What a week…so many PR and media-related kerfuffles to ponder. Here’s a round-up:
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| Frustrated Marathoners (Photo: AshleyKMayo via Gothamist) |
Q: Was it a good or bad PR move for Mayor Bloomberg to cancel the NYC Marathon?
A: I think Mayor Mike’s instincts were correct. The comparison to 9/11 is apples to oranges. Too many peoples’ lives continue to be upended to merit a “return-to-normalcy” narrative. And let’s not forget the role the social spheres played in the decision. From USA Today:
“The profound influence of social media alone did not sway decision makers but it played a significant role in the unprecedented decision. Tens of thousands expressed their opposition on Facebook, Twitter and online petitions.”
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| LIPA Outage Map as of Nov. 2 |
Q: Will the Long Island Power Authority’s (LIPA) lack of preparedness for Hurricane Sandy (i.e., one week out, several hundred thousand still in the dark), permanently damage the company’s already sullied reputation, and cause it to lose its license?
A: As one of those still affected, I hope so. Granted the storm was worse than anticipated, but LIPA, which charges among the highest electric rates in the nation, remains ill-equipped to address such outages…and the consumer backlash. The UK-owned utility simply didn’t learn its lesson when Sandy’s kid sister Irene paid a visit earlier this year.
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| Romney’s Dishonest Jeep Ad Still in Rotation |
Q: The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent asks: “Can a campaign based entirely on evasions and lies succeed?”
A: He’s referring of course to the five-R ticket of Rove–Rush–Roger-Romney-Ryan. In one of the most insidious campaigns in modern history, Gov. Romney has seduced half the nation through a two-pronged PR strategy:
1) Deceive the public about POTUS’s actual record, and 2) Make grandiose promises without any specifics on how to achieve them. Add to this the hundreds of millions of “dark money” in advertising from special interests, and sadly, we’re witnessing the demise of American democracy. (Vladimir Putin is surely taking notes.)
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| NBC News’ Alex Moe – Auditioning for Fox News |
Q: Finally, can the sorry state of journalism get any worse?
A: It’s depressing to observe neophyte “journalists” Zeke Miller of BuzzFeed and Alex Moe of NBC News — both embedded with the GOP ticket — use their respective and respected news organizations’ pulpits and their own social channels to amplify the fact-free GOP talking points, unchecked. What’s worse, the exuberance with which these GOP Tools have parroted those they’re charged to cover has made it abundantly clear where their political allegiances lie.
We expect this from the Faux News Channel, but not from NBC News and the rapidly ascendant BuzzFeed. Then again, we didn’t expect “60 Minutes” on Sunday to equally blame Senate ineptitude on both political parties when one of those parties has purposely obstructed important legislation with an unheard of 240+ filibusters.
As Dan Gillmor tweeted:
BuzzFeed’s Zeke Miller, a year out of college Yep, 60 Minutes Senate piece fulfilled my lowest expectations. “Balance” lacking truth (it’s GOP misuse of filibuster, period). Sigh…
— Dan Gillmor (@dangillmor) November 5, 2012
On top of this, one of the world’s most respected news organizations cut the numbers and determined that the GOP Presidential candidate paid NO taxes from 1996-2005, yet the story gained little mainstream media attention.
Another reputable newspaper did some digging and found that Karl Rove and, potentially the Republican National Congressional Committee, had a hand in a national program designed to destroy or disrupt Democratic ballots. It too had no media legs.
Frankly, I can’t wait for this nasty, friendship-rupturing election to be behind us.