THE WINNER
“I’m not the scumbag pervert I’ve been painted to be,” Christie Brinkley’s ex-husband, Peter Cook, told Barbara Walters in a 20/20 interview about his affair with an 18 year old. For self-serving whining, this interview takes the cake. Cook goes on to moan that it all happened “because I wanted a little acknowledgement, a little attention, a little thank you every now and then for my efforts.” In one sense he’s right. He’s not a “scumbag pervert,” he’s a selfish scumbag pervert. Notice that the quote made it into the headline, too.
US Weekly, “Peter Cook: “I’m not the Scumbag pervert I’ve been painted to be,” Oct. 8, 2008
ABC News, “Christie Brinkley Denied Request for Restraining Order,” Oct. 9, 2008
THE RUNNERS-UP
”We did not mislead our investors,” former Lehman Brothers Chairman, Richard Fuld, told a House Oversight hearing when presented with an internal memo with the warning, “Why did we allow ourselves to be so exposed?” Shameful. While many people share the blame, even I can answer the question in the internal memo. You were greedy and thought someone else would crater first! This is a business school example of communication being “out of alignment.” While Lehman and other institutions were peddling highly complicated investment vehicles, there were plenty of internal warning voices.
Christian Science Monitor, “Who’s to blame for credit crisis?” Oct. 30, 2008
“I have not violated my oath of office nor have I violated any laws,” said Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fla., who took the seat after Mark Foley resigned for sending sexually oriented emails to teenagers working as pages for the House and Senate. Mahoney gave $121,000 to a former staffer after having an affair and firing her in a heated – and taped – telephone call. He probably has violated some rules, if not some laws, but he clearly broke all the requirements for common sense. His campaign in 2006 promised “to return morals and family values to Washington.” What are they putting in the water up there?
MSNBC, “Fla. Congressman denies breaking any laws,” Oct. 14, 2008
AND THE REST
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao insisted that China was not trying to “cover up” the latest scandal of tainted food. This scandal involved a second round of milk that contained melamine which was used to create the appearance of more protein.This is an interesting story because sick babies began appearing almost a year ago, but the Chinese government tried to maintain strict control of what the media disclosed. An internet journalist broke the story in September on tianya.cn, and named the company – Sanlu Dairy which has 18 percent of the formula market. The authorities continued to try to tamp down protests by outraged parents of sick or dead infants, thus causing more stories. The Chinese government should take a lesson from how Maple Leaf, a Canadian manufacturer, handled a listeriosis crisis, which included several deaths, in August. We’ve only seen the clips and components, but the company and its CEO appeared to have handled it right. They acted immediately, cooperated with authorities, made full disclosure and launched a cleaning program in the affected facilities.
The Washington Post, “Crisis Grows Despite Denials,” Oct. 6-12, 2008
Cbc.ca, "More Listeriosis Cases Expected," Aug. 25, 2008
“We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits,” said Sugule Ali, a spokesperson for the Somali pirates who have been terrorizing the shipping lanes off the coast of Africa, most recently seizing a freighter carrying military supplies.They have a spokesman now? Although the “pirates” claim to be trying to rid the area of ships and countries fishing illegally and dumping waste, experts noted that this was actually a “highly organized, lucrative, ransom driven business.” Indeed, Mr. Sugule confirmed, “We don’t use any other system than cash.”
The New York Times, “Somali Pirates Tell Their Side: They Want Only Money,” Oct. 1, 2008
“We are not losing Afghanistan,” says General David McKiernan.The General’s full comment was, “We don’t have the progress as evenly or as fast as many of us would like, but we are not losing Afghanistan.” Predictably, the headline picked out the negative phrase.
USAToday, “NATO general: ‘We are not losing Afghanistan,’” Oct. 13, 2008
“Both are suppliers’ tests and tests from an additional external laboratory are not showing any reportable amounts of chlorine or chlorine byproducts,” said Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Shannon Frederick, in response to a press release and threatened lawsuit by the group calling itself the Environmental Working Group. The group is claiming to have tested bottled water from Wal-Mart and other retailers and to have found chemicals above the legal limit in California.It’s infuriating that the media swallows the EWG’s self-proclaimed “non-profit” status when they are an arm of the trial lawyers. This is their favorite MO. They hold a press conference which generates scary headlines. An industry-funded group, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, fired back calling EWG’s study, “junk science” and pointing out that they are part of a campaign against bottled water in general.
San Francisco Chronicle, “Some bottled water toxicity shown to exceed law,” Oct. 15, 2008
“She’s not paying for waiting,” said a spokesperson for Dallas’ public hospital, Parkland, after a woman with a broken leg waited 23 hours in the emergency room without seeing a physician and finally gave up and left. Two weeks later, she received a bill for $162. The Parkland spokesperson tried to explain that the bill was for being seen by a triage nurse. The lessons from this: the patient went to the press to complain. It produced a headline about the incident. Quotes should not be used to try to educate or explain but to articulate the institution’s values or mission. They should have said, “This is why we’re trying to expand. We want to be able to serve every patient with the best medical care.”
The Dallas Morning News, “Woman who never saw doctor billed after long Parkland ER wait,” Oct. 21, 2008
Shell Oil said it has “never engaged in fraudulent transactions or entered into sham contracts.” Their statement was released at the same time as a whistleblower, Bobby Maxwell, was fired from the Minerals and Management Service in the Department of the Interior after his job was eliminated. Classic BIMBO. The dispute is much more complicated than reporting the allegations and the other party’s denial. Shell also said it “paid the same rate any shipper does.” The dispute involved what the government paid Shell to transport oil from offshore platforms. The article makes no attempt to understand what the facts really were.
CNN, “Whistleblower: Oil watchdog agency ‘cult of corruption,’” Oct. 14, 2008
BIMBO’s FROM THE CELEBRITY FRONT
“I’M NOT ANOREXIC,” screamed the cover of InTouch, featuring Angelina Jolie, Keria Knightly and Lindsay Lohan.Truly disturbing. The pictures of these young women starving themselves can only affect young women the wrong way.
InTouch Weekly, “I’m Not Anorexic,” Oct. 27, 2008
“I’m no cheater,” Casey Aldridge says an interview about his 17-year-old girlfriend, Jamie Lynn Spears. Their daughter is 3 months old, and the teenagers say they plan to marry.Britney Spears’ sister continues the family’s tradition of a self-indulgent lifestyle in the public eye. Casey wants to be a model.
OK! Magazine, “I’m no cheater,” Oct. 20, 2008
AND AN INTERESTING DISPUTE OVER A ‘BAD’ WORD
In a rape case in Lincoln, Neb. in 2006, the victim was told by the judge that she could not use the word “rape” while testifying about her alleged attacker, and that the jury could not know she was prohibited from using the word in her accusation. This month, the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing whether to take her case. The judge says he was relying on a legal principle that allows judges to prohibit words which could unfairly prejudice the jury. The editors of the BIMBO MEMO think this is an example of carrying the principle of “never repeat a ‘bad’ word” too far.
People Magazine, “She Couldn’t Call It Rape,” Oct. 27, 2008
AND THE LAWYER COMMENT OF THE MONTH
“I am not a sexual predator,” said a 26-year-old teacher accused of and convicted of having sex with one of her 13-year-old students. Her lawyer explained the teacher’s activities saying, “She viewed herself as younger than she really was and didn’t see it as inappropriate.” How can they say these things with a straight face?
AP, “Nebraska Ex-teacher Kelsey Peterson gets 6 years for sex with 13 year-old,” Sept. 30, 2008
WRONG THING TO SAY…. THE WINNER:
A Qantas pilot whose radar malfunctioned three hours after taking off from L.A. en route to Sydney told the passengers that he was “flying blind.” An Air New Zealand flight a short distance ahead was able to guide the Qantas flight through the rest of the journey. The president of the Australian and International Pilots Association called it “an unfortunate turn of phrase.” He added that losing the weather radar is “not always a problem, but it was yesterday because it was a dark night.” This is more than we wanted to know at 55,000 feet. Notice the “flying blind” phrase made it into the headline.
The Brisbane Times, “Sydney-bound Qantas jet ‘flying blind,’” Oct. 30, 2008
WRONG THING TO SAY RUNNERS-UP
“My friend Joe Biden has a tendency to talk forever and sometimes say stuff that’s kind of stupid,” said fellow Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., about the vice presidential candidate’s gaffes.Sometimes they just blurt out the truth.
MSNBC, Oct. 2, 2008
“I apologize for making the comment that ‘Western Pennsylvania is a racist area,’” said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., in a press release. He continued, “While we cannot deny that race is a factor in this election, I believe we’ve been able to look beyond race these last few months.” So he’s saying his constituents were racist last spring when he made the comment but they’ve gotten over it?
National Review Online, “Murtha is sorry he called Pennsylvanians racist,” Oct. 16, 2008
DineEquity, which owns Applebee’s and IHOP, announced that their respected chief financial officer was resigning, effective immediately “to pursue other opportunities.” The stock dropped 26 percent on the news. DineEquity’s chief executive officer said in an e-mail that the resignation “was not the result of any undisclosed financial problem or challenge.” Press reports quoted an unidentified source who said that the CEO and CFO disagreed about the future strategy for the two chains. That’s what the company should have said instead of the obviously untrue “to pursue other opportunities” which was compounded by the denial in the e-mail. Sometimes companies just make it too hard. If their lawyers told them they couldn’t tell the truth about the resignation or ouster, it was bad advice because the stock tanked anyway.
The Wall Street Journal, “Investors Bruise Applebee’s Parent,” Sept. 10, 2008
“To be absolutely, totally honest, I thought this day might come someday,” New York Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman said on being awarded the Nobel Prize for economics.An interesting example of an out-of-context quote. Several readers sent the quote with comments along the lines of “can you believe this arrogant jerk?” Dr. Krugman actually said those words, but in the context of “but I was absolutely convinced it wasn’t going to be this day. I know people who live their lives waiting for this call, and it’s not good for the soul.” Krugman, who has gleefully misquoted President Bush and his advisors and promoted the Democrats agenda according to fellow economists, gets back a little of his own criticism.
The New York Times, “Krugman Wins Economics Nobel,” Oct. 14, 2008
HOW TO GUARANTEE BAD PRESS
Tysons Corner Center, an upscale mall outside Washington, D.C., ditched “Santa Claus” without giving Michael Graham, who has been Tyson’s Saint Nick for 18 years, enough notice to find another gig. Outraged patrons forced the operator to offer apologies and the – unfulfilled – promise of a job somewhere else. The Center apparently hired a new photography company that wanted to bring in its own Santa.
The Washington Post, “Santa Firing Nets Lump of Coal for Mall, Apology,” Oct. 23, 2008
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Can you be a “citizen journalist?” That’s the question journalism professors are debating after a posting by one “johntw” on CNN’s iReport that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack. The stock fell more than 10 percent and the other mainstream media picked up the story – which wasn’t true. Al Tompkins at the Poynter Institute pointed out that the CNN site is headlined “Unedited. Unfiltered. News.” leading readers to think it was part of CNN’s news. “The frame ‘citizen journalist’ itself is a little on the toxic side. Can you go down to the bus stop and talk to a ‘citizen physician?’” he added. We’re a little bemused. So only “regular” journalists are allowed to have unidentified sources and to pick and choose what they print?
ComputerWorld, “Bogus Jobs’ heart attack report rattles citizen journalism,” Oct. 6, 2008
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