Crisis PR or Politico Spinning for Blago?
January 26, 2009 by ShannonCherry
Filed under Marketing
You may have heard that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevech has hired a publicity firm to help him deal with all the media attention he’s getting, since he was arrested for corruption when he (allegedly) tried to get some kind of compensation to fill President Barak Obama’s Senate seat.
Hiring good PR counsel when you are facing a major problem is a good idea.
But I am not sure if this firm is really working on Blago’s reputation, or perhaps doing some major spin doctoring.
The public relations agency actually send out a press release announcing the Governor’s media schedule for today. Huh? Since when is a media schedule news? It is only when you want tons of people watching… perhaps to taint a jury?
What do you think? What is really going on here?
I’m also curious if you would have taken on the Governor as a client?
image credit: Joey Harrison, on Flickr
I don’t think the PR firm is doing him any favors. I mean they are a little late to the game…the negative publicity started several weeks ago and frankly – left on his own for that amount of time – he didn’t do himself any favors. The message is all wrong. He needs to focus on the impending trial and work on controlling his downward spiraling image. We can tell when we are being fed a line and that is exactly what we are getting.
I agree with Leslie that this might be a little too late. I’m not that impressed with his on-camera interviews, thus I’m a little worried that sending out his schedule would simply be setting him up for more missteps. He needs to show himself as a professional, not a media hog.
Let’s get real here — at this point, we’re not talking about spinning on ongoing situation. we’re talking about hardcore damage control. the first step is a well-connected, personable advocate in the community; the second, some SERIOUS media coaching; the third, the truth.
Nice effort but as Kristin said more damage control than anything. However, he will get an “A” for effort. If you are going to make an attempt best to go with the pros rather than your interns.