Children, it's ok to be in PR. Just be ethical.

When things go wrong in politics, things tend to go right for the media. Political corruption lead stories and exposés (local and national) can be the stuff on which journalism careers are made.

Because of this duality, it's no surprise that a well-respected (and well-followed) journalism academic and commentator, Jeff Jarvis, would chime in on the recent #bridgegate scandel in New Jersey. Quick recap: NJ Gov. Chris Christie fired a deputy chief of staff as part of some fallout over what apparently was a politically motivated George Washington Bridge toll booth and lane closure issue.

On Friday evening, Jarvis was tweeting screen captures from released government staff emails involving early reporting and a Wall Street Journal inquiry into Fort Lee toll booth topic that lead to "stonewalling." Most of his commentary was about what one would expect from a journalism associate professor.

However, one of his tweets raised the hairs on the back of my neck when he wrote: "Children, this is why you don't want to be a flack for a living."

Children, this is why you don't want to be a flack for a living. pic.twitter.com/nmaIVQWYJ1
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) January 11, 2014

Well thanks, Jeff. </sarcasm>

Let's just go ahead and paint the PR profession with the same damaging brushstroke because some political staffers (perhaps with questionable ethics) wrote some internal emails trying to figure out their next steps. Of course they should know by now that electronic communication within government agencies falls under FOIA rules and tend to eventually see the light of day. Duh.

What bugged me is that Jarvis picked this episode to flippantly dismiss thoughts by students of going into public relations, strategic communications or really any career in which one might be referred to as a "flack" for an organization. To be clear, I do not believe for a second that his remark will be the deciding factor for a student exploring the field of mass communications to scoff at PR. To me, it's just sad (infuriating?) reminder that our profession gets a bum rap.

It's up to us as PR professionals to practice strategic communications in an ethical manner. We should be among the chorus of calls for transparency, honesty, and open communication. I'll leave you with the charge given to us from the PRSA Code of Ethics. The Code advises PR professionals to:

• Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.
• Foster informed decision making through open communication.
• Protect confidential and private information.
• Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.
• Avoid conflicts of interest.
• Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession.

Perhaps even academics like Jeff Jarvis can appreciate their future hacks working with ethical flacks. (tongue-firmly-in-cheek!) Or at the very least, I hope he understands that ethical PR pros actually do exist.

Photo credit: tracylee via Flickr Creative Commons

PR pros, don't be digital media drop-outs

Image via Wikipedia
I really appreciate how our media friends have embraced the conversation on ways to improve education. From special reports on CNN to NBC's Education Nation, bringing education to the forefront of the dialogue is encouraging.

Perhaps the new conversation is tinged with typical politics for the election season and nothing new will come of it. On the other hand, having education in the public discourse through media like Oprah and even as the central theme in an upcoming documentary film, tells me it might be something more.

The stats are grim when taken as a whole. Bottom-line, we can all do better. School systems should operate like works-in-progress just as the students they teach and attempt to reach.

There is also a lesson for PR pros: Don't be a digital media drop-out. Don't be satisfied with where you are in your professional learning. I chose digital media specifically because that seems to be the area in our profession that is currently getting the bulk of the conversation. Social media integration concepts will continue to spread. It is my hope that PR pros won't take the easy road and, like a high school drop-out, just barely scratch the surface of usefulness of education for themselves.

Being a life-long learner would be a great example to set for students today and I believe that's a lesson worth sharing.
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Special thanks to Shane Haggerty for bringing up this issue for other school PR people and framing the dialogue to advance and highlight local school district programs for communities.

Also, if you haven't seen it, I'd encourage you to check out the trailer for the documentary mentioned earlier:

The Political Engine vs The School House

As many of my readers know, I work in the communications department of a public school district in north Texas. Last week's plans were derailed by the announcement of President Obama's Tuesday, September 8 live address to students. Like many, our district became a center for lively debate and spirited feedback by our community.

In no way am I here to disparage any of the parents or community members who called to, ahem, "discuss" the merits of showing or not showing the President's address to students. I'd rather focus on an interesting phenomenon in communication and why the headaches are worth it.

School PR and a Presidential Address
As the topic heated up for school districts, we reached out to other school PR teams in our area, across the state, and even a few friends across the country. It was important to find out what they were hearing, how they were handling the calls/e-mails, and if any decisions had been made on showing the broadcast. (Photo credit: darkmatter)

The common themes we heard from our brothers and sisters in school PR were ones of political leanings being argued against the educational decision-making process. Of course this is nothing new, we often have to balance the political winds that blow in a community with educational needs, mandates, and expectations. But this time, the contrast was so stark as to see that we had all been thrust into a no-win situation.

The difference was in the language that was used. While most school districts were trying to internally decide and discuss the instructional merits and curricular needs, we all were hearing arguments both for and against live (as well as taped) broadcasts of President Obama's address that hinged squarely on the shoulders of political dogma. (In our area, many of the calls began, I believed, during and after a local conservative talk-radio show.)

Bottom-line: We weren't going to win over the hearts and minds of our communities because, in this instance, we were speaking different languages and looking at the same thing through different lenses. And this brings me to the bigger positive of the ordeal.

Spotlight on Education
For the many extra hours, meetings, arguments, e-mails, phone calls with media friends and decisions ultimately made, I will still be thankful for one big thing. The nation was talking about education for a change.

In two days time, our neighbor asked, sports-talk radio shows discussed it, I read (and commented) on Facebook friends' wall postings as well as talked with random family members who don't usually engage in these types of talks. They were all talking about education and the issue of Obama's address along with the mainstream media:


Future-gazing
There is little doubt in my mind that on Tuesday, September 8 at 12:00 pm EDT, many people will stop what they are doing at work, school, and home to tune-in to the live broadcast of Obama's address just for the curiosity of it. Many will want to confirm their fears or solidify there beliefs, but they all will hear the message or at least hear of it. The address will continue to get local and national media coverage. Parents and students will get asked to share their thoughts via interviews. Pundits will claim righteousness or indifference. The machine will roll and just maybe, a greater discussion will open up on addressing the common issues that plague education.

It is for this reason that I can be thankful for the havoc and short-term PR problems we'll face because they are outweighed by a larger (much-needed) discussion about education in this country. Further, I think we can all be a little calmer if in fact the Presidential address stays within the realm of wanting students to take personal responsibility for their own education, to set goals, and to not only stay in school but make the most of it.

Those are good lessons and a debate worth having.

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Mr. President, the community has some questions

The Obama Administration is furthering what I think is quickly evolving into the first Social Media Presidency. I wondered what we could expect from the Administration back in November as in if we would start seeing something unprecedented from our country's leadership.

So far I've been pleasantly surprised at the amount of new levels of government access and openness through things like the Whitehouse.gov Blog, Presidential addresses via video, and the recently announced, new feature called "Open for Questions."

According the announcement post,

"'Open for Questions' is a new experiment for WhiteHouse.gov, the President’s latest effort to open up the White House and give Americans from around the country a direct line to the Administration."

They are inviting people to participate to participate in the community-moderated online town hall by submitting question as well as voting on submissions from others.

It's important to note is that this new "Open for Questions" feature is referred to as an "experiment" three times (twice in the text and once in Obama's video). I'm curious as to whether or not they followed the scientific method and developed some hypothesis for this new offering.

It will be interesting to observe the outcome of this and no doubt other experiments designed for listening. So far, the initial social media integration still has the potential to work since it comes across as being a genuine interest in the thoughts of the people. I like what commenter Jessica wrote on a post by Doug Haslam earlier this month:

"The real question is: Is Obama ready to change the way the people interact with the government (with or without new media)? If the answer is yes, then the new media stuff will come in time."

I would say "Open for Questions" is a new way to interact with your government. What do you think?

Related articles found by Zemanta and Richie Escovedo

• Obama to host online Q
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Welcome to history, now change the future

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the CHANGE we seek." - Barack Obama

I hope and pray that the people of our country are as good as we think we can be. The future depends on us. My kids depend on us.

http://change.gov/ ===> http://www.whitehouse.gov/

And about that Social Media Presidency, check out the Whitehouse.gov's blog. It will be interesting to following along the administration's level of engagement. What do you think?

(Photo credit: waiting line)

Can we expect a Social Media Presidency?

Much has already been said and written about what went so right for the Obama campaign and the people responsible for its success.

Along with being a landmark event in American history, the win should have lasting effects for communications professionals. One could even argue that the social web changed history.

So what should we expect  now?
Will we see more in the way of social media strategies from the next administration or as Josh Bernoff puts it, "Barack Obama, will you tap into the groundswell?" Bernoff even goes so far as to call for quite possibly the coolest Presidential appointment (at least to professional communicators):

I call on president-elect Obama to create a community of committed Americans to discuss the solutions to the problems that face us. I call on him to designate a US Community Manager, with a small staff, to moderate and harvest those discussions to solve the country's problems. Forget polls. With a few million people in my.america.gov, Obama will be able to tap into the world's largest focus group. Communities are cheap, compared to most of what the government does. Create a space for the brightest people you know; use them to attract the best ideas. And better yet, use this energized community to sell those ideas to America.

We even have someone ready to jump in and take the job (he's a local guy, so I'd support him.)

I sincerely hope we see more tactical uses of social media integration from government officials. I think this would be the beginnings to real change. Strategic integration of social media strategies aid in telling a transparent story. Besides, it would be a shame to let the social networks go to waste when so much could be done with them.

In my opinion, they are off to a good start with Change.gov site to help tell the story of the transition.

(Photo credit: joyepurser)

Vote!

 

My name is Richie Escovedo and I approve this message.

(Photo credit: BrittneyBush)

Students remind us to vote

I've been encouraged this election season by the number of educators and students taking an interest in Presidential politics and this historic election. As early voting records are shattered and millions of people pay particular attention to where we are as a country and where we could go together. I hope this country significantly breaks voting records with huge numbers on November 4.

One of our district's schools took an opportunity during Red Ribbon Week to gather outside on a beautiful day to create another reminder to all Americans to exercise their rights and vote.



This photo first appeared on the district's Web site and was then shared with CNN for their iReport.

Social Media can be ridiculously fun

Do you wish you could fast-forward time to skip all of the soon-to-be released political messaging from the Presidential candidates and stop right before election day?

This post won't help you do that.

What I can do is point you in the direction of something fun, that could take your mind off of the impending (read: boring) messages, that happens to also be the start of a solid example of social media for good: voter registration.

I ran across this post today on Jason Falls' Social Media Explorer blog in my feed reader (Maker’s Mark Is Capturing Election Fever With A Presidential Prediction) that caught my eye since it brought two very different (yet sometimes intertwined) industries together: alcohol and politics.

Check out Maker's Mark News, which according to Falls is...

"...a faux news effort we’ve put together to support Maker’s Mark’s partnership with Rock The Vote."

The About Page pretty much sums it up:

"The Maker’s Mark and Rock The Vote Bus Blog is a friendly place to have some fun during the 2008 election season. To increase awareness and drive voter registration, Maker’s Mark and Rock The Vote have partnered to send the Maker’s Mark-Rock The Vote Bus to several cities around the nation prior to the November election. As an additional reminder to Maker’s Mark customers, hang tags on bottles of special, limited edition, triple-dipped Maker’s Mark bottles remind people to register to vote."

Here's the effort's first video entry:


What makes this so remarkable is that it looks really fun. They chose to work with a message that they know will resonate with positive humor for their target audience. They pieced together a campaign that brings proven elements of marketing and communications, just with a fun twist.

I hope their efforts pay off.
I hope they raise awareness for voter registration.
I hope more professional communicators learn how to have fun with their messages.

Our audiences just might appreciate the change.

Defending satire

Once again, John Stewart of Comedy Central's The Daily Show gets it right when he defends satire in The New Yorker.



It makes one wonder if our media friends ever go back and look at their own tapes. Bottom-line: I thought it was funny and wanted to share.