West was asked to introduce himself to the audience of about 40 residents and to tell a bit about himself. He did not mention anything about where he came from. This writer, out and about after being sick for three days, had a coughing fit and had to leave the meeting before it ended, so did not get a chance to talk to West.
One hopes he can do better than the person who penned the recent news release about the economic summit.
The city has not had much luck with PIOs since 2006. Some may recall the dust-up between the mayor and the Courier News, which resulted in many column inches of excoriation by the mayor and a promise (or threat) of three "positive" press releases per week. Not only did that not happen, the city has had no press officer for several years now.
For a city that is embarking on a new thrust toward economic development, a professional PIO is a must. The problem is, where will the good news land now that the dailies are so thin? With luck, a press release might get printed in its entirety with the notation "Staff Report," meaning it came in over the transom, or under the "Get Published" umbrella. The best strategy would be seek coverage with such a compelling request for a story that Mark Spivey or someone from the Star-Ledger would jump on it. Skilled PIOs know how to do this and how to facilitate access to the mayor and others for real quotes, avoiding the "did not return repeated calls for comment" syndrome.
Well, good luck to Terry West. He has ready-made good news in the sudden move to repair city roads after years of puny effort. The proposed "welcome back to veterans" could be a good hook if handled properly. There are other examples of worthy material to dangle in front of the press, if West can sort them out from campaign puffery.
Unfortunately for the "good news" aspect, even as the Town Meeting started, the city had its second homicide happening over on Watchung Avenue. The press release from the Union County Prosecutor's Office will, at least for today, eclipse all other news.
--Bernice
well, it has been three months now since we first heard of the City's new website address of www.plainfieldnj.gov and perhaps Mr. West will get the ball rolling on this since that should come under his area that he should have expertise in. The City's website has been in disarray for six years but at least employees are now using a proper email address.
ReplyDeleteI don't think most people know to use a comma instead of a period. Most people don't even both with punctuation within a quote, so at least they are trying.
ReplyDeleteMost people can punctuate any way they want, but PIOs are expected to know the rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation. A badly-written press release makes the city look bad.
DeleteBernice said: "A badly written press release makes the city look bad." So now we know that Dan's to blame for where the City is now :)
ReplyDeleteThat is your inference, not mine.
DeleteHe was a p.r. flack for Corzine, coming here to spin the mayor's b.s. for her honor's re election campaign. Watch, he is here collecting a paycheck for the next 20 months. Watch him spin and cover for her. She now refuses to talk to the press, so he will do it. How much are we paying this man?
ReplyDeleteSounds like they better get Knife Spotter to go along with Shot Spotter
ReplyDeleteWhat did he look like? The Trenton Terry West looks like Tim Curry.
ReplyDeleteHad to look up Tim Curry but there is a resemblance.
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