Poster child for poor sportsmanship

Elizabeth Lambert might be a nice person. She might genuinely feel bad about what she did in a soccer game that now lives online for all the world to see. Again and again. (ESPN has more of the video, and analysis, here).

But thanks to letting her emotions “get the best” of her, she’s now forever the “angry soccer player” from the University of New Mexico. With the evidence prominently on display on YouTube for who knows how long.

You want her coaching your daughter on a youth soccer team in 10 years or so?

Aside from the obvious idiocy of her actions – calling it “poor sportsmanship” doesn’t seem to cut it – Lambert’s 15 minutes of fame provides yet another study in how a university’s media relations/communications team has to put together an apology for an athlete who decided to play dirty.

While New Mexico’s damage police at least used the “uncalled for” phrase in the statement below – No, I don’t think Lambert wrote this – I don’t think it goes far enough:

That wasn’t a mistake

Yes, there are bigger things to blog about.

But I can’t ignore the PR flap that the University of Minnesota – in my neck of the woods – had to clean up this week.

Before I go on, here’s the video in question:

Clearly, the approval process at the U of M for carefully crafted media statements must be a nightmare. Or at least demands that several people massage the words and sentences before it sees the light of day. That’s certainly typical in the corporate world, and painful.

Because this statement released by the U of M after that insanely stupid Goldy Gopher incident at Penn State reeks of too many cooks in the media statement kitchen. I could be wrong, but have a look:

“The life of a mascot at a sporting event is fast-paced and enormously high-energy. This was plainly a mistake.”

Okay, get past the “fast-paced” and “life of a mascot” nonsense, I think we all agree there was nothing fast-paced about the endzone prayer. Focus on the “mistake” part.

This was no mistake.

I make a mistake when I don’t realize that I just threw in a red shirt with the whites in the laundry, and wash it on hot water. It’s not a mistake if I know I’m doing it.

The goof inside the Goldy head knew what he was doing. At the very least, he thought it would be entertaining. I’ll give him that. But it wasn’t.

And don’t get me started on the cheerleader who fist-bumped Goldy after his “mistake.”

Please.

The U’s statement also clearly struggled with trying to address the faith angle, but failed:

It certainly wasn’t his intent to offend anyone or trivialize their religion… …On behalf of Goldy and the University of Minnesota, I want to apologize to the Penn State player involved and anyone else who may have taken offense from this incident.”

What’s so hard about actually calling the prayer-mocking what it is, offensive?

Here’s my version of a statement:

“The actions of the students involved are inexcusable. They showed poor judgment. Mocking prayer is offensive to many of our University of Minnesota students, alumni, staff and administration and we apologize to them for this incident. We also apologize to Jerome Hayes and the entire Penn State community.”

It’s offensive to many of the people you’re depending on to fill your new stadium every Saturday. So call it that.

It wasn’t a mistake.

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News is about credibility

So what’s the fallout from the ridiculous balloon boy nonsense?

As I wear the hat of a former local TV news executive producer, here’s my conclusion:

The loser here isn’t Richard Heene – a sad, pathetic product of the YouTube and reality TV era who made his own bed here. Sure, it was fun to watch him implode. But, America’s already sick of this story. Don’t think so? Give it a couple days.

No, the true loser is cable TV news.

Yes, if a boy had truly been in that jiffy pop foil baggie, excuse me “LAV” (low altitude vehicle), it would have been a heck of a story. That’s why people tuned in. That’s why Denver’s news helicopters went up. That’s why the cable TV “news” turned away from the less sexy stories on their rundowns and went wall-to-wall on finding out what was going on in Colorado. I get that. Cable TV news has never been able to avoid the pack mentality.

Well, once the kid came out of hiding, and people saw this news conference, it was pretty clear what took place:

Notice he said he didn’t want to talk about his LAV… but he did.

And that Oscar-winning performance all came before the “we did it for the show” quote from the child who shall not be named here.

And the rest is history.

Hey CNN and your buddies, want to show your viewers you’re bigger than the next American idiot’s attempt to manipulate you? Then recognize the sanity of the people you’re dealing with sooner. Take a stand. Get your credibility back.

Who am I kidding, right? None of them will do that. These are “good stories.”

In this case, Richard Heene’s bizarre behavior and interest in doing interview after interview became the story. Of course it did.

He made his kid puke. Twice!

I’ll keep tuning out when this crap dominates the live TV news airwaves. I’ve got plenty of other programming to watch on my DVR, without commercials thank you.

So, beyond this “Dad of the year” episode for newsrooms to ponder, I leave you with two more takeaways:

-It’s going to be harder to stop the next American idiot fascinated by having or promoting a “show.”

-Some age 30+ people in cable, network and local TV news are likely wondering if they really feel good about the future of the profession. If not, it might be time to seek out a new line of work.

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What if every award was about intention?

News of President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize – roundly mocked as being a bit premature (Saturday Night Live had a nice take) – got me thinking a bit as to how it might relate to some other award-worthy things in life.

Think about it.

-Gosh darn it, Aaron Rodgers is really trying hard for the Green Bay Packers this year, let’s give him the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.

-You know, a lot of teenage girls saw that Jonas Brothers movie it must have been good, let’s give the boys an Oscar.

-Company X wanted their crappy, unfunny and poorly-acted “viral” video to truly go viral and get a million-plus views on YouTube. So what if it only got 500, let’s give them a national online video award.

Look, good intentions get you nowhere. It’s a lesson we all learn in life. You have to do the work. You don’t get an “A” if you turn in a half-done test. You have to start, do, and finish the job to the degree that your peers say “Wow, nice work.”

Awards are about actions, not intentions.

I guess that’s what makes Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize all the more puzzling. Where’s the work?

Awards are not “a call to action” as Obama said in his remarks after winning the Nobel. They should reward the action.

From a PR standpoint, I suppose Obama and his team did what they could. (Though, he could have turned down the award). Michael Sebastian outlined some of the PR strategy options Obama seemed to follow on Ragan.com in “PR quandary cloaked in a global honor.” To me, the Nobel committee has the PR problem.

Awards are not for people or groups who “strive” to do something. They need to do something worthy of an award.

Democrat. Republican. Whomever.

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Telling war stories

In an airport recently, I picked up a paperback copy of Lone Survivor, the book published in 2006 from Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell about the U.S. mission in Afghanistan named Operation Redwing.

I had heard about the book and about parts of the mission – which killed 11 SEALS and eight Night Stalkers in June 2005 – but to be honest I never really dug deep into the real story of what happened.

As compelling as the narrative is, and heroic and sad… It will challenge what you think of the anti-American landscape in bin Laden’s backyard, and the realities of the post 9/11 world. And why we’re over there.

I’m sure most Americans are clueless about the battle at the heart of the story.

First bill for Franken

(Photo credit: The Balitmore Sun)

Given the difficult economic times our country finds itself in, the newest United States Senator no doubt was eager to go to work after a multi-month legal battle to win his seat and help find solutions for Americans in need.

Al Franken’s first order of bill business? A proposal to create a program to give service dogs to all injured veterans.

Okay, let’s make this one clear. This criticism doesn’t care what party Franken comes from. No, it’s not a donkey or elephant thing. In fact, Franken co-sponsored the bill with a Republican.

It’s all about the “Huh?” factor.

Almost eight months after his disputed election day against Sen. Norm Coleman, Franken goes to Washington and makes this his first official order of business?

Not saying it’s not a good bill. Not saying vets won’t appreciate it.

But if we’re gonna spend more money, how about spending it on the masses in this time of peril. In fact, how about pointing out where we’re wasting money on programs that are costing more cash than they’re worth?

Nope. He proposes this. It doesn’t exactly scream, “I’m ready to work for you, Minnesota.”

Again, I’d say the same thing of any first-time Republican Senator going to DC in 2009, from any state. These are far different days than the last 20 years.

“Out of touch” doesn’t discriminate by party or state. The fact that Franken’s bill has passed the Senate suggests the blinders are still firmly on out in DC.

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Remembering a mentor

All of us, no matter what line of work we’re in, can credit someone for helping us get our proverbial foot in the door in our chosen profession, right out of college.

Without a connection, a friend of a friend, a good word… it can be hard to convince a would-be employer that you’re the right person for the job – despite that glaring lack of experience.

In my case, having set my sights on a career in TV news, I was scared I’d never get a job as I was finishing up my third year at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Out of the support from UWEC faculty legend Henry Lippold and another former journalist turned instructor, Brent Pickard, I got a phone call from WEAU-TV News Director John Hoffland in May 1993.

My memory of the brief call is fuzzy, but my first exposure to Hoffland was that he told me I was recommended to him by Henry and Brent for a photographer internship at the station, for that summer. At the time, I also had a potential unpaid internship on the table from the sports department at KARE-11, the NBC affiliate in my home market of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I was close to saying yes to KARE.

Hoffland set up a time for me to meet him to interview for the internship. My memory of that meeting is also fuzzy but I do remember him walking out to the lobby, greeting me and walking me back the short distance into the newsroom and his office.

Our conversation was brief as I recall – he clearly viewed it as a formality I suppose – and seemed to be less about the internship and more about him finding out about me and how soon I could start. I probably stammered a bit to find an answer, but the KARE opportunity, in my mind, was now out of the question. I told Hoffland ‘yes’ and made arrangements to start my professional career in TV.

I knew at the time It simply made more sense to get the foot in the door in a small market and get opportunities to actually contribute to the on-air product of WEAU. Big market internships just don’t provide the same results.

Man, am I glad I went to work for Hoffland.

Like many 21-year-old’s before me at WEAU, Hoffland gave me a chance to shoot stories, write them and read them. While much of my work at WEAU was in news as a newscast producer and reporter, Hoffland also allowed me to fill in as a sports anchor a few times to cover vacations and other absences. I loved having that chance, to see if I liked it, to see if I was any good at it.

While I enjoyed doing sports, I knew I would get to the Twin Cities faster if I focused on producing newscasts. So I perfected my show-stacking skills on the morning, noon and 5pm newscasts, learning about newsroom teamwork, typing away on the TV-13 typewriters (Yes, I’m that old), ripping wire copy off a printer and taping the script together for the teleprompter. Computers came a few months into my time in Hoffland’s newsroom.

All the while, Hoffland was there to offer his advice. But for the most part, he let producers be producers. he let reporters be reporters. He let us police ourselves, so to speak, to make sure we were fair, objective and focused on providing viewers with news that had an impact on them. Not the celebrity and pop culture fluff that was starting to creep into so many newscasts at that time, in markets of all sizes.

It was always about news. The Hoffland way. Ever the teacher, asking us producers why we wanted to put a certain story in the newscast. And how we could creatively and fairly tell it.

Just over a year after I started working for Hoffland, I got a call from WFRV-TV in Green Bay. They had a producer opening. I didn’t know how I would tell Hoffland that they wanted to interview me. I knew a couple things, though. That I needed him to tell me it was a good opportunity. I needed him to tell me it was the right thing to do.

When I sat down in his office, looked at him across his desk and told him about the call he smiled and said… “That’s great!”

I presume, he had to tell many people who were once part of the WEAU family the same thing. Every year. Newsroom turnover was part of his reality. His reaction to each of us who broke our news to him could have been, “Oh come on, you’re gonna leave already!”

But that’s not what he did. He simply congratulated us and started searching for the next young journalist to mentor.

I can still hear him. “That’s great!”

And he meant it.

Leaving the comfort of the only TV newsroom I had known, the great camaraderie among co-workers, and a boss I trusted was hard. Though I knew I had to leave to reach my career goals, I knew what Hoffland taught me would always guide me.

I spent a year in in Green Bay, and called Hoffland when I got an interview at KSTP to get his advice on taking a producer job there, of course. And if he had said it wasn’t a good place to go, I wouldn’t have taken the job.

In my 12 years in TV news, I never had a ND that I respected more than Hoffland. So much so, I couldn’t bear to call him when I left TV in 2005, to pursue a new calling in corporate communications.

I thought he’d be disappointed.

I found out about his unexpected death on the 4th of July, through a former colleague on Facebook. I was, and still am, shocked that he’s gone.

I wish I had talked to him recently.

At his funeral, it was good to see so many of the people who Hoffland had an impact on. To hear his love of telling “a quick story” in the TV-13 newsroom. To hear some of his signature catch phrases again… “Oh reeeaalllly?” I always loved hearing him say that when we told him something he hadn’t heard yet.

John Hoffland had a good run in TV news. How many ND’s last as long as he did in one place? Trust and respect go a long way in that job. If you’re not respected in that role, you won’t convince anyone to bust their butt for you.

Respect is everything.

It’s clear my path crossed with Hoffland’s for a reason.

And it’s clear I – and so many other people who worked with him – got the better end of the deal.

(Link to a special page on WEAU.com, remembering John Hoffland)

(Watch a 1/2 hour special about John Hoffland, produced by WEAU)

(Watch WEAU news anchor Judy Clark’s eulogy to John Hoffland)

(Watch WEAU sports anchor Bob Gallaher’s eulogy to John Hoffland)

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Air Force reaps PR on 60 Minutes

The recent 60 Minutes story titled “America’s New Air Force” caught my eye for a couple reasons. One, I’m always interested in learning about the cutting-edge technology employed by our military. And two, the story clearly would not have seen the airwaves or the Web without a strategy and a PR reason for the Air Force to allow CBS to tell it.

The full story is on the CBS website, linked above, and on YouTube:

The story details the latest innovation in what the Air Force calls “unmanned aerial vehicles,” or UAVs. 60 Minutes showed how the “pilots” of the new $11 million a piece “Reaper” and the “Predator” sit in a room on a Nevada air base, controlling its quiet – almost undetectable – flights above Iraq and Afghanistan by satellites, providing real-time protection for troops on the ground. Very video game-like. Maybe a job for my 12-year-old son, someday.

Amazing stuff.

But from my perspective in the corporate communications world, I also marvel at how the Air Force got the favorable story out there.

Sure, Lara Logan tried to hit on the chances that UAVs don’t always get things right. And that’s certainly a valid point when it comes to any technology and the human factors that contribute. But the story is, the Air Force has the capability to get it right, an incredibly high percentage of the time.

I like those odds.

And I like the protection and secrecy the UAVs provide.

Kudos to the Air Force and CBS for getting this out there. Extra credit to CBS for getting the Air Force to cooperate for this cool shot of Logan and her crew on the ground, from a Predator camera, for a demonstration during the story:

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Witnessing history at the Supreme Court

I’m a bit of a history geek, so allow me to share an experience I had this morning that was on my unofficial “bucket list”:

• Hear oral arguments in a case at the U.S. Supreme Court

I’m in Washington, D.C. for my day job, and through some connections I got a chance to visit the Supreme Court for the second time in the last three years. But this time, the court was in session. And I was given a pass to sit in the seats in the historic courtroom that are reserved for family and associates of the justices.

Very cool.

Mind you, I would be happy just sitting in the so-called cheap seats in the back of the courtroom. But to be able to sit a little closer, to the right of the justices as you’d look toward the front of the room, was indeed very cool.