Thursday, July 22, 2010

Let's be careful out there

What do recent news stories such as these have in common?
Shirley Sherrod and the flap surrounding her speech about race.
A plus-size model complaining about her photo being Photoshopped to make her look thinner.
Mel Gibson's rants posted on the Web.
Answer:
Technology changes the public relations ballgame.
Lessons?
Be careful what you say.
Be careful what you believe.
Bad news travels fast.
Ask questions before judging.


In the case of U.S. Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod, it seems neither the NAACP, which quickly condemned her, nor Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who fired her and quickly decided to rehire her, bothered to do their homework. Technology affords us the ability to edit, take out of context, and send something off into the blogosphere faster than a blink.

In the case of the plus-size model, featured on the Today Show this morning, a nip and a tuck on a photo are a snap and can cause a major hiccup for a magazine or online medium using such a doctored image.

Then there's Mel. If ever there was an example of technology ruining a career, this is one for the PR textbooks. Coming back from this one looks impossible from here.
But, then, we said the same about Richard Nixon and Eliot Spitzer, right?

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