At the end of class, I assigned you to answer the questions toward the end of the Kirk-Giannoulis piece ... post 'em as comments to this post ... and I added a question for you to [post as comments to this post before class Monday: How is this "cheezborger diplomacy" story good public relations? For Kirk? For Giannoulis? For the media that covered it?
Here's the link to a story on the WBBM website in Chicago. (By the way, see how it's an example of convergence, since WBBM consists of both radio and television stations, and also of how the Internet lets the stations broaden their reach?) It illustrates a couple of points about news that I want to make,n and it's a good segue to public relations ...
Yesterday U.S. Sen.-elect Mark Kirk invited defeated Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulis for a beer at Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern, and Giannoulis accepted. Their moment of "cheezborger diplomacy" (so named for the famous Saturday Night Live routine about the Billy Goat*), was basically a photo op - a public relations shtick - but I think it's a brilliant piece of PR on Kirk's part. It's also good PR for the tavern.
But is it news? Well, yes and no. Let's watch it and decide:
- Is it newsworthy? Rate it in terms of the news elements we discussed Wednesday - impact, conflict, prominence, etc.
- Did you hear anything about this downstate? (I didn't. I saw it on a hardcore political blog, and I think it was treated as a local Chicago story.) How widely should a feel-good story like this be reported?
- How does this story relate to the watchdog role of the press, press as "fourth branch of government," etc. Are you still a watchdog when you report the good news?
Friday morning [this belongs here, too]: Rich Miller, who publishes the Capitol Fax newsletter and administers its blog, runs one of the cleanest and most informative "readers' forum" or comment boards in the business. He manages that partly because CapFax is a niche publication that markets itself to policial pros ... and partly because Miller rides herd on the posts.
So yesterday, Miller had to crack the whip on nasty political rhetoric in the comments section. He did it like this:
... here’s the thing. I won’t tolerate any more of this. I issued a lifetime banishment last night and I’ll do more today if need be, so start treating each other with respect and take off your tinfoil hats or you’re going to find yourself forever banned from commenting here. And you can bet your house that I’m just itching to zap my first moron today. Don’t tempt me.And for his question of the day, a standard reader participation shtick, he did this:
Please use the comment section on this post to say something nice about the other side today. You’ll be surprised at how much better you’ll feel. Politics is a rough business, and, yes, we do play rough here. But we don’t need to get dirty and be mean to each other.Let's read it. Some of the comments mention the cheeseburger summit. And most of them, I think, do serve a purpose.
So, electronically shake hands and let’s move along. We’re better than yesterday.
______________
* You probably already know some of this, especially if you're a Cub fan. The Billy Goat Tavern is located on the lower level of Michigan Avenue near the Tribune Tower, and it's long been a favorite hangout of newspaper people from the Trib and the nearby Sun-Times. The Billy Goat Curse
1 comment:
I feel it is newsworthy, for those two to be getting together and talking shows that they are not going to hold grudges and argue against one another the whole time. I did not hear anything about the downstate issues either. I feel a story like this should be published so that people see how our politics can be and not out to kill each other persay.
I feel that the press is showing how these to are acting toward each other in public, of course we don't know if it is just an act or whether this is true, but it seemed pretty legit to me. We are still a watchdog whether we report on good or bad, in news we need to report on both so we can show both sides of the stories no matter what thye may be
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