[Jonathan Browning via RiseSmart.]

Labels: job search, management jobs, marketing jobs, Marketing Views, risesmart

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• How I escaped my newspaper job -- and how you can, too (Black Star Rising)
  
• Thursday is Cheese Weasel Day! (Collateral Damage)
  
• George Clooney's girlfriend sure knows how to party (Derober)
  
• Using images in SEO (Duct Tape Marketing Blog)
  

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Technorati tags: Branding Strategy, PR, Blogs, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media

Young people who are just starting out in their careers often ask me what it's like to be in public relations. Like so many things in life, the answer depends on the specifics -- of the client or employer, and of you, the PR practitioner.

In the fictional example of Aaron Eckhart's character in Thank You for Smoking, for example, you pair a man without principles with an industry that no principled person can defend. Everybody's happy.

For someone with a conscience doing Big Tobacco PR, however, public relations is undoubtedly a miserable occupation. You do it to pay the bills; there's no higher purpose. Not only that, but since you do have a conscience and presumably care about the well-being of others, you are a hypocrite every time you open your mouth on the job.

The person with a conscience, believe it or not, does have many great career options in PR -- despite the ethical failings of many PR practitioners.

You can represent a non-profit whose cause you believe in, for example. In my case, I prefer to work with startups that challenge the status quo -- particularly those I consider to be disruptive innovators. I like to help them get their messages heard over the loud, relentless drone of Fortune 500 PR departments.

There are quite a few companies and industries I choose not to work for, because I disagree with what they do and/or how they do it. These include:

• tobacco companies;
  
• companies that make firearms;
  
• energy companies that deny man-made global warming;
  
• fast-food restaurateurs with unhealthy menus;
  
• Big Pharma; and
  
• companies or organizations that support any number of political viewpoints or causes I disagree with.
  

That doesn't mean you have to agree with your client or employer in every instance; you're representing them, not you, after all. (I discuss the importance of distinguishing our opinions from those of our PR clients here.)

I've occasionally called out people who I suspect are hypocrites, sellouts or real-life Aaron Eckharts on this blog. For example:

• Jody Clarke of the Competitive Enterprise Institute;
  
• the former PR team at FEMA;
  
• virtually every Hollywood publicist; and even
  
• a young healthcare ad rep for Google.
  

In fact, I offered that young ad rep, who had gratuitously bashed Michael Moore's Sicko in a transparent bid to please her client base, the same advice I offer to those entering the PR profession: Be true to yourself -- whoever you might be.

To paraphrase how I asked the ad rep to think about this issue:

If you were assigned by Google to build an ad campaign for Michael Moore's movie distributor rather than the big pharmaceutical and health insurance companies, would you be willing to write the same blog post criticizing Sicko?

Would you refuse the Moore account because of your principled viewpoint that his film is unfair? Or would your personal convictions "adapt" to the client?

Even if you don't have a strong opinion on the issue, don't personally take your employer or client's side simply because it's convenient or in your financial interests to do so. This way, you retain who you are -- your personal moral autonomy.

You don't have to sell your principles to anyone to succeed in your career. Don't listen to anybody who tells you that you do.

When I was younger and feeling my way in my career, I made plenty of mistakes -- including many worse than the one I suspect you might have made here. It's only by screwing up again and again that I've come to be able to offer whatever insight I have.

And if in your heart of hearts you truly believe that Michael Moore is being unfair to U.S healthcare companies, and that your advertising clients have the moral high ground, I'm sorry I used your post in my example.

Labels: Marketing Views, PR advice, public relations careers

1. Escherichia coli risk
2 and 3. See below.

Labels: Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Taco Bell, The Hills

Read more at Black Star Rising.

Labels: Black Star, Gisele Bundchen, LeBron James, Media News

Turns of phrase can be meaningful in public policy discussions. In fact, they can make all the difference in public sentiment on an issue.

So, instead of "pro-abortion rights" and "anti-abortion rights," we have "pro-life" and "pro-choice."

And instead of "estate tax," opponents began using the term "death tax." Why? Because most people don't have multi-million-dollar estates -- but all of us will die.

In this election season, the phrase that has kept ringing in my ear is from a Barack Obama speech: "We are the change we've been waiting for." What a powerful message for voters in what has been described as a "change" election.

Such turns of phrase are designed to persuade, but they also can help people to understand public policy issues better. For example, Scott Burns [pictured] -- the wonderful personal finance writer and co-founder of the Web startup AssetBuilder -- has coined a beauty.

In his syndicated column this Sunday, he and co-author Laurence Kotlikoff offer a term to describe the conflict of interest inherent in the work of credit rating agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

The term: Insider rating.

What's beautiful about it is that it takes a rating system that is arcane to most people and makes a case for what's wrong with it in two words that even casual investors can understand -- because they immediately relate it to "insider trading." When you hear the term "insider rating," it immediately sounds like a problem that needs to be fixed.

Which is exactly what Burns and Kotlikoff argue. In fact, they believe a new federal agency may be necessary to ensure securities ratings are fairly administered.

You can read the full column here.

As you might expect, the column has stirred debate. A pundit at Housing Wire has bashed the plan, while the readers at Daily Kos are supportive of the idea.

But stirring debate -- sharing words -- is how change begins.

[Full disclosure: AssetBuilder is an Idea Grove client.]

Labels: AssetBuilder, credit rating agencies, insider rating, Moody's, Standard and Poor's

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• Iraqi doctors name new disease after Blackwater (IPS)
  
• Tobacco companies still funding nonsense cancer studies (23/6)
  
• Why did Maxim REALLY choose Sarah Jessica Parker as "unsexiest"? (Feministe)
  
• If you don't know who Mary Gamarra is, you're obviously not a perve (Break.com)
  

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Technorati tags: Branding Strategy, PR, Blogs, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media

At least that's how folks would warn him if this were a horror flick at a black movie theater, rather than the desperate death throes of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. (Or so I'm told.)

[Story.]

Labels: barack obama, Hillary Clinton, Political Spin

This is Laura Bush.



This is the woman who will play Laura Bush in the Oliver Stone version of Dubya's life, which begins filming this spring.



Any questions?

[Story here. And no, I wouldn't dream of a Photochop with Laura's head on Elizabeth's body. Just too weird.]

Labels: Elizabeth Banks, Laura Bush, Political Spin

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• Jericho: Buh-bye (Copywrite, Ink.)
  
• Does Ford want a laugh -- or someone to buy cars? (Marketing Whore)
  
• Have a plan -- everything changes in a crisis (Your PR Guy)
  
• In defense of Courtney Friel (Ultimate News Babes)
  

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Technorati tags: Branding Strategy, PR, Blogs, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media

Labels: Marketing Views, media pitching, media relations, public relations

Wow, I was just shutting down the laptop for the week, looked at the calendar and realized it was the third anniversary of my first post.

It's been a pretty wild ride when I think back on it. I started out kind of wishy-washy, not sure whether to use my "corporate voice" or my real voice. Ultimately, I settled on the latter, for good or ill.

I started out as an outsider, then hit it big for a while, then got bored and burned out, then decided to give it another go with a few changes in focus and format.

Now we're back to a respectable Alexa ranking of 150,000, have about 1,100 RSS subscribers, and average about 40,000 unique visitors per month. (Sure, a lot of them are coming to see pictures like these, but they all count.)

So I'm glad that I've been able to stick with it. I feel like I've gone through a couple generations of blogging relationships, starting out with Steve and Jeremy and Shel and Todd D., and now interacting more with Geoff and Rich and Ike and Cam. There have been a few true blue types like Kevin and Kami and Alice and Bill and Todd A., too. I count all of you, and others out there, as good friends.

Next week (programmers willing), we expect to launch a full redesign for Spin Thicket. Before too long, you'll see that site dwarf anything that Media Orchard has achieved. So I think the fun is just beginning.

Stay tuned.

Labels: Marketing Views

This picture really does it for me -- I mean, sums it up, that is.

(Via Break.com)

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• Discovering and listening to Twitter conversations (PR 2.0)
  
• Leo Bottary's Client Service Insights is back (Client Service Insights)
  
• Great moments in national security marketing (Presto Vivace Blog)
  

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Technorati tags: Branding Strategy, PR, Blogs, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media

I'd say they're dealing with a very large market. Check it out.

Labels: Marketing Views, media relations, public relations

And he oughta know...



[Story.]

Labels: Jews, John McCain, Political Spin, presidential race, religion

As you know, in our old age Media Orchard occasionally likes to look back on past posts that tickled our fancy, and might tickle yours as well.

When I want my fancy tickled, my thoughts often turn to Melissa Theuriau, my all-time favorite newsbabe. Here are some select posts on newsbabes for your reading pleasure.

• Newsbabe Julie Banderas Is a Piece of ... Work
  
• Newsbabe Cynthia Izaguirre: Your Freudian Slip is Showing
  
• The Alycia Lane Collection
  
• Melissa Theuriau Named Sexiest Newsbabe by Maxim
  
• Blogger Uses Blog to Hit on Newsbabe Abby Ham -- and It Works
• Melissa Theuriau Interview: Lost in Translation
  
• 10 Hottest Newsbabes Worldwide
  
• In the Future, All Anchormen Will Be Newsbabes
  
• In Defense of Connie Chung
  
• Spin Thicket Bonus Link 1: Newsbabe Jackie Guerrido
  
• Spin Thicket Bonus Link 2: Newsbabe Courtney Friel

We've also got a newsbabes category at Spin Thicket now, so check it out.

Labels: Media News, newsbabes

That's right ... check out the No. 1 result when you enter the name of the right-wing pun-ditz in Google.

We encourage Malkin lovers and Malkin haters alike to come together as one at our little forum for political, celebrity and marketing snark, Spin Thicket.

Labels: Michelle Malkin, Political Spin

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• E&Y creates worst recruiting video ever (JimStroud.com)
  
• A dream fulfilled: nerdy, annoying Fox producer harassed by large black man at Jesse Jackson conference (Breitbart TV)
  
• Four times as many liberal journos as conservative (NewsBusters)
  

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Technorati tags: Branding Strategy, PR, Blogs, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media

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• Windows Vista toiler paper (Collateral Damage)
  
• Cranking up the anti-Obama hype, Fox airs three Barack-bashing segments in a single hour (News Hounds)
  
• Why buy the ho when you can have the pics for free? (Valleywag)
  

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Technorati tags: Branding Strategy, PR, Blogs, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media

While I may not agree with the Rev. Wright's point of view, shouldn't we concede that it's the only one of the three that has a basis in logic?

[Pat pic came from here.]

Labels: barack obama, Jeremiah Wright, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson

[FBN image via Ultimate News Babes]

Labels: Cashmere Mafia, Fox Business Network, Lipstick Jungle, Media News, newsbabes

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• J&J invites, then disinvites mommy blogger to all-expenses paid blogger junket (CityMama)
  
• Who cares if Big Brother is watching you? (Strive Notes)
  
• Your life sucks and so does mine (Break.com)

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Technorati tags: Branding Strategy, PR, Blogs, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media

[This post also appears at Black Star Rising.]

The issue of fair use of copyrighted photographs has surfaced in the Eliot Spitzer scandal, with Ashley Dupre's lawyer blasting media outlets for publishing pics pulled from the call girl's MySpace page. High-profile attorney Don Buchwald said he would take steps "to protect Ms. Dupre from any unwarranted exploitation of her name, picture, voice or likeness for purposes of profit."

Media outlets have responded that the photos are news and thus pass the test for fair use. As the AP said in defending its decision to run the pics:

The Associated Press discussed the photos obtained from the MySpace page in great detail and found that they were newsworthy. We distributed the photos that were relevant to the story. Those photos did not show nudity, nor were they explicit.

Buchwald, however, questioned how newsworthy the photos really were:

While the circumstances surrounding Governor Spitzer's resignation are newsworthy, some publications, in violation of journalistic norms, have used the occasion of Gov. Spitzer's political misfortunes as an excuse to exploit Ms. Dupre's persona for commercial purposes.

Photo District News found some experts who stepped up to bolster Buchwald's argument, concluding that the fair use argument is a "thin one." Maybe, if I consulted enough law books, I'd agree with them.

But let's get real here: The $4,000-per-hour genie is out of the bottle. Buchwald, Dupre and the photographer(s) who took the pics are out of luck. That's simply one of the risks when images are posted on the Web.

By contrast, photographer Wesley Mann is sitting pretty right now. Mann did a topless shoot with Dupre and has sold the photos to the New York Post -- obviously, for big bucks. Mann must be counting his blessings that those pics weren't posted on Dupre's Web site -- or his own, for that matter. Otherwise, they surely would have been snatched on the grounds of fair use, too.

But to me, that's not the most interesting issue that's arisen out of the media's latest fair use dust-up. I'm more intrigued by the the apparent hypocrisy of media outlets -- particularly the AP -- in the interpretation of fair use with respect to bloggers.

As Ken Shepherd at NewsBusters points out, on the same day the Spitzer scandal broke, the blog Confederate Yankee published an e-mail from the AP explaining the wire's broad policy against bloggers using AP photos, including under circumstances that a reasonable person might consider fair use.

The AP was responding to controversy created when it threatened legal action against Brian Ledbetter's Snapped Shot, a photojournalism criticism blog, for running AP photos without permission. Ledbetter was forced to take down his site temporarily to figure out his next move. He explained:

I'm currently in the process of going through and reviewing my archive, separating the photo-criticism from the general tomfoolery in my content as a result of the AP's warning, which is a long and painstaking ... task, but one that will hopefully allow me to bring back most (if not all) of the AP content that I've found specific problems with.

I can't recommend enough that all bloggers need to read Gabriel Malor's excellent explanation of "Fair Use" in the blogosphere. While nothing's guaranteed to keep us out of the courtroom, following his advice would certainly help towards that end.

Would it be unfair to surmise that the AP went after Ledbetter (from among all the other bloggers running snatched pics out there) because it didn't like the content of his criticism? We'll never know.

But one thing's clear: Fair use is a more muddled mess than ever.

[Image snatched from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which snatched it from Facebook.]

Labels: Ashley Alexandra Dupre, Eliot Spitzer, Media News

Labels: Media News

Here's a little promo for the upcoming Spin Thicket redesign. Enjoy:

Labels: Ashley Alexandra Dupre, barack obama, Bill Clinton, Britney Spears, Eliot Spitzer, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Karl Rove, Osama Bin Laden, Paris Hilton

It's OK not knowing it's spelled "Eliot" in the case of Eliot Spitzer, New York's most famous john (as opposed to "jon".)

But shouldn't you at least find out before you publish your story in:

The Nation?
People?
The Washington Post?
Atlanta Journal-Constitution?
FrontPage Magazine?
The Australian?
On Faith?
Morristown Green?
Napa Valley Register?
The Sentinel?
The Gazette?
WFMY?
WKBW?
KOMO?

Or in scores of other outlets, like Newsday, CNN and others, that have gone back and corrected their errors -- online at least?

Are the lax accuracy standards of blogs seeping into mainstream media -- and particularly the blogs of mainstream media? Or is Google just making it a lot easier to catch the media with their knickers down?

That's just a figure of speech, by the way, Elliot. I mean, Eliot.

Earlier this week, I asked a small class of journalism students at the University of North Texas to tell me the Web sites where they spend the most time. The 11 students each provided a list of three sites. I thought you might be interested in the results:

DallasNews.com (5 votes)
Yahoo! (5 votes)
WFAA.com (4 votes)
Facebook (3 votes)
CNN.com (2 votes)
MySpace
ESPN.com
MSNBC.com
Google
AOL
MSN
Reuters.com
Flickr
Yahoo! Sports
Wired News
Jasmyne Cannick
Wordpress
Weather.com
Allrecipes.com