A Voice to Defend

Social media platforms give organizations (and public relations professionals) a quick and direct voice to the world and that voice could be used to communicate with and to the media.

In the old paradigm, an organization would have to place an opinion-editorial column in a newspaper if they needed to voice their opinion on a subject or defend themselves, usually written by public relations professionals. Today, social media platforms allow organizations to directly and instantly communicate their desires. An important aspect of this is communicating directly with the media, especially if the specific media in question is the intended direction of defense.

In the sports Twitterverse (Twitter Universe), I have seen a more then a few teams defend themselves to journalists on Twitter or Facebook after a story or column ran that they felt was incorrect or inappropriate. Social media platforms give teams a voice to fight back and this is something that journalists didn’t have to deal with as frequently in the past. This isn’t an action I would recommend a team’s public relations staff take regularly, but if appropriate, it can be a great tool for them.

Social media platforms allow for public relations professionals to fight back when they receive media coverage that they believe is in error. This is a dangerous method to use because it is usually public for everyone to see (as oppose to a private phone call, e-mail or letter), but if the timing is correct it is an advantageous tool to use, although one that should be used extremely carefully, selectively and seldom.

Update: April 1, 2011
Along the same lines as the blog post above, social media platforms allow for an immediate avenue of access for crisis communication plans. As part of the old news cycle, responses driven by public relations professionals were at the mercy of the news cycle. With social media, a crisis communication plan can start immediately with your side/response at the forefront of the news. Social media should be part of every crisis communication plan.

Plain Dealer: Sports Public Relations

If you ever wanted proof that all publicity is not god publicity?

Cleveland sports columnist Bud Shaw of The Plain Dealer takes a look at the actions of LeBron James, Albert Haynesworth, Jim Gray and others and questions their motives of their weakest career moments. This column isn't likely to make the pages of the PRSA newsletter, but worth a chuckle or two.

However, I continue to wonder how diluted one's mind must be to do what these gentleman have done and then think  no wrong has even been done. Even after working in sports for a number of years, I still find this hard to comprehend.

Comment: Scott Van Pelt on ESPN's Sports Center

ESPN/Sports Center anchor Scott Van Pelt asked this question to ESPN's NBA Insider Chris Broussard when discussing the breaking news that NBA star LeBron James is planning to announce which team he will sign with on Thursday night on ESPN:

"In this age we live in - LeBron's now got a Twitter account, we tweet, we blog, we never stop churning out the news cycle. How likely will this [his news conference] remain a secret until Thursday at 9 EST?"

I think it was more a comment then a question. Either way, the answer is "Not very likely"

Does FIFA Like Bad PR?

As a sports fan and a public relation professional, I understand that sports governing bodies cannot always make the popular decision favored by the public because they are the ones who are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the sport and the game. And not just for today and tomorrow but for years to come.

That's why I was OK with MLB Commissioner Bud Selig not overturning Armando Galarraga "perfect game" that umpire Jim Joyce admitted that he made a mistake on the play which should have been the last out of the game.

But over the last two weeks, sports fans have been dealt a huge injustice over the way soccer's international governing body FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) has handled the poor on-field officiating by its referees.

American soccer fans were introduced to how bad soccer officials can be on the sports biggest stage on multiple occasions. And if the officiating mistakes stopped there during the 2010 World Cup, the argument against FIFA would end with the Americans just have bad luck.

But poor officiating through the majority of matches has ruined the World Cup this year and FIFA has done nothing but make matters worse.