Speedgate: Poorly handled media relations creates flap for new NYC Mayor
Poorly handled press relations created a PR flap for newly-minted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The mayor scored points soon after taking office in January when he announced plans to undertake a major initiative to reduce traffic-related fatalities, especially pedestrian deaths. The city has seen several pedestrian deaths recently that have grabbed headlines.
Among the things Mayor de Blasio announced as partr of his plan were stricter enforcement of traffic laws, fines for jaywalking, and a proposal to reduce the speed limit on city streets from 30 to 25 mph.
Imagine the embarrassment when a WCBS-TV crew happened to catch video of the mayor's entourage speeding through a residemntial neighborhood and blowing through at least two stop signs. Of course, the station ran the clip, which went viral and was shown on other stations, not only in New York but nationwide. The story hit the newspapers as well, in New York and beyond.
At a news conference about education a day or two later, a reporter asked about the incident. The mayor scolded the reporter and told him the quetion is not "on-topic" so he would not respond. Instead, the police commissioner addressed the issue, a bit vaguely, by responding that his officers did nothing wrong and there would be no investigation or discipline.
As the issue lived on over the next few days, becoming known as "Speedgate," de Blasio told reporters he would not address it since his police commissioner already had.
The media in New York City -- especially the political and police reporters -- are not easily blown of, and they persisted with questions. As the issue got more exposure, a group of parents and families of traffic victims held their pown news conference and chided the mayor for his "insensitivity" and "lack of concern" for traffic laws.
Finally, yesterday, he addressed the issue with the media, telling reporters he respects traffic laws and knows that everyone -- himself and his police detail included -- are not above obeying those laws. But he begged off by saying driving decisions by his security detail are the responsibility of the police, and he would not "cross that line" to interfere.
To me. it seemed like a lame explanation, where a real apology and mea culpa would have done the trick and likely satisfied the reporters. He does, in fact, have a legitimate excuse. He was not driving and, most likely, he was not even paying attention to how the car was being driven as he was probably on the phone, talking to an aide in the car or by phone, or checking messages.
What he should have said was just that, and that he would expect his driving and security detail to use their sirens and lights if they felt the need to go faster and/or go through stop signs and lights. That would have put the issue to rest, rather than creating a very visible blemish on the mayor's first months on the job.
Next time, listen to your PR people, Mr. Mayor. (And if they didn't give you advice like this, then perhaps you should look for some other PR advisors.)
Posted at 05:27 PM in In the news, New York, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments (1)
They just don't learn. Another Kimmel prank fools many TV newspeople
Jimmy Kimmel did it again. Looks like many people on news desks at local TV stations and some networks just don't verify stuff when it's on the web.
Kimmel phonied up footage of a wolf supposedly stalking the dorms where the Olympics athletes are housed, and he got U.S. Olympic team member Kate Hansen to post it on her YouTube feed.
Take a look at all these newscasters around the country who talked about it, thinking it was the real thing. It's a funny clip, but it points again to a serious problem with the authenticity of things we see online.
Posted at 04:06 PM in Digital media, Journalism, Media, Social Media, Television | Permalink | Comments (3)
Back in New York...
..where it all started,
and where it belongs.
Posted at 04:06 PM in Media, New York, Television | Permalink | Comments (2)
Is Facebook passe among younger users?
So where else are young people going online? And who are they talking to?
If you believe media reports, Facebook has gone out of favor with the younger demos, ages 14 - 34.
But a recent survey, reported this week by Adweek, shows that 66 percent of people ages 14 - 34 are frequent users of FB. What's changing is that they're increasingly using other platforms as well -- mainly YouTube.
Another study, meanwhile, shows that nearly two-thirds of young people have joined at least one social network by the time they're 10 years old. The survey, by the London School of Economics, found that 28 percent of British kids ages 9 and 10 already have a personal profile on a social network -- mostly Facebook. That number has more than doubled over the past year and a half.
The U.S. has restrictions on how marketers interact online with kids under 13 -- basically, they can't. And although many parents restrict (or try) what their kids can do online, the growing access to mobile devices makes parental control ever more challenging. Once a kid has a social network profile, he or she becomes a target for sometimes questionable people -- scammers or, worse yet, pedophiles.
There's a TV station in New York that for years has been asking this question at the start of the 10 p.m. newscast -- "It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?"
The challenge these days is more like, "It's any time during the day. Do you know what your children are doing online and who they're talking to?"
Posted at 02:12 PM in Digital media, marketing, Media, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (0)
"When I'm 64" seemed so far away back then...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jay Leno hosts his last Tonight Show tonight, after a 22-year run where he held the lead in the ratings race pretty much the whole time.
In some ways, it feels like deja vu. (Didn't he do his last show once before, about five years ago?)
But it also feels almost like a non-event. Those of us who are old enough can remember when Johnny Carson left The Tonight Show. It was THE news story and the hot water cooler topic for weeks. Even those who hadn't watched Carson for years tuned in those last few nights, and we can still remember feeling kind of sad when Bette Midler, Johnny's last guest, sang a sweet thank you. Johnny had been a big part of our lives, and we all realized it was the end of an era.
So as Jay Leno hosts his final show, where is the hoopla? Where are the teary eyes and the goodbyes?
Despite Jay's ratings dominance for only eight years shorter than Johnny's, it's just not the same.
NBC is busy pushing the Olympics, which begin tonight. And we've all been pre-occupied with other show business news in the midst of the awards season leading up to the Oscars.
Back in Johnny's time, there weren't late-night talk shows on all the networks. Viewers didn't have the other choices -- cable, Netflix, DVRs, online streaming video. There just wasn't as much to watch.
Jay Leno, while a very good stand-up comic, seems not to have built the kind of image with viewers that Johnny Carson had back then. Maybe some of it is because Jay never hung conspicuously with the big celebrities, the way Johnny seemed to do with the Las Vegas rat pack crowd back then. To his credit, Leno -- although very rich -- always seemed to be just a regular guy from a blue collar background. Carson, also from a humble midwest background, seemed a bit aloof from the masses. We knew he played tennis with all the show biz big shots, but rarely heard of him hanging with regular people. Leno always has gone back to the comedy clubs where he came up, and does stand-up in front of small crowds.
So maybe that humble accessibility has him a bit less of a super-star in our eyes.
And maybe many have just become tired -- or bored -- with his bland humor. We have so many choices, from David Letterman's self-deprecating irreverance to Jimmy Kimmer's frat boy humor, or the biting political satire of the guys on Comedy Central and Bill Maher on HBO. No one dominates the field the way Carson did.
When Jay Leno signs off tonight, it will be the of an era... for him. For viewers, they will be sampling Jimmy Fallon when he takes the 11:35 spot in two weeks after the OIympics. He's not for everyone, so some may move over to Letterman or Kimmel or Arsenio. But I don't think there will be that big gap that was left when Johnny Carson said his last goodnight to us.
Posted at 12:51 PM in In the news, Media, Television | Permalink | Comments (10)
Super Bowl: It's About the Ads
The big pre-Super Bowl story this year was about the weather in New York -- would the first outdoor Bowl played in a northern climate be played in single-digit temps or be snowed out? But New York delivered good football weather yesterday, and the previous few days were also a hit for the hundreds of thousands who flooded Times Square and Broadway for the NFL marketing extravaganza "Super Bowl Boulevard."
The ads did make news, but this year in a slightly different way. One predictable story angle was the ever-increasing cost -- as much as $4 million for a 30-second spot.
But the other angle, as Stuart Elliott pointed out in a New York Times video report, is that many of the Super Bowl ads got huge viewership even before the opening kickoff yesterday at Met Life Stadium. Thanks to the combination of advance publicity in traditional media and added chatter on social media, some of the ads got millions of views days before the big game. And, those views probably weren't interrupted by the distractions of bathroom breaks and reaching for the chips and wings.
As Stuart says in the video clip, people who've seen the ads beforehand talked about "that Cadillac ad" rather than saying "a car ad." Releasing the ads in advance and putting them up on social media added visibility and brand awareness... a win-win.
Posted at 11:01 AM in Advertising, Digital media, marketing, Media, Social Media, Television | Permalink | Comments (2)