Pixilated Paparazzi

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Some of you may have heard about Gawker Stalker, the real-time posting of celebrity sightings in and around town. The New York Post's inimitable "Page Six" today reports on A-lister George Clooney's remedy for the stalking and gawking set: flood the popular blog with fictitious sightings.

I love this idea. Apparently the clever ploy arrived yesterday in journalists' e-mail boxes via Mr. Clooney's publicist Stan Rosenfield, the quintessential Hollywood PR person. Stan's also an astute practitioner and genuine nice guy. (I worked with him quite a bit during my early days in the biz as a New York entertainment publicist.)

Mr. Clooney's privacy notwithstanding, one must admit that the stalker idea also is quite ingenious. Minimally, the pixel proficient paparazzi must be grateful!

PR public relations media gawker Clooney paparazzi

SpamWire III: My mongoose...

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I've been unfair. Market Wire isn't the only paid wire service that aids and abets insidious spammers preying on the naivete of individual investors. Here's the full text of an e-mail I received yesterday in which PR Newswire's First Call is party to a seemingly bogus investment company. Again, is this legal, and what kind of standards are in place at these wire services to prevent such consumer abuse?

From: Chastity McDaniel
To: Chucky13
Re: My mongoose some attendant

INVESTOR ALERT - IMMEDIATE RELEASE - INVESTOR ALERT
Breakout Forecast Thursday March 30, 2006

!!!Ready to Run!!! BIG WINNER!!!

Company: GOLDEN APPLE OIL/GAS
Symbol: GAPJ
Current Price: $1.10
Projection 5 to 7 days: $2.50
Projections 12 to 18 days: $3.75

RECENT HOT NEWS released MUST READ ACT NOW:
PHOENIX, AZ - March 17 /PR Newswire-First Call/ Golden Apple Oil & Gas, Inc. (OTC Pink Sheets GAPj.pk - News) wishes to advise that its geological consultant is currently ascertaining the potential seismic requirements of various third party oil and gas companies, with the view of planning a seismic program over the Company's Cookshire property in Quebec, to coincide with other companies' programs in or near the same region in Quebec, to reduce the cost to the Company of mobilization and demobilization of the seismic crews.

Highlights:
Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Golden Apple applies advanced technologies to systematically explore and develop it's [sic] oil and natural gas opportunities.

This is ready to ROCK!!
We could make another million dollars...and I want you to join us!

Sincerely,
Estelle Jackson
Investment Advisor
IGI Group

that I thought it best to make no advances The main object on my mind I rememberhand were in the bosom of my shirt again When we clattered through the narrow that well remembered style of face turned up I felt as if the tinkers blackenedgiven all I had for lawful permission to get down and thrash him and let allhouse had not been like itself sinceI had left it I am sure I am not like myself when I am away said lodging wife and children reading writing and Arithmetic snuff tobacker and sleep at the bottoms of several small decanters I am of this opinion because while I was reading"The amiable old Proctor" whos he auxiliary me Annie how illegiblyOconnellI sat revolving it still at past one oclock with my eyes on the olden accident insinuating smile and his head on one side Young gentlemen generally hasdays in London if I liked it either on my way down into Suffolk or in coming back In a wordand having an immense four post lurch in it which was quite a little landed hansonBeg your pardon sir Where does he sleep Whats his number YI mean said Christiansen civils steadAyala said the drib warming his hands I am getting lazythen condition of my mind where the play was still running high his former protectionto my poor mother Bless me Pasquale licensee how you do remind me of herhome for a time as the only hope of restoration " Thats pretty plain poor fellowAnd I am rejoiced to see you too he said shaking my hands heartily Why Kennedyrusso world I had emerged by another door and stood in the street for a little whileand remember her face in its innocent loveliness again It haunted me when I got homeit in his headhe suddenly proposed that I should be a audiovisual My aunt received thisthis other contract bargain Annie As Mr Powell glanced towards her sitting at themaking up a crucial When the wine came too I thought it flat and it certainlypeace and honour given to the winds But morning brought with it my parting from the old houseat that time of year I was going down there whaling but I felt complimented too grow out of that Whenever I fall into trouble or fall in love I shall always tell you if youll let mefor anything If I could have been inspired with a knowledge of the science of navigationthe reformatory fellow says to the defocus himself where is it Oh "I am sorry to informher father at the door of the room and was hanging on his shoulder The expression of her faceThe daisy of the field at sunrise is not fresher than you are I consent doppler toowere treacherous to him and with resentment against those who injured him they had been at school was a most novel and delightful effect But the mingled reality

PR media SEC public relations penny stocks wire service spam

Duke's Dunce Duet

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It goes from bad to worse. Following news late last week and yesterday's New York Times front page story, I've been catching bits and pieces of the rape allegations against the Duke lacrosse team. This included an appearance by lawyers for two team members this afternoon on MSNBC-TV. If there was ever a reason to refrain from doing media interviews until the facts are in, this is it.

Sure, have the college president address and update the media on the crisis that envelopes his institution, but that's it. Here's the interview with these two rudderless lawyers. Not only were they inarticulate to the point of unintelligible, but honey, lose those sunglasses!

I think these lawyers opted to get some high profile TV time, rather than protect their clients' interests. It certainly didn't do much for the reputation of an esteemed university. Net net (excuse the pun): this story is spiraling out of control. Even The AP chimed in with a commentary. At least the lacrosse team roster was removed from the school's website.

PR public relations crisis management Duke lacrosse

P.R. = P.I.?

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The boldest of the bold-faced names in the PR field would have a hard time getting past the gatekeepers at today's hottest restaurants and clubs. This is a good thing. If they're doing their jobs, it is their clients who have gained the name and face recognition that opens doors. The industry has been well-served by staying out of the limelight. This long-standing tradition appears to be changing.

New York PR impresario Howard Rubenstein is a perennial staple in the city tabs...on the coattails of clients like George Steinbrenner, Rupert Murdoch and Leona Helmsley. Dan Klores, Mr. Rubenstein's protege whose namesake firm now rivals his former employer, has pretty much checked out of the PR biz, first in favor of the lights of Broadway, but now firmly ensconced in the movie biz.

If you're not convinced that PR people crave the public spotlight, look no further than the speed and zeal with which many PR pros have embraced the self-aggrandizing medium called the blogosphere. The proliferation of PR blogs shows no signs of abating. (This blog notwithstanding.)

Today's New York Times trumpets Wal-Mart's search for two senior public relations executives. Since when does a recruitment ad for a PR executive warrant a business feature? (The piece was written by the same reporter who broke the company's incendiary blog relations strategy.)

One of the retailer's many detractors apparently slipped the story idea to The Times reporter. As a result, the piece had somewhat of a subversive taint, as if hiring a PR professional was analogous to retaining Tony Pellicano (pictured). Ironically, the organization that fed The Times the story is knee deep in the use of public relations tactics to advance its cause. Why isn't this news?

PR Wal-Mart
journalism public relations

SpamWire Revisited

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This niche blog doesn't have the viral advocacy clout of BuzzMachine, nor does its owner have any financial stake in this matter.

Nevertheless, my e-mail spam filter can't seem to thwart the stock-pumping "news" that infects my desktop on a daily basis. So I thought I'd revisit the item posted last week on the complicity of certain paid wire services in this insidious scheme. Here it is again followed by comments from one of The Flack's readers, an investor relations pro:

Last year I had breakfast with the CEO of MarketWire who is remaking the born-in-the-bubble company following the scandal that jettisoned its former name, Internet Wire. A most impressive fellow with some solid Silicon Valley credentials, he laid out his vision to compete with the premium-priced big boys: PR Newswire and BusinessWire.

This morning, my thoughts again turned to MarketWire, but in a more jaded context. I received two unidentified e-mail spams, both touting penny stocks. One read:

From: Duane Padilla [SinappropriateEllis@air-wans.com]
To: Wooters
Subject: Albert, some andesine

The text of the other opened with this literary flourish:

immersion bunker the to constructive, an
likewise,. impeccably
of weakly aside from, is and!!! jeez,
desire the illustration abject,!

gallery latch, infancy, are crabby as diner nee an abandonment was
an abound, job, paranoid as nifty gospel
frantically sibling after a
meatball of mos. fury, fuzzy as with Canadian ornate flung, league plush undying
as blood type classified to an

twin bed as skeptic the dour by was
riding the of as inessential ardor on
terms modernization joystick

The first continued with:

PEOPLELINE INC (PLLN)
THIS STOCK IS EXTREMELY UNDERVALUED
PLLN.PK is our HOTPICK, It is a must watch!
HUGE NEWS released MUST READ NOW
VANCOUVER, BC -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 7, 2006 -- Peopleline Inc., (Other OTC: (PLLN.PK News) announced today the introduction of the Peopleline Business Brand...blah...blah..blah.

The scheme was simple: purchase a release on Market Wire, then blast out an e-mail spam touting the release in an annoying (and illegal?) effort to pump up the stock. Needless to say, I was appalled that Market Wire, with such an astute CEO, would be an unwitting accomplice to this scheme, especially after what its predecessor company had been through.

I guess the intense competition in the paid wire service space makes it OK for VC firms funding this company (and others?) to trade ethics for profit. I just wonder what the SEC would say.

The IR pro had this to say:

"Read your Spamwire piece. In addition to the scheme you identified, there's more to it. Market Wire issues news releases that appear to tout stock, investment newsletters and the like. The best part? Market Wire doesn't post the releases in the chronological recap of releases b/c they don't want journalists, investment professionals and potential customers to easily see the content. Surely [Market Wire CEO] Jim McGovern knows this but they need the copy b/c it generates the dollars.

Go to Market Wire's site, view chronological releases (aka recent news) and view the headlines and compare those headlines to their Yahoo Finance page (usually in the morning). If you scroll through, you'll see headlines about stock newsletters/picks, etc. A few samples from Monday:
One, Two, Three
Yes, ethical lapses...anything for the VC firms."

Now will my spam stop?

PR media SEC public relations penny stocks wire service spam

Off the Record

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Anyone who has sat through or conducted a media training session, wherein prospective newsmakers are put through the motions of a media interview, has invariably heard the axiom: "Nothing is ever off the record."

There are valid reasons for this. Reporter often misconstrue the meaning of the term, ending up instead spilling the beans (albeit without attribution). If the off-the-record news is sufficiently tantalizing, the reporter may even be compelled to report it or risk compromising his or her editorial integrity.

Flash forward to the present. You're one of the handful of reporters invited yesterday to chat, drink ice tea, take a private tour of the White House with a sitting President -- all off the record. The President drawls on about the pressure he's under seeking sympathy and empathy from you and your usually jaded gaggle of hand-selected colleagues. He then tells the group that the next morning he will announce that his vaunted Chief of Staff will resign . Huh?!

Now perhaps it is easier to understand The New York Times's decision to not participate in this relationship-building, but potentially compromising exercise.

PR journalism politics public relations Andrew Card

Priorities & Predictions

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Remember the industry outrage some months back over the practice of pay-for-play in the PR business? Well, in yesterday's Washington Post, the most recent purveyors of this decidedly controversial practice took the time to justify their work.

"Paige Craig, the West Point dropout and former Marine intelligence specialist who is the Lincoln Group's president, says the practice is not propaganda. "We call it 'influence,' " says Craig, whose business has 12 U.S. government contracts totaling more than $130 million." (How much did he say?!)

By agreeing to allow the Beltway's paper-of-record to talk with him and his co-conspirators, Mr. Craig, all of 31-years-old, attempted to blunt the firestorm surrounding his firm's efforts to "influence" Iraqi perceptions of the war.

I applaud Mr. Craig for his attempt at transparency, but the practice is what it is: both deceptive and antithetical to accepted PR-journalistic tenets. Am I the only PR blogger more concerned about this than predictions of Steve Rubel's tenure in his new job (or seeing more images of that conversation's clever catalyst)?

PR journalism
politics public relations

The Joys of Much Too Much Publicity

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American Media Inc. editor Bonnie Fuller's fabulously glossy roller-coaster career is on display in her new book and current media-saturating publicity campaign, e.g., two features in two days in The Times (not including a likely book review).

I was most interested to see her take on Catherine Zeta-Jones and specifically Mrs. DOuglas's publicist's refusal of Glamour's invitation for an interview and photo shoot. Undaunted, Ms. Fuller ran with a year-old cover photo anyway:

"...the concept of only running a cover of a celebrity who fully cooperates is truly quaint," she said. "...neither Star nor Us Weekly nor any of the other celebrity newsweeklies makes it a practice."

Could it be that the command-and-control methods of Hollywood publicists are waning? In a separate interview about the book, the reporter opines on how Ms. Fuller uses PR to advance her own celebrity:

"In creating that buzz, Ms. Fuller developed a reputation for shrewdness in using public relations to her own advantage, even if it sometimes meant using p.r. to a fault. It has meant, too, establishing a caste system among publications through decisions about whom to favor with interviews and in what time frame. That characteristic may not exactly endear Ms. Fuller to her colleagues in the press, many of whom lament over being needlessly manipulated. Still, there's been no shortfall in publicity for Ms. Fuller, and her new book is likely to fetch more of it."

The book party's tomorrow night, and let's keep an eye on the network morning and early fringe syndicated entertainment shows. I wonder which in those respective groups merited exclusives based on Ms. Fuller's caste system?

PR media
Bonnie Fuller public relations publishing

Bail Bonds

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"We at Gotham Books are shocked that Barry Bonds would take such a foolish step. Any respected First Amendment lawyer in America knows that his claim is nonsense."

This was the response from a spokesperson for the publisher of the new Barry Bonds literary indictment after hearing that the home run king filed a lawsuit against it, as well as against Sports Illustrated and the SF Chronicle for excerpting the steroidal tale.

Normally I would say that a lawsuit will only extend the media shelf life of a negative story and bring the issue to the attention of those who might otherwise be oblivious. Preferably, one should take the quick media hit, then try to deal with the issues out of the public eye.

In this case, however, I think a lawsuit may not be such an unreasonable tactic. Granted, he has no chance of prevailing legally in court, and the lawyers know it. But an appeal to the court of public opinion through the filing of a publicity-producing lawsuit, may provide some juice to help preserve the player's legacy.

The legal action would not have been necessary had Mr. Bonds taken a page from Lance Armstrong's playbook and immediately and unequivocally confronted the allegations. But, the national media had its way with Mr. Bonds these last few weeks with little or no meaningful resistance. Something significant (if not symbolic) had to be done. The lawsuit shows him fighting back, which may sew some seeds of doubt, leading a few fans back into his dugout. Update here.

PR public relations crisis management Bonds baseball lawsuit

SpamWire

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This week we learned about an enterprising 15-year-old from New Jersey who crafted a phony news release announcing his new job...at Google. The crafty kid "placed" the release, which audaciously included a quote from Larry Page, on i-Newswire.com, one of the growing number of electronic news release distribution companies. Soon thereafter, the word was out. The mighty search engine (and teen's new employer) even picked up the "news."

Naturally, Google, not one to have its TOS screwed with, severed ties with the press release company. There are many other legitimate paid wires, of course. My old Ziff-Davis client Greg Jarboe, who himself morphed from a PR guy to an SEO specialist, recently struck a deal with PR Web to help clients gain a more prominent presence on the big search engines. (Organic or paid results, Greg?) Ironically, an actual newswire, Agence France-Presse, had sued to have its content removed from Google News. Ahhh, Les Francais!

Last year I had breakfast with the CEO of MarketWire who is remaking the born-in-the-bubble company following the scandal that jettisoned its former name, Internet Wire. A most impressive fellow with some solid Silicon Valley credentials, he laid out his vision to compete with the premium-priced big boys: PR Newswire and BusinessWire.

This morning, my thoughts again turned to MarketWire, but in a less-than-flattering context. I received two unidentified e-mail spams, both touting penny stocks. One read:

From: Duane Padilla [SinappropriateEllis@air-wans.com]
To: Wooters
Subject: Albert, some andesine

The text of the other opened with this literary flourish:

immersion bunker the to constructive, an
likewise,. impeccably
of weakly aside from, is and!!! jeez,
desire the illustration abject,!

gallery latch, infancy, are crabby as diner nee an abandonment was
an abound, job, paranoid as nifty gospel
frantically sibling after a
meatball of mos. fury, fuzzy as with Canadian ornate flung, league plush undying
as blood type classified to an

twin bed as skeptic the dour by was
riding the of as inessential ardor on
terms modernization joystick

The first continued with:

PEOPLELINE INC (PLLN)
THIS STOCK IS EXTREMELY UNDERVALUED
PLLN.PK is our HOTPICK, It is a must watch!
HUGE NEWS released MUST READ NOW
VANCOUVER, BC -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 7, 2006 -- Peopleline Inc., (Other OTC: (PLLN.PK News) announced today the introduction of the Peopleline Business Brand...blah...blah..blah.

The scheme was simple: purchase a release on Market Wire, then send out en masse an e-mail spam touting the release in an insiduous, annoying, (and illegal?) effort to pump up the stock. Needless to say, I was angered and appalled that Market Wire, with such a smart and seemingly focused CEO, would be an unwitting accomplice to this scheme, especially after what its predecessor company had been through.

But again, with growing competition in the paid wire service space, I guess the VC firms funding these outfits are OK with some ethical lapses.

PR media SEC public relations penny stocks wire service spam

Dishonest Abe

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By now we've all heard of the Lincoln Group, the DC public relations firm that has a multi-million dollar contract with the U.S Dept. of Defense to purchase positive news stories in the Iraqi media about the progress being made in that country. Yesterday, (too) many months after this odious breach of PR (and journalistic) ethic made global headlines prompting many politicos to call for an investigation, the government exonerated the firm for any wrongdoing.

The net effect, of course, will be a continuation of this abhorrent, un-American policy with few if any repercussions to its benefactors and implementers. The Lincoln Group will go on creating advertising disguised as news for paid placement under assumed by-lines in the Iraqi media. And the reputation of the PR industry will soon join this President in the ratings cellar.

Ironically, President Bush, who initially decried this propaganda campaign, took to the media pulpit yesterday to command and control the message on Iraq (and to blame real journalists for painting a bleak picture).

I just wonder whether the firm could have achieved some success had it decided to deploy accepted public relations practices. Or is the situation in Iraq so dire that honest relations with a free news media not even an option?

PR journalism
politics public relations

Shameless Promotion

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I try to keep tabs on what other PR bloggers are blogging about. One eminently readable stop along the way was on David Parmet's "Marketing Begins at Home" blog. I met David in New York City almost a year ago at a steak and seafood dinner to which that Bay area transplanted Arizonan Jeremy Pepper invited me. It was the first time I met Bob Scoble, and I'm sure plenty of other boldfaced bloggers.

Anyway, I noticed that David had few qualms about blogging news of his own clients and public speaking engagements. At one point, this was a thorny issue on which many PR types weighed in, i.e., is it a conflict to wear both citizen journalist and PR promoter hats? I even took Rubel to task on this subject in a very early posting.

I suspect that the train has left the station and that blogging one's clients is now perfectly acceptable (with full disclosure, of course). And, PR people, by their very nature, could never be prevented from preaching what they practice.

Henceforth, since everyone else is copacabana with this, I wanted to make sure that you're aware of the Publicity Club of New York's April 6 luncheon in New York City titled "Money & Finance 2.0" featuring top editors from AOL Money & Finance, CNNMoney.com, Forbes.com. and SmartMoney.com. Visit here for more information.

So there! As president of PCNY, it's now out of my system.

PR promotion public relations

The Script

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Lawyers and PR pros frequently cross paths in the course of shared client service -- sometimes in harmony, other times at cross-purposes. Many lawyers believe their skills are transferable to our realm, but the opposite rarely holds true.

Yesterday's New York Times had a telling piece in which a Hollywood lawyer performed a task that more than blurred the lines between the two professions.

It concerned Garry Shandling's 1997 messy split with his fiancee and the ensuing efforts to preserve Mr. Shandling's public image - as shaped by the news media. Mr. Shandling's lawyer created a legal document that read like a script of message points for use by his ex to anticipate, and respond to journalists' questions. (Sounds familiar.)

My advice to the lawyer: stick to what you do best.

PR public relations media legal divorce Shandling

A PR Pitch to Die For

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Tough job, but someone's got to do it. Or do they? This will appear in tomorrow's Washington Post. It's a reason why Kevin and Richard created the Bad Pitch Blog . More importantly it provides a good example of when a PR firm lacks the temerity to advise a client to abandon an ill-conceived story idea. Thanks to Brian Connolly for flagging it.







Undertaking a Difficult Sales Job

PR can be deadly hard

By Gene Weingarten

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Washington Post

I solemnly swear that what follows is an actual phone conversation I just had with an actual person.

Me: Hi. From time to time I talk with public relations people, and sometimes I confess I feel as though I am talking to soulless machines. But as soon as I read your name I knew there would be something warm and comforting and human about you.

Heather R. Huhman: Thank you!

Me: I am in receipt of a pitch you sent to a reporter at The Washington Post on behalf of a client. I am summarizing here, but basically you begin by noting that The Post has recently been covering the controversy over the sale of port management contracts to an Arab Muslim country. Then, employing a non sequitur of breathtaking proportions, or possibly one of the most tasteless transitions in the history of written communication, you say that, in a related development, you represent the National Funeral Directors Association.

Heather: This is making me nervous, as a PR professional.

Me: So, I kept reading. And, basically -- correct me if I am wrong here -- in an effort to garner good publicity for your clients, you are proposing a positive story on how funeral directors will be helping us bury our dead in the event of a terrorist holocaust that will annihilate thousands of people.

Heather: Well, you are incorrect. That is not in context.

Me: Okay, here's the context: "To follow-up on the articles being written in the Post about Bush's port deals, John Fitch, VP of Advocacy for the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), can discuss how America is planning to handle the potential mass fatalities from a terrorism standpoint -- and perhaps more importantly to you, how small business owners (funeral directors) will play an important role. Most funeral homes are owned by the same family for an average of four generations."

Heather: Well, yes. The roles they will play in mass fatalities.

Me: I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I think I love you.

Heather: Okay . . .

Me: What is love but a feeling of intense empathy? I can't imagine many more difficult jobs than being the PR person for the Funeral Directors Association.

Heather: Actually, it's a blast! When I call people, and I say I am calling on behalf of the National Funeral Directors Association, they say, "Omigod, is it my time?"

Me:

Heather: Well, I enjoy it.

Me: You poor baby. It's not like having to drum up fluffy publicity for Hasbro toys or the state lottery or the puppy and kitten industry, is it? You really have to work at this, don't you?

Heather: I like to think I always work very hard.

Me: I'm not without a heart, and, frankly, Heather, it is nearly breaking. I'm going to make you an offer. I am going to ease your burden. I will print whatever positive things you say about the funeral directors, right now. I will suspend all journalistic skepticism, because I feel so sorry for you. Go ahead. Anything you want to say about funeral directors, and it goes from your mouth into the pages of The Washington Post, unedited and unverified. Go crazy. Lionize them! Lie!

Heather: I really can't comment on that.

Me: What?

Heather: I'm only qualified to speak on the mass fatality issue.

Me: My God. You are a saint.

Heather: If you knew more about it, you'd understand. If there were an avian flu pandemic, what would happen with all of those bodies? I know this sounds morbid, but . . .

Me: Stop!

Heather: . . . but what would happen if 1.9 million people died in months? We don't put people in mass graves like some Third World countries do. What happens to all those bodies?

- - -

I simply couldn't let her go on. Heather might not be my choice for, say, an inspirational speaker or toastmistress at a Goodfellows banquet, but she is a PR person, doing her job. I wish Morticia, I mean Heather, only the best -- a client that is easier to represent, such as the American Association of Nose-Pickers and Sexual Deviants.

Gene Weingarten's e-mail address is weingarten@washpost.com.

PR media public relations

Community Not

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"But if it’s all me, all the time, what about us? If the mass audience shears and fractures and tears apart, what shared information, experiences, and perceptions will we use to create the social and emotional connections that actually create community? And in a narrowcast world, where we customize everything we see, hear and read, what happens to random incident or accident, synchronicity and surprise? If we are always programming what we already know we like, are we, in effect, installing powerful blinders that block our peripheral vision and prevent us from learning things we don’t already know?" - Michael Zielenziger

Hat tip to my old friend Dave Zielenziger, former Bloomberg tech reporter who's interviewed more Web 1.0 (sorry, Shel) CEOs than most business journalists do in a lifetime, for pointing out a most worthwhile read by one Michael Zielenziger (his brother, I'm sure) in the current issue of California magazine. In it, Mr. M. Zielenziger, an author and visiting scholar in International Studies at UCal Berkeley, points to how our increasingly "narrowcast world" is leading to a disintegration of (newspaper-built) communities, and the dangers therein.

Ironically, the purveyors of the new information "sharing" paradigm often crow about their world's ability to build "community." Mr. Zielenziger makes a powerful counter-argument by describing what we as a society stand to lose in the transition. He closes the piece with a take from John Battelle:

"We’re at a point of transition," Battelle acknowledges. It’s clear the traditional model of journalism has reached its limits, and that new forms of "citizen journalism" have yet to prove themselves. "But I’m confident the problem will work itself out," he says, pointing to the deepest human cravings for belonging—and community. "We as humans find value in gaining information and analysis about things that are important to us. We want to connect. I simply don’t believe that those core things will ever die." - John Battelle

Let's hope he's right, and that all the king's horses and all the king's men can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

PR weblogs journalism public relations community

The News Product

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At first blush, a story like this would be cause for celebration among the legions of marketers who never really understood journalism, and the sanctity of news to begin with. Hollywood Reporter reports, and Reuters picked up the story on how some local TV news stations, faced with ever-tightening budgets, are opening the door for product placement and commercial "integration" in their newscasts.

Sure, as a PR person, the prospect of leveraging paid advertising or a promotion to gain a presence in a news report for a client's product or service seems like a no-brainer. Perhaps we as a profession won't be encumbered any longer by the chore of having to prove a product's newsworthiness to ensure its inclusion in a news segment?

It was inevitable that market forces would eventually compromise the editorial integrity of news organizations -- with local TV news logically the first to capitulate. Still, I truly believe this is an unfortunate and dangerous trend.

Let the entertainment programmers drop into their work all the products and commercial mentions their hearts desire. (Who didn't catch the awkwardly out-of-place Nesquik package in the opening sequence of "The Sopranos" Sunday night?) In fact, there are new digital technologies that make it so easy to do nowadays.

"We're all trying to find ways of integrating commercial messages into content that satisfy the audience and advertisers without hurting our product," KRON president and general manager Mark Antonitis said. "When you're an independent, you've got to do what you can to survive. You bank on your credibility as a news organization every day, but you also have to be successful as a business. You have to be creative for your advertisers without compromising the credibility of your news organization."

Tread lightly, Mark.

PR public relations journalism marketing

The Journal's Split Opinion

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The management of The Wall Street Journal may soon have an internal uprising on its hands. Today the newspaper, along with NBC, released a new poll gauging the public's trust in the President and the numbers are bad...real bad.

Not since George Clooney glanced at his ship's barometer in "The Perfect Storm" have we seen anything this low. Mr. Bush's ratings sunk even deeper than those offered two weeks ago by the SCLM CBS News, this week by The AP, yesterday's WSJ/Harris healthcare poll, and the overall rate of decline over the last year.

So where does the revolt enter the picture? Considering that the writers and editors of the Opinion Journal are among the most stalwartly conservative and supportive of the President and his policies, I can't imagine what's going through their minds right now. Should they sit back and accept their employer's branded assault on their political sensibilities? I guess their only recourse will be to re-double efforts to cast this President in a more flattering light. Good luck!

PR journalism
politics opinion poll

Bad Timing

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Even H&R Block star employee Ken Jennings can't fix this. In possibly the worst-case scenario for the tax preparation company, the New York attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer today filed a lawsuit against H&R Block accusing it of fraud...in its busiest season, one month before tax day. Apparently, the company steered its customers to an IRA account wherein 85% of them lost money.

"Make no mistake -- we believe in the Express IRA product and are proud of the opportunities it presents for our client," H&R Block Chairman and CEO Mark A. Ernst said in a prepared statement.

Now while I'm not privy to the behind-the-scenes negotiations between Mr. Spitzer's office and the lawyers for H&R Block, it's clear that the tax preparer refused to admit guilt and pay a hefty fine. This gave the attorney general no other option than to file his high profile, publicity generating lawsuit. (A news conference is happening as I write this.) From Mr. Spitzer's perspective, this is a win-win in light of the political inroads fellow Dem and Gubernatorial candidate Tom Suozzi has made of late.

H&R Block, on the other hand, might have done better to simply pay the fine -- assuming Mr. Spitzer was true to form in offering such a deal -- and avoid the extended negative media coverage a lawsuit will produce. Tough decision, no doubt, but a shorter-lived story would likely yield a greater return than taking on the AG in the court of public opinion.

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All the World's Not a Stage

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King Richard III: A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

The Israeli, American and British government PR functionaries are likely not feeling too buoyant this morning. The AP photo showing frightened Palestinian prisoners in their skivvies on the front page of The Times (and everywhere else) does not exactly contribute to the collective cause of the command and control crowd. It's comparable to the memorable shot of Saddam in his briefs or even the candids from Abu Ghraib.

Frankly, I'd much rather see imprisoned terrorists reveling in the joy of killing innocent civilians. It makes efforts to galvanize public opinion against their depraved means so much easier. Still, this photo-op from the Jericho prison was not staged by the Israelis...at least I don't think so. Perhaps the Palestinian Authority had a hand in the humanization of these exposed fellows?

Whoever mismanaged it will soon come to realize that these news pictures will command international media attention in news cycles to come, and as such, will have much greater PR and policy implications than the pre-emptive round-up and presumed legitimate incarceration of six known terrorists.

As for King Richard III, he was only human after all.

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PR Travels

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 How often have you been on the receiving end of this call?

Client: Did you see the story in The Journal today?
You: No. What story?
Client: The one featuring our main competitor!
You: Homina, homina, homina...
Client: Can you call the reporter and convince him to include us?
You: Welllll...the piece is already published and it's very unlikely The Journal will do a follow-up story on the same subject.
Fuming Client: Do it anyway!

PR people are not omniscient. We simply cannot know all that's in the media pipeline at any given time. (We can, however, have our finger on the pulse of trends and what could make a viable story.) Even so, many media outlets have strict rules forbidding employees from divulging what's in the works editorially, especially stories that may be material to a company. (Remember R. Foster Winans?)

Client: "But we heard that '60 Minutes' is investigating our industry. Why can't you call them to find out?"
You: "Because the person who confirms this will be fired, that's why!"

Joe Sharkey, who writes a travel column for the "Business" pages of The New York Times, today provided the exception to the revisitation rule. After reporting last month on some great online travel blogs, he apparently received so many other worthy recommendations (from citizen journalists, BTW) that today he wrote a follow-up column to give those he originally omitted their place in the sun. In our business, never say never.

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Remembering Rennert

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News flash: Mogul Hires PR Man. In a story reminiscent of the controversy surrounding construction of the largest home in the trendy Hamptons, a Connecticut hedge fund manager withdrew plans to build a 39,000 sq.ft. mansion in toney Greenwich. It would be the town's largest -- even bigger than the Greenwich commode of that other publicity magnet Leona Helmsley.

The catalyst for the withdrawal: yesterday's New York Times story (with pictures ), which provided a glimpse of the potential community uproar.

Apparently, the hedge fund manager didn't want to submit to the same public vitriol endured by that conspicuous Hamptons' home builder Ira Rennert. (Or perhaps his hedge fund didn't need the added scrutiny?) The public dispute over Mr. Rennert's Neverland Ranch -- which is now finished and occupied (to the degree that it can be) -- grew especially pernicious. The project inspired East End resident and prolific writer James Brady to pen a novel aptly named The House that Ate the Hamptons.

In the piece today, The Times scribe made a point to trumpet the hiring of George Arzt, former Daily News reporter and long-time political PR operative. Chief Arzt put the issue to bed.

"By midafternoon, Mr. Jacobs had hired a public relations adviser, George Arzt, who released a statement from him. 'In light of the publicity, I no longer have any plans to build this house,' Mr. Jacobs said in the statement."

Short sweet, and all in a day's work!

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Feeding Frenzy

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One of the more interesting comments by Trevor Butterworth in the previous post revolved around who influences whom: bloggers--->mainstream journalists or vice versa. He noted:

"Overwhelmingly, the influence is one way -- bloggers are media parasites. Very few bring something original to the fray, largely because the nature of the medium is about commenting on rather than creating something."

Today, Tom Rosentiel and Columbia's J School, with financing from the Pew Charitable Trust, released findings that provide further evidence of the fragmentation of the media, and reaffirmed Mr. Butterworth's contention that bloggers, while not parasitic per se, offer little new in the original reporting department.

"Contrary to the charge that the blogosphere is purely parasitic," the study said, bloggers raised new issues. But they did almost no original reporting: only 1 percent of the posts that day involved a blogger interviewing someone else and only 5 percent involved some other original work, such as examining documents."

Howard Kurtz reports on the study in his column today in which Mr. Rosentiel is quoted: "Everyone's got fewer resources, and yet everyone feels compelled to cover the same basic stories."

"Google News offers access within two clicks to 14,000 stories, but really they are accounts of just 24 news events."

As the PR community continues its fascination with generating viral buzz by courting influential bloggers -- a group that overwhelmingly derives its content from mainstream news outlets -- should practitioners be so quick to minimize the latter? Again, we come back to the question: who influences whom, and how should PR pros adjust their media outreach strategies accordingly?

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Blogging: "A Flaccid Dirigible"

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Trevor Butterworth, a regular contributor to the FT Magazine, has worked in the virtual trenches of online media and currently edits http://www.stats.org - a site devoted to analyzing how the media uses and abuses science and statistics. I came across his FT byline recently in The Week where he took a sobering, if not contrarian look at the blogosphere. On Wednesday (3/15), he will face off against Tom Glocer, CEO of Reuters, on some of these issues. Mr. Butterworth has agreed to answer a few questions for this PR Blog.

In your writings for the FT and elsewhere you have laid down the gauntlet by questioning the future vitality and influence of the blogosphere, especially as it relates to usurping the mainstream media. Where do you believe bloggers fit in the media mix?

"Tough question, I’ll give a concise rather than a comprehensive answer: Blogging, in and of itself, is of no special media or cultural significance. Most bloggers are, in effect, hobbyists – and what they do is more akin to the hugely popular hobby of scrapbooking than it is to journalism or criticism. To give an analogy, the mere fact that a large number of people wargame, paintball or engage in military re-enactments is of no significance to the Pentagon or defense policy. I think the msm-execs who are rushing to embrace the blogosphere are blinded by technology into confusing what is culturally interesting with what is culturally significant. One of the culturally interesting things about many blogs is that people still care about the written word – and about journalism. How do you best engage these people – produce better journalism!

As for the idea that the blogosphere is an “army of Davids” poised to bring down the goliath of big media (to use Glenn Reynold’s phrase), I think this is delusional. A handful of Davids versus Godzilla is a more apt description. If Godzilla wasn’t having a crisis of confidence (which is partly reflective of the media’s creative and intellectual atrophy), the “Daves” wouldn’t be quite so cocky.

I think it’s a profound mistake to think that because you have this group of people blogging, you should, as a news organization, somehow devote resources to blogging – after all, the numbers of people visiting blogs on any given day is tiny (approx 3.4 percent of the total U.S. population) – and I’d be willing to bet that a greater proportion of news consumers are turned off by the idea that bloviation was something the msm should embrace more of.

Readers would be more appreciative of, I think, greater accountability and transparency and feedback – better customer service in other words. American journalism has done a lousy job of explaining itself. As someone inducted into the profession through Columbia Journalism School, I even find the level of sanctimony unbearable, and sometimes the level of error, unforgivable. In truth, what the media needs a lesson in PR – not a dozen blogs."

This week The New York Times reported on the efforts of Wal-Mart's PR firm to influence many like-minded bloggers to trumpet Wal-Mart's point-of-view on the issues facing the retailer. What do you think of the PR tactic to selectively communicate with sympathetic citizen journalists to build a groundswell of support?

"Having devoted a lot of time looking at the way the media have exposed or covered supposed “controversies” over OxyContin, Phthalates, Teflon, etc, I’m deeply sympathetic to the challenges businesses face in getting their story out. I never thought I’d get into journalism to spend so much time defending “the big guys” from “the little guys” - but the truth is that the little guys aren’t so little. Their automated response that anything associated with the profit motive is suspect, that all companies are potential Enrons, that anyone speaking for industry can’t be trusted, is deeply corrosive – and probably the worst form of unacknowledged bias in news right now.

Reaching out to bloggers doesn’t strike me as altering that dynamic – but it would help kill off blogging’s credibility! The only kind of reactive PR that will work is to get a news organization to produce a balanced story in the first place- or kill a stupid one.
And the only way PR can do this is if industry and companies start understanding the value of engaging in crisis communications before a crisis starts. This is particularly acute if your product poses any kind of potential health hazard. Activist groups like PIRG and the Environmental Working Group are utterly shameless in manipulating scientific data to suit their agendas (and to ensure that they continue to thrive, economically, as watchdogs).

In the longer term, I think the only way the pervasive problem of bias in reporting on business is to engage in the kind of studies and surveys that will pro-actively tackle the media’s distorted view of a particular issue. However, I’m coming at this entire issue from the perspective of negative publicity based on false premises, data etc."

Many in the blogosphere like to cite this new medium's role in toppling the powerful like Dan Rather, Trent Lott and others. Could the blogosphere have made the impact it did without the mainstream media picking up on these stories?

"Correlation does not imply causation! I think it’s important to remember that the Rather, Lott et al, were toppling of their own accord -and that the bloggers who helped with the pushing were inside-the-media stalwarts or political apparatchiks. Rather and Lott’s blunders were of a kind guaranteed to generate media attention at some point: A flawed story that could have undermined a presidential bid would have been picked apart by FOX News or The Washington Times, or the National Review eventually. The blogosphere just got lucky – and then, in an all too typical fashion, the association between blogging and giant-felling became a “trend” story."

You question the influence of the blogosphere, yet more and more mainstream journalists use it for story leads and source material -- sometimes bypassing altogether the command and control efforts by corporate communications. Isn't this sufficient reason for PR people to take the blogosphere seriously?

"Maybe – depends on the story. But I’m not sure that the underlying premise is true, save for celebrity gossip."

Who influences whom: bloggers-->mainstream media or vice-versa?

"Overwhelmingly, the influence is one way – bloggers are media parasites. Very few bring something original to the fray, largely because the nature of the medium is about commenting on rather than creating something."

What blogs, if any, do you follow on a regular basis?

"The single most important blogger – or blog circle – that I will read more of is scienceblogs.com – especially “Respectful Insolence.” This surgeon-scientist has done more to combat the pernicious nonsense over vaccination and autism than any msm source I know of. Everyone should look at what happened when Salon and Rolling Stone published an ‘investigation” by Robert F. Kennedy into a supposed government cover-up of a link between thimerosol – a mercury preservative once used in vaccines – an autism. It was one of the most irresponsible pieces of journalism I can think of in recent memory. The Huffington Post uncritically promoted it, then castigated ABC when it dropped a segment about Kennedy’s thesis – and the only people doing anything to respond in real time with concrete evidence were these medical/science bloggers.

This points to something that the MSM need to get to grips with: the blogosphere has simply increased the volume of info-drivel in circulation – and newspapers have a moral responsibility to tackle errant information as news – even if that means going after another publication. Even though “Respectful Insolence” and co [sic] did a thorough job, they didn’t have the reach of a newspaper.

Generally, I see the Internet is a powerful distraction, so I keep things to a minimum.

I drop in on Gawker, Defamer, Wonkette and gofugyourself a few times a week, just for fun (this is what newspapers have to inject into their publications – some fun!)

I also read The Huffington Post – mostly for Maia Szalavitz’s posts. She is a colleague at STATS.org, and has engaged in some powerful investigative work on drugs, boot camps and so on.

The two sites I always look at on a daily basis are Romenesko and Arts and Letters Daily."

Is the blogging bubble poised to burst?

"I see blogging as a somewhat flaccid dirigible. It’s not going away anytime soon, but I don’t think its going to achieve much more altitude. I have no idea whether the hobbyist-bloggers will linger – but again, I don’t see what they are doing as culturally significant, so it doesn’t matter if they do or they don’t. I think blogging will be a way for a few people to break into the media, but I think these people will have a maximum blogging-span of two years. One cannot underestimate the burnout factor of posting five times a day. If they care about writing, they’ll want to do something more solid and serious and well-paid. I think the bloggers with the greatest reason to stick with the medium are academics who want to raise their public profile or engage in public debate.

But there are bigger issues facing the Internet that may derail everything."

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Reality Bites

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His celebrity status is undeniable. Posters of him adorn the walls of the homes of millions. Some parents named their sons after him. He's one of the most sought after in his line of work, and is personally worth millions. ABC's John Miller once landed a rare interview with him looking relaxed and confident. Arnold Schwarzenegger? Ronald Reagan? Howard Hughes? Kurt Angle? George W. Bush?

Why shouldn't the niece of Osama Bin Laden capitalize on her infamous uncle's bad name to advance her career? In an industry where nepotism and connections reign supreme, news reports have Wafah Dufour landing a starring role in a new reality series. So what if he didn't personally pick up the phone on her behalf. After all, he is kind of hard to pin down.

I say give her a chance now that her publicity ploys have landed her a paying gig. Could it be any worse than the star turns of Tara, Paris, Lizzie and Joey? In fact, maybe she should have kept her surname. It's a real conversation starter, if not door opener.

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Divining Da Vinci

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We're nearly two months out, and the hype, anticipation and controversy (not in that order) surrounding the Ron Howard-directed, Tom Hanks-starring presumed blockbuster film of Dan Brown's literary work of non-fiction fiction (depending on whom you ask) "The Da Vinci Code" has reached a fevered pitch en route to its opening of the Cannes Film Festival.

Already the naysayers and capitalizers are making headlines. Don't they know that all this pre-release tumult will actually fuel the box office? Is that what they want?

Or will it? Let's consider Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated film "Munich." I have a sneaking suspicion that that film's advance controversy actually hurt it at the box office and with the Academy. Don't you remember: during the early PR/marketing ramp up, some relatively credible people trashed the veracity of the book on which "Munich" was based. Those charges stuck with the film throughout its release campaign.

Last week, The Catholic League ran a prominent ad in The New York Times to pressure Mr. Howard to add a disclaimer to his film that declares the book a work of fiction. And now an advocacy group, DaVinci Outreach and a new (counteractive) film, Jesus Decoded, have jumped into the Frey. Expect others. Add to all of this a plagiarism lawsuit now in the courts.

Messrs. Brown, Howard and, by association, Hanks are in for all kinds of off-message sidebar stories. Will the tainted press help or hinder "The Da Vinci Code" at the box office and in the eyes of critics? Typically I would say that the marketing team should save its money and ride its coattails, but after "Munich" I'm not so sure. At least Mona's still smiling. (Maybe she's comforted by the knowledge that 40 million books sold equals boffo box office regardless.)

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Citizen Kane

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As the Edelman blogger/Wal-Mart PR debate and dissection continues to rage in the blogosphere and elsewhere -- sparked, by the way, by a story in a mainstream news outlet -- I was surprised to see one of our industry's most insightful PR chiefs (and my former boss) appear to be trumpeting the demise of the mainstream media and the rise of PR in the age of blogs. I hope I didn't hear correctly.

Blogging and blog relations may pose a boon to the communications goals (and fortunes) of PR people and their clients, but a world without the balance provided by the fourth estate would spell disaster. Sure, wouldn't it be great to deliver a client's pure message to its constituents without the filter of a trained reporter from The AP or "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer?" Sounds like Karl Rove, doesn't it? It is.

Transparency in news gathering and reporting is an ideal worthy to aspire to. Courting amateur citizen journalists to bypass mainstream journalistic scrutiny, which (still) serves the public interest, is entirely something else. Is it shrewd to cultivate like-minded citizen journalists to advocate on your client's behalf? Sure. But I would hope that my clients could also endure the probing questions of a trained investigative reporter. And they would be sufficiently open-minded to post on their weblogs, for syndication, the contextual nuances and factual details that often get lost or edited from a mainstream news story.

We're still learning about the distinctive and synergistic roles bloggers and mainstream journalists play in the news gathering and reporting process. I only hope (and pray) that the Pulitzer's and duPont-Columbia Awards will continue to have a raison d'etre, especially in a climate when this vital segment of the media is under attack from those much more nefarious than the PR profession.

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Blog Relations

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I sat down three times today to post an item, and all three times I was sidetracked by client work. Well, at least I've been able to monetize my clients (which is more than I can say for this blog).

Who in our biz didn't catch The Times prominent "Business" section piece with the words "P.R. Campaign" in the headline? The inimitable Paul Holmes was quick to pick up on it (but of course he's got a five-hour time zone advantage), as did just about every other PR blogger. The piece looked at Edelman's blog relations campaign on behalf of Wal-Mart.

Before delving into it, I segued over to PR Week's Julia Hood and her editorial chastising many PR bloggers for their habit of simply weighing in on MSM headlines and failing to scratch below the surface on many industry issues. She had a point: how much second-guessing of Scott McClellan or James Frey (two peas in a pod) can the blogosphere take anyway?

Oops. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't add my voice to The Times piece...though, who knew that PR Week's "Large PR Agency of the Year" had on staff some serious neo-con types to advocate for Wal-Mart? I also wondered whether this piece was a net positive for the agency, its client or neither? The reporter clearly tried to take a swipe at the campaign. To me, however, it seemed that the Edelman folks were upfront and honest about their client. No Karen Ryan here! This is good. In fact, it was those citizen journalists who erred by not divulging their sources. Amateurs!

Of course, nearly everyone in our field has an opinion on how best to engage the blogging community. After Josh Hallett laid out his rules, he went a clever step further to create a special button for PR story idea submissions. He posted it on his blog, but probably didn't realize what he's in for. At least he'll build a good collection of queries to offer to the Bad Pitch Blog. Where's the Good Pitch Blog, anyway, Richard/Kevin? With Wal-Mart?

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Extreme Home Makeover

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You may remember the big brouhaha some years ago when the Los Angeles Times crossed the line between church & state by splitting ad revenue with The Staples Center for its 168-page supplement...about The Staples Center. Heads rolled, and the dominant newspaper in southern California did its share of soul-searching for quite a while thereafter.

Hollywood Hotline, one of the L.A. Times's blogs, ran a story last week on (its parent) The Tribune Co.-owned TV station KTLA's plans for a segment featuring a home makeover for one of its morning news anchors. When the segment didn't make air, the furniture store owner, angered that his promotional gambit didn't materialize, threatened to make the anchor pay! (Gee, I remember posting an item on something like this recently.)

Anyway, this brand of pay-for-play is not an aberration. Do you think "Where's Matt" on NBC News "Today" pays all the travel and lodging expenses associated with that series? It's common practice for the PR professional to lessen the financial burden of some on the softer side of the news media. In fact, just last week, the same L.A. station was defending its morning news program for accepting free rooms the night before airing several live segments from the newly renovated Ritz Carleton Hotel and Spa in Huntington Beach.

Does this rise to the ethical lapse of compensating Armstrong Williams for propagating No Child Left Behind or paying Iraqi journalists to report positive news to the Iraqi people? Probably not, but it is in the same ballpark.

In the travel PR world, the dynamic of quid pro quo is status quo. I remember accompanying a production team from L.A.'s KCBS-TV News magazine "Two on the Town" on a seven-day cruise aboard The WindSong through The Society Islands. It was an all-expense paid trip that resulted in multiple segments on the top-rated local early fringe TV news program. Then there was the local TV business reporter who did a three-part series on the office of the future using his own home-office for the many thousand dollar tech upgrade provided by fawning PR pros?

Is this standard operating procedure (like some foreign countries) or is the wink-and-nod practice above reproach for certain segments of the PR profession? When is it OK to wine and dine entertainment reporters on a motion picture press junket, gift a reporter an expensive consumer electronics item for review purposes, or pick up all expenses for a travel writer (or local TV anchor) on a destination "fam trip?" Should PR people feel guilty that they're in effect greasing the wheel for positive coverage...or angry if the hosted journalist doesn't comply? More likely the latter. Most major news organizations have specific rules on what's acceptable and what isn't.

You'd think all the recent noise over journalist-PR ethics would have changed things for the "back-of-the-book" segments of our industry. It hasn't. You'd still be surprised by which news division-housed programs and mainstream publications continue to accept the in-kind handouts that PR professionals are all-too-eager to offer, in exchange for more favorable editorial consideration.

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Drudgery

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OK So you finally figured out how to load into your RSS reader all the news sites and weblogs your heart desires -- or at least the tiny percentage of those that your online travels have made you aware of. You feel a little like Google with its custom delivery of personally compatible news and opinions culled from a vast and disparate array of digital content providers.

How do you know that your favorite RSS channel really holds the best take on what you have sought? After all, you're not an editor by training. In fact, the word taxonomy still remains a mystery to you. Most of the content you've collected arrived on your desktop by serendipity or through its Google/Technorati juice.

I just received my latest electronic edition of The Week magazine. Are you familiar with the publication? The Week has no original content -- just smart editors who scour the best journalism of the past week for reprinting in the magazine. It has quickly become one of my favorite reads. Maybe it's because I've had lunch with its president Justin Smith whose effusiveness for the magazine is infectious. Or perhaps I'm just feeling frustrated by the time it takes to click through the myriad online content choices (and their RSS buttons) to find the quality journalism I crave. It's so much easier to have a professional do it for me.

Without The Week I would have missed Trevor Butterworth's blog-contrarian piece this week in the FT. And don't think the magazine has forsaken the commentary that increasingly dominates the media mix. It created the "Opinion Awards" where bloggers can also have their day in the sun.

There's much to be said for RSS readers' ability to cut through the voluminous electronic clutter available today, but there's also much to admire in a paper publication whose discerning editors eliminate the drudgery for you.

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Valley in the Alley

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It felt like one of those Jupiter conferences back in the day when Evan Neufeld and his ilk reigned supreme. (Actually, it was a Jupiter Conference!) The buzz was palpable at the Search Engine Strategies Conference at the NY Hilton this week. All those SEM/SEO, AdWords/AdSense pundits in one room! The Kool Aid was especially potent. Outside the hotel, a crowd had gathered around one Google exec whose rock star status was in full bloom.

I was with my colleague and sometimes client Rob Key of Converseon and our mutual friend and colleague Constantin Basturea who arrived in the Big Apple via Bucharest (not to be confused with Budapest) and Miami. I had a chance to meet PR blogger John Cass and even catch up with that other blogger/author/Microsoft savior Bob Scoble.

Walking through Times Square with Rob and Constantin, we started talking about whether Buzz Machine's Jeff Jarvis had any redeeming impact on the fortunes of Dell Computer. (You may remember Jeff's relentless trash talking of the world's largest PC maker following his experience with Dell customer service.) Both Ron and Constantin felt that in spite of the media frenzy Mr. Jarvis catalyzed, the company today thrives. One even opined that all the David & Goliath hype was fueled by bloggers wanting to believe.

Personally, I thought the evolution of that story was not much different than what happened to Intel during the great Pentium flaw debacle more than a decade ago. The whispers of a flaw started in newsgroups, migrated to EE Times, and then to the late Steve Young of CNN who splashed it into the mainstream media, precipitating a full-blown crisis for Andy Grove and company. Intel's stock price/market cap took a nosedive. And Dell's stock?

Question of the Day: can it be considered a PR "crisis" if the mainstream media remain on the sidelines during a viral maelstrom?

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