It’s the leadership, stupid — not the media relations!

If you were awake during the 1996 presidential election, you know where I got the headline for this post. I got the idea for it from PR’s favorite blogging vixen, Strumpette.

Yeah, I’m giving “Amanda” some ink this week, but she’s earned it.

In yesterday’s post, Strumpette takes to task Matt Szabo, press secretary to LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Seems that Szabo tried to set some last-minute ground rules for an interview betweeen LA Times columnist Steve Lopez and the city’s transportation director. Szabo thought he had a deal; Lopez didn’t. You can read the complete column, but here’s the gist of it:

Is “daylife” tomorrow’s mainstream medium?

To say I’m intrigued by daylife’s beta site is an understatement. This may not be the ideal way to package news for an online world, but it’s a step in the right direction. Spent an hour on it today, losing myself in the endless story “connections” that make the site an adventure. But those connections also make daylife a place where I can dig into a story and explore its many angles.

Before you explore daylife, start by reading Jeff Jarvis’ explanation of the concept. Then link from his blog to daylife. If that’s too many steps for you, then just go direct, but be sure to start with the “covers” tab to see how daylife packages the big stories.

I learned about DayLife last week on Buzz Machine, as Jarvis himself is working on the project. Most folks in media circles consider Jarvis a “must read” blogger. Those who don’t, I worry, are still seeking ways to bring back the Sunday Roto section. I include this plug for Buzz Machine mostly for my students, who may not yet have Jarvis on the aggregator. Required reading, guys. Do it.

PR bashing from the media? Take your best shot!

It took a local news story about “image makers” to remind me again that the media don’t like us — or at least they act like they don’t like us. I didn’t need the reminder, but there it was on page one.

Fact is, I’m OK with news-media types taking potshots at public relations. I mean, they need to assert their independence just like everyone else. So I say to my partners in public relations: Stick out your chins and let your reporter friends take their best shots. Trust me. It won’t hurt a bit.

That local story was Phil Trexler’s piece in last Sunday’s Akron Beacon Journal, flagship paper of the former Knight-Ridder chain. Trexler’s report doesn’t just cast aspersions on PR people, it questions the very need for us to exist — at least in the public sector, where taxpayers fund our salaries. The headline decries that “media handlers” often are paid more than teachers or police. Sheesh. Should I even try to point out the fallacies in that one? Nah. It’s too easy.

Public relations ballyhoos LeBron’s $150 sneakers

The NBA season arrived last week and with it came the optimism of Cleveland Cavalier fans. That optimism exists because the NBA’s best player, LeBron James, wears the wine and gold.

But this isn’t a story about basketball. It’s a story about PR and marketing for basketball shoes.

While page one of our local paper reported on the Cav’s upset of the Spurs last Friday, page one of the business section talked about the introduction of King James’ new shoe, the AirZoom. Well, it’s not really an introduction, since you can’t buy the shoe or another week or so. For now, the shoes are locked in Plexiglas cases at Footlocker, Dick’s and other big-name retailers. You may go there to genuflect before the swoosh. But until Nov. 16, don’t touch. Now that’s how you build anticipation!

History placed PR education in journalism school; some of us think it still works

When asked to prepare a post for the faculty blog at Kent State’s School of Journalism & Mass Communication, I agreed. But only if they’d let me post it here, too. It’s my first “double-dip” since entering the blogosphere. Who knows, maybe it’ll boost my readership!

For 70 years now, the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Kent State has offered some type of public relations class. According to Pathways, Fred Endres‘ history of the school, it began with a course in publicity in 1936, shortly after William Taylor (right) took over as director. Today public relations is a popular major with more than 150 students and a 92.5% job placement rate.

OK, that’s a self-serving plug, but I spent two days gathering the data, so I figure I deserve the payback.

Elmo story tickled me, the media, my class

OK, I probably shouldn’t be giggling over the story of a man whose life was threatened when he refused to give up his new Tickle Me Elmo dolls. It happened in a Target store in Tampa, and no one there was laughing. But how can you NOT manage a smirk over some lunatic who risks a felony charge (he claimed he had a gun and would shoot the other customer if he didn’t give up the dolls) for some goofy $40 toy?

I led a discussion about the story in my Media Relations class yesterday at Kent State, and together the students and I explored three different lessons.

Who’s your PR hero? Blogging has changed that, too!

Every time we interview a candidate for a spot on the Kent State faculty, I ask this question: Who’s your hero in public relations? When I was asked in 1991, I told the search committee I was a Jacksonian – Pat, not Andrew. They nodded, happy to know we worshiped the same PR prophet.

That was 16 years ago, when few of PR’s “lecturing practitioners” approached Pat’s brilliance. Certainly none matched his stature. But things have changed. Pat died in 2001. And around that same time, the PR world began tinkering in the blogosphere.

Some new “heroes” emerged, as I learned in our last faculty search, in 2005. I asked the hero question then, and I got some very different answers.

Facebook for the masses? Hmmm…

Plenty of folks, my students included, think Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg dropped the ball earlier this month — not once, but twice. One mistake involved public relations, the other marketing. So your old professor is using this story as a “teachable moment,” even if none of my students is reading!

Facebook’s first mistake was in public relations. On Sept. 5, the company radically altered the format of its member pages, shifting emphasis from the individual profile and large photo to a section of message feeds that update members on the activities of folks in their networks.

I’m with Holtz: Nothing changes everything

If you haven’t read Shel Israel‘s interview with Shel Holtz, you should. You’ll find a lot of wisdom in those 11 questions, along with a sense of humor.

As most of you know, Holtz is an author, consultant and one of the mavens who helped bring public relations into the wired world. His latest book, Blogging for Business, is one of two that are required reading in our new course, Public Relations Online Tactics, at Kent State. The other, not surprisingly, is Scoble & Israel’s Naked Conversations.

What most got my attention in that interview were two profound statements by Holtz — both of which I agree with in spades.

The first: “I also don’t believe that anything changes everything, (emphasis is mine) and as you probably know, I don’t believe new media kill old media.” Later on he adds, “Social media is the next step on a continuum.”

How can PR pros deal with illogical attacks?

Last night on the campus of Bloomsburg University, a young philosophy prof named Kurt Smith debated conservative activist David Horowitz on the topic of academic freedom. I’ve been scanning for reports on the showdown. Nothing yet. But Horowitz performs dozens of these showdowns, so it’s hardly front-page news.

What’s this got to do with public relations? Plenty.

You see, Horowitz and his supporters are on a campaign that would, in effect, regulate much of what’s taught in America’s classrooms. His project, dubbed the Academic Bill of Rights, grows out of two illogical assumptions: 1) that professors and students have equal footing in the classroom, and 2) that any knowledge or “truth” presented in that classroom is open to challenge and debate by students and the public.