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Archive for the 'Earned Media' Category

Today, Blog P.I.; Tomorrow, Slate

Published by William Beutler on August 15, 2006 in Blogs vs. MSM, Campaigns, Earned Media, Lamont v. Lieberman and YouTube. 1 Comment

On Monday afternoon John Dickerson covered the extensive use of YouTube by anti-Lieberman bloggers, territory that Blog P.I. happened to cover over a week ago.

This illustrates a problem for writers in the era of the web: It’s incredibly difficult to be the first person to write about something. The sheer number of worthwhile blogs out there also reduces the chances that whomever really was first gets any credit for it at all. And I am absolutely not referring to myself: In fact, more than a week before I wrote about the YouTube-ing ways of the so-called Lamontsters, a non-partisan Conn. blog had already discussed the phenomenon.

And you know who else beat us, this time by only a matter of hours? One of Dickerson’s own colleagues, who didn’t get a hat tip from him, either.

Update: Rolling Stone, somehow completely oblivious of the Lamont-Lieberman primary, is declaring the Va. Senate general election “The First YouTube Election,” on account of Sen. George Allen’s YouTelevised “Macaca” gaffe (about which more later).

Blog P.I. Sells Out

Published by William Beutler on August 9, 2006 in Democrats, Earned Media, Entertainment, Robert Wexler and Stephen Colbert. 1 Comment

A few weeks ago I promised to not blog about clients without giving a sufficient heads up. Tonight I’ll go one better, and mention that the subject of this post (other than my own disclosure issues) is a client of the entertainment division at New Media Strategies. Which is why I’ve been asked to tell you about…

“The Hill”! Here’s the shill: It’s a six-part documentary series that starts airing on Sundance at 9 p.m. EDT August 23rd. So if you don’t have digital cable, you can probably skip this post. But I’ve seen the first three half-hour episodes, and it’s pretty good — consider it the rumored “Real World: DC” season MTV that never seems to happen. Especially during the later years where they had to get jobs to keep them from getting drunk and fighting (not that it worked). It follows actual Hill staffers doing actual Hill staffer duties on the actual Hill, and opens against the 2004 presidential election.

There’s less drinking and fighting in “The Hill,” but it does have the next best thing: Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla). If the name rings a bell, and the congresscritter pictured above somehow puts you in the mind of “cocaine” and “prostitutes,” well, there’s a very good reason: He made some news recently for discussing those subjects (jestingly) with Stephen Colbert. Prior to this summer, he was perhaps best known in the District for being the only Democrat to offer a compromise Social Security overhaul, which is depicted in the show. He also supported the invasion of Iraq, so if you’d like to see an actual Dem official scratch his head (perhaps not literally) about what to say now, then this is for you. I’d watch it myself — if I had digital cable.

I have also been asked to relate the fact that tomorrow night at Timberlake’s (1726 Conn. Ave NW) DC Drinking Liberally (local chapter of nationwide lefty blogger drinking club) is hosting a screening. Also present will be the show’s featured characters: Eric Johnson, Lale Mamaux, Halie Soifer and Jonathan Katz, playing themselves as chief of staff, communications director, foreign policy adviser and unspecified strategist guy. Most importantly, appetizers are free and drinks are a dollar off.

This was an unpaid advertisement.

The Factor Follow-Up Segment

Published by William Beutler on July 11, 2006 in Earned Media. 0 Comments

At the risk of getting too meta in only the third post, I am happy to report that I was not bumped from The Radio Factor, and for about 7 minutes in the early afternoon yesterday, I went mano a mano with Bill O’Reilly.

The segment was ostensibly about lefty bloggers’ ongoing campaign against Joe Lieberman, as well as previous crusades against Deborah Howell and Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. What he was really more interested in talking about was how blogs are out to “hurt people,” a segment I’ve seen him do on his TV program more than once. Only this time I got to reply directly, rather than talking back to the television.

I never got really confrontational, in part because O’Reilly’s general point — that political bloggers can be irresponsible — is true. But that wasn’t his actual point. If I understood him correctly, O’Reilly believes the very purpose of blogging is to incite violence. My argument was that blogs are morally neutral, in and of themselves. They are tools to be used for good or ill. He’s certainly right that some people go too far, but it’s not fair to characterize the whole ’sphere that way.

In service of the point, I had a few stock phrases ready to go, such as: “The good thing about blogging is that anyone can do it. The bad thing about blogging is that anyone can do it.” And at one point I told him: “I have never seen a blog call for someone’s death.” In retrospect I’m pretty sure this is not actually true, but hey, close enough for talk radio.

In all, it went well, and I even got “the last word.” To hear the audio segment in MP3 format, click here.