Archive for September, 2007

As I meet with public relations people in CEE –- Central and Eastern Europe – countries like Slovenia and Croatia — I find them hungry to expand their knowledge about the world of influence, and I occasionally hear about a curious thing called, The London School of Public Relations (LSPR).

There is nothing like LSPR in the U.S. and in much of western Europe. In fact, I do not believe it would not work many places because of its approach - similar to that of Amway - toward the practice of PR. Let me share a little background that I learned from LSPR’s founder and head, John Dalton.

Dalton, who said he was English, told me that he had worked in New York as an accountant in the 1990s but was “run out of town,” in his words. I asked him what he meant, and he said that he simply “failed” as an accountant. Continued

Paul Krugman’s OpEds in the New York Times are always clear and deliver a powerful message. I think his OpEd from yesterday might be one of his best.

I found the Croatian public relations people I have met at this conference at Rovinj, Croatia, to be sharp. It’s the annual meeting of the Croatian PR Association, and I spoke before the group Friday on the trends and ethics of working in a New Media. I heard many questions over issues of blogs and ethics. Good questions, important issues. For example, is it ethical to mask or hide the person responsible for a blog that covers controversy. Not in my book. I am a proponent of openness and transparency.

There’s quite a bit happening in this country on the Adriatic — from technology to energy and telecommunications — and companies and organizations have come to reply on PR for competitive positioning. But, here are a couple of issues I have observed –

Continued

This is interesting listening — NPR’s On the Media interviews Laura Rozen of MotherJones.org about the latest news on the evolving scandal over credibility involving ABC News and the network’s consultant, Alexis Debat, who has a bogus resume and credentials.

In a separate interview on the subject, On the Media Interviewed ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider.

This guest column by Gail Collins that appears in The New York Times is both inspiring and a reminder for many of us about the last equality.

Have no fear … America’s global imagine is in the hands of … well, hired guns. No, this isn’t a posting about Blackwater.

Neil MacFarquhar reports in the New York Times today that the U.S. State Department has hired a couple of Arabic-speaking bloggers (one from Texas, by the way) to weigh-in on Middle Eastern blogs and forums to provide balance to criticism of U.S. policies. These bloggers are paid of course to deliver carefully scripted messages.

The program is under the watchful eye of Karen Hughes, a former local TV reporter from Texas, who was put in charge of managing America’s image abroad by President Bush.
Continued

Want people to listen? Just use plain language. Simple words.

Whenever I hear someone who is being interviewed on broadcast news begin an answer by saying, “well, ah, basically …,” I am immediately suspicious. I don’t understand today’s popular overuse of the word, basically. It’s a junk word in most contexts — means nothing. I think it’s used when people cannot think of anything else to say and want to buy time.

And, why do police now call suspects, “persons of interest.” What does that mean? How about “suspects?”

A spokesman for a college was asked by a cable news reporter how many dormitories his college had. The spokesman took a moment and responded, “We have six conditional dormitories.” The reporter did not ask him what he meant by “conditional” because it was not relevant to the story. But, I thought, what the heck is a conditional dormitory … and who cares? Junk words.