what looked to (Time Magazine correspondent Michael Crowley) like unusual force."

Crowley said he had never seen a reporter treated so roughly at a campaign stop. Ross didn't play the incident up, however, saying he had been treated worse in the past "mostly by mafia types." Interestingly, Ross did not appear to have a story on the incident on Tuesday's World News Tonight. (update: we're guessing Ross must have "out run his coverage" if ABC had video of the incident they surely would have shown it by now. Ross appeared on ABC's "The View" the next day to describe the incident but no pictures were offered.)

Surely Bachmann didn't tell her staff to rough up Ross. Sometimes staffers overstep their authorities and give their bosses Excedrin moments.

But if she wants to be considered a plausible presidential candidate, she needs to learn how to stand her ground and field tough questions with a smile -- not run from them like they are giving her a massive migraine.

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The Reporter Made Me Do It

2011-07-14T22:49:00.001-04:00

People quoted saying offensive or dumb things often try to hide behind the "I was taken out of context" dodge. The latest person to call that play is Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison.

Photo by Nathaniel Welch

The linebacker made news with an interview just published in "Men's Journal" which quotes him trashing several teammates and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

On Thursday Harrison issued a statement offering his apologies to teammates who he seemed to blame for their Super Bowl loss.

In his defense, Harrison points out that the reporter spent four days with him and: "the handful of words that were used and heavily publicized yesterday were pulled out of a long conversation and the context was lost."

He apologized (sort of) for the impression given by posing with guns. He likes to fish too, he says, and they could have shot a photo of him with his fishing gear -- it just wouldn't have been as interesting. His intent was not to appear to advocate gun (or fishing pole) violence, he says.

Harrison also apologized to gay people -- for having called the commissioner a "faggot" (not to mention a "punk" and "dictator.") He informs us that he is "not a homophobic bigot and (he) would never advocate intolerance of gay people."

There is no apology to Goodell, however, of whom Men's Journal quotes Harrison as saying: "If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn’t do it. I hate him and will never respect him."

Apparently the reporter got the context of that quote right.

You've got to watch out for those tricky reporters.

Oh Lord, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

2011-07-12T23:25:00.000-04:00

It is hard enough avoiding saying something stupid when you are on live TV. You also have worry about people hearing stupid things you don't say.

Here is an example. On ESPN Monday night during Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby, analyst and former manager Bobby Valentine explained why hitters get tired trying to hit homers in the competition. He told fellow talking heads that the ball players get their adrenaline going, swing too quickly and before you know it "you're fagged out."

Within minutes Valentine was being called on the use of the term.

A reporter from Sports Illustrated contacted Valentine asking about his language -- and tweeted his response saying that he meant to say "fatigued" and it came out wrong. A broken hearted Valentine said he was truly sorry for his "mistake."

Only problem was there was no mistake. "Fagged out" means exhausted. Exactly what Valentine intended.

"Fagged out" has been used for hundreds of years -- including in Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer."

The phrase is not in common usage today and viewers too often have "rabbit ears" -- a baseball term meaning they hear every negative comment hurled their way.

Valentine was probably wise to just apologize and try to put the matter behind him -- even though he said nothing wrong. The easily offended are a hard bunch to convince and former baseball managers are not the best choice to give linguistic lessons.

h/t Awfulannouncing.com

Point Blank Media Relations

2011-07-11T17:04:00.001-04:00

Press spokesmen and public officials may fantasize about firing back at their questioners -- but this is ridiculous.

The Arizona Republic says that Republican State Senator Lori Klein pulled out a loaded raspberry-pink .380 Ruger hand gun and pointed it at one of their reporters. It was all in good fun she says.

Klein described the weapon as "...so cute" when she demonstrated its features by pointing its red laser targeting beam at a reporter's chest. Klein says not to worry because she "didn't have (her) hand on the trigger." Oh, well, that's OK then.

The pistol-packing Senator takes the weapon everywhere with her including on the floor of the State Senate.

Views on guns vary widely. They are an especially hot topic in Arizona where six people were killed and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and thirteen others were seriously wounded by a gunman on January 8th.

We aren't trying to muzzle Ms Klein, but if your aim is to convince the media that citizens can safely carry loaded firearms around town --we don't recommend recklessly pointing a weapon at a reporter while making your case.

What could possibly go wrong?

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Post Hoc Fallacy

2011-07-02T14:49:00.000-04:00

It seems the NY Post fired a reporter for talking to reporters. Huh?

Adweek reports that the tabloid's editor, Col Allan, went bonkers recently trying to find out who in his newsroom was talking to journalists from other publications.

The proximate cause of Allan's angst was a story in Adweek which revealed that the Post was about to raise its cover price from fifty cents to seventy-five -- an action that happened a few days later. Some secret. What really got Col hot under the collar was the leaking of emails from his editors to his reporters pressuring them to come up with scoops.

Apparently the Post nailed their man -- and Adweek says the paper fired police reporter John Doyle who has yet to confirm his axing.

There is something more than a little amusing about a newspaper firing people from their organization for doing what they try to get people from other organizations to do everyday.

While Allan has the right to impose discipline on the newsroom, his attention might be better focused on preventing journalistic excess like the way they covered the Dominque Strauss-Kahn maid "rape" case. The paper has flip flopped from calling the former IMF chief as a "Perv" to calling his accuser a "hooker" without a moments self-reflection that perhaps they, like the District Attorney, has rushed to judgement.

The Post is not the most respected newspaper around -- by a long shot. Instead of assuming that this is because his reporters are leaking internal communications, Allan might look for a more public explanation....like the ones on his front pages.

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Choked Up Over Allegations

2011-07-01T09:35:00.000-04:00

Justice David Prosser handed down an example of how not to deal with aggressive media. Prosser has been accused of putting fellow Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a choke hold during deliberations two weeks ago.

When a local Fox television reporter tried to question him on his alleged lack of judicial restraint, Prosser briefly grabbed the reporter's microphone and then quickly gave it back. The judge may be well-advised not to answer questions on the incident at the moment but it is just dumb to act like, well, like something which, if fully described, could get you suspended from MSNBC.

Prosser's defenders have been saying that he didn't really choke his colleague, he was just defending himself when she attacked him. But the Justice undermined his case by vividly demonstrating his short fuze and giving evidence that reports of his disorder in the court might be accurate.

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3 Ways Not To Improve Your Public Image

2011-06-25T19:29:00.001-04:00

Here's some recent examples not to follow.

1. Tiki Barber

Ep. 171: Tiki

The rap against him: Self-obsessed ex-football player who dumped his pregnant wife to run off with an NBC intern. Now plotting a return to the gridiron, four years after retiring.

The smart approach: Barber should keep his mouth shut and let his on field performance do the talking.

What'd he did: Sat down for a lengthy HBO Real Sports interview explaining that after losing his broadcasting job he has suddenly discovered that he "needs" football. What's worse, he followed that with a lengthy interview on WFAN radio. Barber insisted that his agent be on the line with him and angrily debated whether he had been fired by NBC. Not a good way to demonstrate humility.

2. Mitt Romney

The rap against him: Thought not to be a man of the people. A patrician millionaire out of touch with potential voters in the 2012 presidential election.

The smart approach: Don't tell us you are a man of the people. Show us by your actions.

What he did: Jokingly described himself as "unemployed"- an attempt at humor that fell flat. Then, when out campaigning, looked in his wallet for a couple dollars to give a kid and struggled to find anything smaller than a $100 bill.

3. Ron Artest

The rap against him: Known as an eccentric, erratic and outspoken NBA basketball player most famous for his role in a 2004 brawl in which he went into the stands at a game in Detroit hitting a fan who he thought (incorrectly) was the person who threw soda at him while he was laying down on the scorers table. Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season missing 86 games. Although he has avoid anything quite so dramatic since -- Artest has continued to be controversial.

The smart approach: Act normal. Do good deeds. (Artest has done some of this, annoucing that he was donating much of his salary in 2010-2011 to various mental health charities)

What he did: Petitioned L.A. County Superior Court to allow him to change his name to "Metta World Peace."

At least it wasn't the worst name change idea that came to light this week. Media accounts say that documents found in Usama bin Laden's hideout suggest that the terrorist leader had considered changing the name of his Al Qa'ida organization because they have gotten some (exceedingly well-deserved) bad ink.

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Curse of the Spider Woman

2011-06-20T14:25:00.001-04:00

Julie Taymor

The people have spoken, damn them. Julie Taymor, ex-director of the Broadway play "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" is unimpressed.

The New York Times today quotes Taymor critiquing the re-tooled show she was axed from in March. A newer, "much simpler," version of the $70 million extravaganza opened last week.

A large number of the show's actors went splat during earlier performances but worst, audiences complained that the show was just too confusing.

After Taymor's firing her successor tried to clear up Spider-Man's web of confusion. She went to see the new version last week but didn't like what she saw.

"It's very scary if people are going to move towards... (having) audiences tell you how to make a show," the Times quotes Taymor as huffing.

"Shakespeare would have been appalled. Forget about it. It would be impossible to have these works come out because there's always something that people don't like," she added.

Yeah, if the groundlings got a vote, Shakespeare never would have been able to include that scene where Juliet slides down zip line from her balcony smack into Romeo's arms.

Message to Taymor: you and your version of Spidy got canned. It is not likely that your take on the revision is going to be viewed as unbiased. And comparing what your previously called your "rock-and-roll circus drama" to Shakespeare isn't going to fly either.

While we have seen neither the earlier version nor the new-improved Spider-Man-Lite, our advice to Taymor is to not only "turn off the dark" -- but also to lighten up.

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Ex-BP Boss Spills PR Secrets

2011-06-17T15:27:00.000-04:00

Now that he has his life back, Tony Hayward is talking about lessons learned from last year's environmental/PR disaster.

Hayward presided over BP's response to the Deepwater Horizon crisis in the Gulf of Mexico in a manner which earned him a place in public relations text books -- and not in a good way.

Recently, Hayward spoke to a bunch of communicators at a big UK PR agency called the Loewy Group. Someone present summarized Hayward's comments in a blog.

Among Hayward's conclusions -- media coverage of the oil spill was "vicious." He apparently was surprised to find inaccuracies in stories and inflated fears. "We were at war with the media every day. There's no other word for it," Hayward is quoted as saying. Yes, Tony, and you lost the war.

Hayward says that at the height of the crisis, BP had 50 people working full time simply to push back against "inaccurate" information on social networks on the internet. Seems to us the problem was more about the accurate reporting of what Hayward and others from BP said.

Looking back, Hayward says he would have had a more senior team in charge of responding to the media. Excellent idea -- you don't want someone handling a global mess like that one who is on their first crisis.

He also suggests that all large corporations should test their crisis plans regularly and admits that BP wasn't ready for what hit them. No kidding.

The blog item makes no mention of whether Hayward takes any personal blame for throwing petrol on the oil rig fire. He's right that companies need senior communications experts and lots of pre-disaster practice in situations like these...but none of that will suffice if the corporation's top leaders demonstrate a tin-ear for getting their message out.

People like Hayward need lots of practice on shaping the tone, content and delivery of their message. In-house PR shops are often ill-equipped to tell the boss that he is sounding arrogant, heartless, or oblivious -- but someone needs to be brought in with the clout to save them from themselves.

Hayward is right about crises situations can lead to war-like situation with the media. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld -- you go to war with the leaders you have. It is clear that BP was not battle ready.

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Retroactive Off the Record

2011-06-15T11:15:00.001-04:00

You'd think a journalist would know better. Well, maybe not.

Dina Temple-Raston

NPR correspondent Dina Temple-Raston earned a negative distinction last week when she gave a paid speech to the Darien/Norwalk (CT) YWCA.

The event was an awards luncheon honoring the local 2011 "Women of Distinction."

Jim Cameron, a volunteer program director for the local cable-access TV channel, was invited to cover the event by the YWCA. But a few days before the luncheon he got word that video was verboten -- allegedly because of an NPR rule. Questioning that edict, he was then told it was Ms Temple-Raston's personal rule.

Cameron says he decided to cover the awards portion -- and hoped to speak with the camera-shy reporter before the event to see if he could change her mind. Here is what he reports in his blog of their brief conversation:

"You know you cannot tape my speech"' she said. "So I've heard," he said, "But why? Is it really an NPR rule?". "No," she said, "It's just my personal preference. I am on vacation today."

"As a journalist are you comfortable in stopping my coverage of your speech?” he asked.

"Absolutely," she said without hesitation. "You're lucky I'm allowing you to tape the awards presentations!"

"That's not your call," Cameron told her. "I'm here at the invitation of the YWCA."

"Well, that camera better be off. That's an ethical issue," she said, and then added icing to the cake... "and this conversation is off the record."

Doh. Setting aside the seeming inconsistency of a broadcast journalist banning the recording of a public speech -- Temple-Raston pulled the amateur mistake of having a conversation with a reporter and then retroactively trying to declare it off-the-record. Doesn't work that way, Dina.

Cameron says that perhaps the skittishness about recording has something to do with the flap former NPR correspondent Juan Williams got himself into while speaking not on NPR's air. The turmoil resulted in Williams getting fired from his former employer. But it seems to us that explanation doesn't hold water - she allowed print reporters to cover her luncheon remarks and to quote whatever they wanted.

There is another -- more mundane -- explanation for the evasion of Temple-Raston. Public figures who make speeches for pay, as she does, often try to avoid having lengthy excerpts of their remarks aired -- because they want to re-use the same speech over and over again. A public access channel like Cameron's could easily put the entire speech up on the internet and make it available to anyone who might Google Temple-Raston.

So, all things considered, her reluctance may have had more to do with a desire to recycle the same remarks without her audiences (like the one in Connecticut where tickets were $85 each and up!) knowing that they are getting a canned speech.

h/t Newsbusters

Exit Pols

2011-06-10T14:25:00.000-04:00

Location, location, location. Where you have a press conference can be nearly as important as what you say.

Yesterday, nearly the entire senior staff of New Gingrich's presidential campaign resigned en masse.

Today he fired back -- from his backyard.

It is commonplace for there to be an occasional staff shakeup on even the most successful campaigns. But mass mutiny is rarely a good sign about someone's leadership skills.

So it was incumbent on Gingrich to come out today and try to put the best possible spin on the fact that his paid staff no longer supports him.

His message was this:

"Let me just say that there is a fundamental strategic difference between the traditional consulting community, and the kind of campaign I want to run. Now, we'll find out over the next year who's right. But I believe we live in a time when Americans are genuinely frightened for their country's future, and when the country really wants to have leadership that talks with them honestly, and isn't automatically doing the old politics.

Addressing whether (third) wife Callista was part of the problem, Gingrich said:

"We make decisions as a couple. I think most couples would find that refreshing, not a problem, and I think that what we've been trying to do is carry messages to the American people and listen to the American people. And you'll see us over the next few weeks doing it in new and dynamic and much more open ways than the traditional consultants are comfortable with."

The former Speaker chose to speak on the lawn outside his home in McLean, Virginia. If someone were trying to demonstrate that he still had a functioning, professional campaign -- and that he was not being dictated to by his wife -- it might be best to hold a press conference somewhere other than in your backyard.

We would have recommended that Gingrich use a more traditional and professional setting -- but since he has made it clear that he pays no attention to the "traditional consulting community" --he probably would have ignored our advice anyway.

Back in May, we predicted that Gingrich would abandon his faltering campaign within days. We were wrong. We also failed to predict that his campaign would abandon him.

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"Weiner Hunts for Crisis Advice"

2011-06-09T12:57:00.000-04:00

That's the headline in the WSJ. In a classic case of belatedly closing the barn door, the paper reports Anthony Weiner is now "considering" hiring a crisis management consultant.

Why rush into this Anthony? You've been doing so well on your own.

Still, perhaps he might set a trend. We can see others following in his footsteps.

The Buses Are Coming! The Buses Are Coming!

2011-06-06T13:17:00.000-04:00

Why do politicians insist on making things worse when in trouble?

Possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been running around the east coast in a big bus with her signature imprinted on it -- announcing at every opportunity that she is not seeking media attention. The media are partly to blame because if they weren't chasing her around asking absurd questions, she wouldn't have to keep coming up with equally absurd answers.

On June 2nd, while visiting Boston's Old North Church, someone asked her about Paul Revere's midnight ride. Palin said it was all about "warning the British" - which came as news to school children across our "One Nation."

Yesterday, Palin appeared on Fox News Sunday. Chris Wallace courageously asked her "you realize you messed up about Paul Revere, don't you?" The story had been in the news for three days. Palin had a ton of time to come up with a rational explanation. Instead she said this:

"What am I publicizing on this tour?’ I’m publicizing Americana and our foundation and how important it is that we learn about our past and our challenges and victories throughout American history.

You know what, I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere. Here’s what Paul Revere did. He warned the Americans that ‘the British were coming, the British were coming’ and they were going to try to take our arms. . . . But remember, the British had already been there . . . part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there that, ‘hey, you’re not going to succeed. You’re not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have.’ He did warn the British. And in a shout-out, gotcha-type of question that was asked of me, I answered candidly. And I know my American history.”

Here's the clip from Fox News:

Since she is definitely NOT running for President (at this moment) -- perhaps she does not have any competent media handlers on the bus. But it is hard to understand how any public figure would not have been able to come up with a better defense.

Palin supporters are riding around telling people that she was right -- and that Revere DID warn the British -- which is true to an extent. After he was captured by the red coats and held at gunpoint -- Revere reportedly told his captors "don't mess with Mass." or something like that.

We doubt Palin had this obscure fact in mind at the time of her initial response to a "gotcha" shout-out question. She would have been better advised to simply say -- "It was a slip of the lip, I meant 'warned ABOUT the British' when I said 'warned the British.'"

Instead -- she had managed to take a relatively minor incident and make it a multi-day news story. She must be getting media relations tips from Anthony Weiner.

Clearly, a revolutionary war scholar she is not. Sadly, Palin seems to have a lot more in common with Billy Madison than with James Madison -- which gives us an excuse to include this clip showing a reaction an imprecise statement on TV

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How to Get Off The Front Pages

2011-06-03T12:50:00.003-04:00

Sometimes when you are the target of a ton of bad news stories --your only escape is to have someone else screw up worse.

Happiest man in America

Congressman Anthony Weiner is undoubtedly grateful that former Presidential candidate John Edwards turned down a plea bargain and was indicted today.

Not so happy

Nobody ever got pregnant from a Twitter picture, right?

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Freedom of Speech -- But Right To Remain Silent

2011-06-01T08:31:00.000-04:00

Going too far to attract attention - An American Tradition

It's dumb to hold a press briefing to say you won't respond to questions.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D, NY) found himself up to his ears in a media firestorm this weekend involving a lewd photo somehow sent from his Twitter account. Unless you were in a coma over the past few days, you know the details and have heard the jokes, so we won't belabor them here.

Weiner's office issued written statements over the Memorial Day holiday. Then yesterday Weiner walked out of the House chamber, after a vote, and met with a gaggle of reporters on Capitol Hill.

As can be seen in the CNN video below -- Weiner talked at great length about why he wasn't going to answer questions on the matter. If that is his stance -- fine -- but we'd recommend just issuing a written statement saying so. In this type of situation you need to either be in -- or be out. Defend yourself and answer all questions -- or just issue a press release and shut up.

Given the salacious details of his story -- Weiner is smoking his socks if he thinks he can get reporters to ask him his thoughts about the debt ceiling and health care.

It did not occur to us that Weiner might be guilty of sending the photo -- until we saw his painfully inept dealings with reporters shown below. To top matters off -- Weiner elected to call a CNN producer a "jackass" -- which, even if it were true -- is not a recommended media relations technique.

The Congressman (understandably) wants the story to go away. But sparring with reporters on camera for seven minutes while ducking all questions is not a way to achieve that.

Note to readers: It is a rare post on this blog that doesn't contain a pun or two but we have exercised great restraint in avoiding them in this item because, well -- it would be just too easy.

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Speaking Volumes, Saying Nothing

2011-05-31T12:58:00.003-04:00

Wire services often are more straightforward than other media. But sometimes terse is worse.

Janna Herron, a business reporter with Associated Press for the past five years, left her job colorfully on Friday.

In an email to her (former) colleagues she wrote:

I’m the 56th person to leave since the newsroom’s management style turned negative and mean-spirited three years ago. And I’m sure I’m not the last. I just couldn’t do it anymore.

So, best wishes to everyone. You’re all better editors, reporters and writers than what you’ve been told, and you deserve better leadership.

We don't have any insights into whether Herron has a leg to stand on, but we did find AP's spokesman, Paul Colford's subsequent comments unsettling.

When asked about Herron's shot at management --Colford replied:
"We have nothing to add."

Nothing to ADD Paul? Anything to subtract?

Though probably not intentional, Colford's response gives the impression that Herron's allegations are on the mark. And perhaps they are.

One would think that, perhaps without addressing her specifically, AP would want to say something positive about their management.

At a minimum, they could have more artfully declined comment. Instead of "nothing to add" - Colford could have said something like: "We have no specific comments regarding the circumstances involving Ms Herron's departure but wish her well."

Take this Job and Shove It - watch more funny videos

h/t Romenesko

"Let's Go to the (Audio) Tape"

2011-05-27T18:08:00.000-04:00

Attention Jocks: those little machines reporters hold can record your voice.

Latest athlete to learn this lesson the hard way is Ray Small, a former wide receive for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Small was interviewed over the phone by the school newspaper, The Lantern, and was quoted as saying that "everybody" on the football team was breaking NCAA rules. This is entirely believable since five of Small's teammates have been suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season for selling memorabilia to a tattoo parlor owner and the coach, Jim Tressel has been suspended for five games and fined $250,000 for failing to report what he knew about the matter.

While Small's statement was not surprising -- what was unsettling was that when Buckeye Nation reacted negatively to his comments, Small told a local TV station that the Lantern newspaper reporter "flipped (his) words around."

Unfortunately for Small -- the reporter has the interview on tape and the school paper says they stand by the story "100%." Stung by the accusation of "word flipping," The Lantern released excerpts of the audio of Small's interview.

Small is not the first person involved with athletics to get in trouble for committing truth. Just this week, Met's owner Fred Wilpon found himself in a pickle for being quoted trashing his own team.

A year ago (almost to the day) Dwayne Bowe of the Kansas City Chiefs blindsided his teammates by telling ESPN how they "imported" loose women for road trips. He too denied his own comments -- only to find out that they were recorded by the journalist.

The best way to avoid these kinds of situations, of course, is to avoid saying something stupid (or exceedingly honest) to a reporter. But if you flunk that test - however you try to get out of it -- don't go for the "I was misquoted" or "I was taken out of context" ploy if, upon further review, the tape proves you wrong.

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