Buckle up bloggers! Time to sit back and enjoy everyone’s favorite past-time–politics!  

Hopefully, at least two of you will indulge my strange passion for politics and continue to read. On November 10, 2013 The Statesman released a story about 18^th District Representative Mark Patterson. The story focused on how the Ada Country Sherriff, Gary Raney, revoked Patterson’s concealed carry permit. The basis for action revolves around falsification of the application. Patterson failed to disclose a withheld judgment on rape charges back in 1974; a withheld judgment renders an applicant ineligible to carry a weapon.  

           

The next day, another story came out, in the Spokesman-Review. According to Idaho State Law, Legislatures’ are except from the concealed carry law, therefore Patterson doesn’t have to give up his weapon.

           
 We now get to the crisis…

 This newest revelation about lawmakers being exempt from the law comes on the heels of national uproar about Congressional exemption from Obamacare. Idaho Legislatures are scrambling. In the story four representatives came out denouncing the exemption and calling for the law to be repealed. Even the House majority leader spoke, “I don’t like the fact that there’s a double standard. I think everybody ought to have the same ability and right that the Legislature does.”

Lawmakers employ interns to monitor the media to listen for “hot topic” items. On the day the story ran in the Spokesman-Review, 55 people commented and all of them angry. The quick response to the comments shows that the lawmakers are tuned-in. This monitoring, of the pulse, of their constituent base allows for timely and intelligent responses to the public. Technology changed the way lawmakers and constituents interact. The fast paced movement of information demands quick, accurate, responses from lawmakers. As more people cry out for political reform and transparency re-election hinges on crisis management.

On Deadline, discussed how social media has taken away organization’s ability to control the message of a crisis. The key to managing social media is observation, planning, and quick response. One minute on the world-wide-web is now equivalent to one day pre-internet. Every second can result in several negative messages being posted, shared and liked. Allowing a message to morph, spread, and destroy often takes nothing more than a slow response.

The law in question is 23-years old. The man causing the commotion is a first and probably one time legislature. Is it a big deal? What happens to those who didn’t speak out against it, will it come back to bite them in the butt? Only time will tell, however what do you think? Also, Patterson hasn’t made a statement beyond accusations of a witch-hunt and his intention to appeal the suspension of his permit. What should he do to improve his image, or is he out of luck?

In conclusion, thank you. I know political discussions usually lead to glazed eyes, day dreams, and looking for the exits. However, due to the continued stupidity of our elected officials there is job security for crisis management teams in the wonderful sport of politics!

The Hook

The Village

This morning, while I did my usual singing, speed racer impersonation, a commercial came on the radio. Normally when this happens my hand leaves the “2” position in order to  quickly find a new jam. (Nobody dances in their car better than me!) But, I stopped mid-button pushing. The commercial talked about The Village at Meridian’s grand-opening. At first I thought, “seriously, another new store on Eagle road!?” Then I listened a little more. The event consists of a 300 swag-bag give-a-way with five bags containing $500 shopping sprees, food, live-music, fountain show and sculpture unveiling. This sounded all fine and dandy until I heard that the festivities began at 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning. I thought, “seriously, who in their right mind would drive out to Eagle road at 6:00 a.m.? Then, the light bulb moment. The Village promoters know their audience.

Supply and Demand

Eagle road, while the bane of my shopping existence, seems to be one fastest growing retail center in the state of Idaho. It is also close to the money. Ada County has a median family income of $73,929, the highest monetary contributors to this figure reside in Eagle, Star, and Meridian and these consumers demand products. The Village plans to provide it.

Leave’m Hangin

After the commercial ended a million questions ran through my mind. What is The Village, a new store, shopping center, events arena? How haven’t I heard about this before? What am I doing Friday morning at 6 am? The ad delivered all the important information in a way that made me forget my mad singing/dancing skills. I pondered on all my questions throughout the remainder of my 10-minute drive. As I began my trek to my first class I whipped out my GalaxySII (product placement) and searched the interwebs for information on this amazing event. The ad effectively piqued my interest but left me with more questions than answers. This lead me to actively searching out The Village online.

The Website

Strike a pose, Vogue. My first thought as the web page downloaded. The first page made connecting with The Village simple, but required you to click on the “GRAND OPENING. Come see what’s happening at The Village. Grand Opening Events Guide” link. Once there the site delivered the information on the festivities in a clear, easy to follow format. The color scheme–tiffany blue–gives the site a luxurious feel and the simple font lends itself to elegance. Simple, clean and concise.

The Plan

The events planned encompass every conceivable activity for families, singles, and teens. The 3-day event includes a super hero/princess meet and greet, cookie decorating, food sampling and a Beatles tribute band in addition to the previously mentioned activities. 

Is Failure an Option?

Planning a multitude of outdoor events in an Idaho city, what could go wrong? I’m sure the Farmer’s Almanac, The Weather Channel and God were all consulted before the dates of the Grand Opening became solidified. But I can’t help but wonder if anything short of a tornado possessed enough power to kill the awesomeness of this event. 

Final Question

So what is The Village? I leave the answer to this question up to the readers. The link http://www.thevillageatmeridian.com/ will provide the information, but the interpretation is up to you. How were you inspired?

The Hunter and the Prey

            The PR hunter stalks its prey, carefully researching the prey’s deadlines, personal schedules, and preferred form of communication. The perfectly crafted news release quivers in the box, waiting anxiously to hit its mark. All the while the PR hunter waits for the perfect opening before–BAM! The pitch blows up in the hunters face. The pitch lacked the substance and the strength to hit is mark and the hunter falls back to re-group for the next shot.

            Suddenly, the prey picks up a bow of its own. The string pulled taunt, the arrow dipped in questions, and the aim precise. The hunter takes a direct hit, stumbles and then falls under the sheer power of the informational over-load packed into the shot. Unprepared for the turn of events the PR hunter dies, a slow painfully unemployed death.

             According to an article in the Journal of Public Relations Research titled: Media Catching and the Journalist-Public Relations Practitioner Relationship: How Social Media are Changing the Practice of Media Relations (wow, that’s a mouth-full), the traditional form of pitching has become old-school. No longer termed media pitching, now it’s media-catching.

While the authors agree the most vital component of the journalist-practitioners’ relationship is open, two-way communication, they see the individual’s roles shifting.  In fact Toddb Drefen, a principal at SHIFT Communications, created a social media press release “to allow for readers and observers to interact, contribute, and build on the content presented by organizations”. Drefen viewed the traditional news release as ‘‘the banal, unhelpful, cookie-cutter press releases of yore (that) have outlived their pre-Internet usefulness."

The article examined how the increase of social media has made the journalists’ job easier. No longer do they need to wait for the PR practitioner to draft a news release, telling the journalist what is important. Now the journalist can Google a topic, look on a website, and decide what information they want. Then journalist can decide if they want more information and if so will contact the PR practitioner directly. If the practitioner isn’t ready, the journalist may find other sources for their story.

What does that mean for us? The same core principles and skills apply, just the hand-off changed. Being prepared, the paramount skill required, allows for easier adaption and reaction. The article discusses the practitioners’ need to focus on all the social media outlets used by the client and make sure the information they want to share is clear, updated, and manageable.

The most important aspect of the article is understanding something Bob Dylan knew, The Times They are a-Changin. The PR practitioner once owned the message, spent time crafting it into a perfectly worded masterpiece, and deploying it only to those found worthy. Now the message needs to always be on stand-by, ready to be fired at will.

            And so, the hunter became the hunted. Does extinction lay in the future or will evolution create a stronger, faster, more nimble PR practitioner ready to handle the next phase of media Darwinism?

Works Cited

Waters, R., Tindall, N., Morton, T. "Media Catching and the Jounalist-Public Practitioners Relationship: How Social Media are Changing the Practices of Media Relations." Journal of Public Relations Research, 2010: 241-264.

Where in the world did I come up with my blog name? I know the suspense keeps you up at night so...(insert drum roll here), it is simply the phonetic spelling of media with a little humor built-in. Meed (not mead) means deserving of reward, and yaw meaning giddy-up. The end result is, to get a reward you need to giddy-up to it! As with most things, the humor amused me therefore was deemed awesome! Hope y'all find my musings as entertaining as I do.