What About The Audience?

I’m sure I’ve got to be missing something here, something that may be important.  So if someone can tell me where I’m wrong, please feel free to point it out to me.

This whole Don Imus thing–in case you haven’t heard, it seems he thought it would be funny to refer to members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”

The comment was not made in response to remarks made toward Imus by members of the team, nor does the reference appear to part of a friendly, inside joke between Imus and the young ladies.  He just went and referred to them as “nappy-headed hos.”

I am, as I write this, shaking my head in disbelief, literally.

Sometimes The Other Wheels Get Grease Too

Everyone is competing for attention these days.  Whether the venue is politics, Hollywood, the workplace, or at home, typically it is he who is loudest who gets the attention.

I’ve recently discovered however, that there is something to be said about the power of silence and its ability to attract attention.  Quite honestly, it’s pretty awesome, and you have to be pretty stupid to screw it up.

Don’t Be So Quick To Appease

First off let me say that, in regard to this post, I have some reason to be biased.  I’ll just leave it at that.  You can decide the rest for yourself.

Last week, the Akron Beacon Journal, among many other news media outlets, reported  that officers of the Akron Police Department shot and killed 19-year-old Demetrus Vinson, who, officers say, pointed a firearm at one of them during a traffic stop. 

Only that wasn’t exactly the case.

Don’t Let Your Guy Break

“A man is sorry to be honest for nothing.” Ovid–Roman poet, 43 BC-17 AD

In the political world, the re-election campaign begins the day after the candidate is elected.  

While the campaign rallies and public debates may be over, the new office holder and those who work for him still have to work on promoting him to the public.  They have to start setting the framework for re-election.

Getting in the way of the promotion are the lions.  And when given the opportunity, the lions are going to pounce.

Recently, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland opened himself up for attack after making a controversial remark regarding refugees from Iraq.

Strickland told an Associated Press reporter that he was not inclined to accept Iraqi refugees in Ohio.  He said he felt that doing so would help “bail out” the president.

France Castrates Social Media

I love everything about what we’ve come to know as the “social media.”  To think that, with the necessary motivation and lack of any other more-pressing business to attend to, I can write and publish almost anything I want, and the whole world can read it.  

In particular, I like the fact that the traditional media now have to worry about the social media “watchdog.”  Following the “Rathergate” scandal in 2004, the traditional media knows they have to be a lot more careful, because the social media might get ‘em.

In France however, the social media were recently brought down a notch.  A new law makes it a crime for anyone who is not a professional journalist to film and distribute violent images on the Internet.

Don’t Fret Over All The “Chicks”

As a male who works in a profession dominated by other males, being enrolled in the public relations program at Kent State University gives me an opportunity to be something I’m usually not–a minority.

Every night at roll call, I sit in a room of approximately 20 other men and one woman. Us guys, being who we are, usually talk about guy stuff.  We carry on, usually with little regard to the female co-worker who may be near.  She never complains.  She often joins in.  We’re all cops.  We’re all on the same team.

In class though, it’s a whole other world.  Unlike law enforcement, the public relations field is one that is dominated by women.  And since I’m usually one of only a couple of men in any PR class, I must assume women dominate the public relations field starting in college.

Apologies are Apologies for Common-Sense PR Practices

I’ve grown tired of the apology as a standard element of a crisis public relations response.  The way I see it, there are only three times when an apology is effective:

1.  When the apology is sincere                              

2.  When the apology comes before being caught

3.  When you’re six

Most apologies we hear from public figures or corporations clearly are not sincere.  How often do we hear apologies that go something like, “I’m really, truly sorry that everyone took my remarks out of context, and that the media exploited those words to make me look bad.”

For an example of such an apology, check out Amanda Marcotte’s “apology” for alleged anti-Catholic comments she made on her blog.