The people who promote FNC…
Behind any popular news organization there is a PR department that labors to get its organization known. Erica Iocono in PR Week writes about the PR staff at FNC… (via TVNewser)
One misconception about the department is that it will fight any criticism, no matter what the factual basis. Lewis and Briganti deny that.
“Hit us fairly and we’re fine,” says Briganti. Case in point: the recent brouhaha over a New York Times story by Alessandra Stanley stating that Fox News reporter Geraldo Rivera “nudged an Air Force rescue worker out of the way so his camera crew could tape him as he helped lift an older woman in a wheelchair to safety.'’ Briganti says she reviewed the clip in question, determined there was no nudge, and asked for a correction.
When the Times initially refused to issue a correction, the department sent tapes of the clip to the top media journalists in the US, including The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz. After Kurtz and others wrote that there was no nudge, the Times’ public editor issued a correction.
“I don’t think any other PR department would’ve gotten The New York Times to write that correction,” Lewis says. “We kept the pressure on them.”
For Lewis and Briganti, both of whom have been at Fox News since the start, the communications goal is still the same: win every day. Though the network has been top-rated for more than three years, it only brings up new challenges.
“You never rest on your laurels,” Lewis says. “You look at the newspaper every day and think, ‘How can I get my client in here?’”
So these are the people who love the line “We wish them well.” They sound like very rude and crude people. Glad I don’t have to work them. And I wish them well in life…they need it.
Comment by Anon — November 1, 2005 @ 9:39 am
They don’t have to do any promotions with me.
I’m sold!
Comment by Cara — November 1, 2005 @ 10:44 am
Same with me, I love their stuff. Besides, I think it’s the PR Dept’s job to take care of a mess like that, don’t you?
I mean cmon…that was a pretty nasty accusation.
Comment by Thebiz — November 1, 2005 @ 11:44 am
I just love that their example to prove how they won’t fight back if hit fairly is an example of an unfair hit that they DID fight back against. Give us the other example, too. This is more a criticism of the writer than of the PR people. Of course they wouldn’t volunteer anything negative. But the writer should have rewritten that line or pressed for another example.
Comment by bastard stepchild — November 1, 2005 @ 2:15 pm
CNN should hire Fox’s PR dept…it sure sounds like they need somebody there who knows how to do the job.
Comment by Mia — November 1, 2005 @ 8:35 pm