Month: September 2009

My Kanye moment

Move over, Taylor Swift. I’ve now had my own encounter with Kanye West.

It began innocently enough. I clicked over to Ron Bronson’s website to see what my blogging buddy was up to. When I read the headline of his latest post — The Beatles just weren’t that good — I was intrigued, so I read on.

Ron’s post wasn’t so much a dis of the Fab Four as it was a poke at the “people [who] shake their fists at me for my deliberate avoidance of most music made before I was born.” Still, I couldn’t pass up a chance to school the young man about why the Beatles matter, so I posted the following comment:

<em>My comment about the Beatles on Ron Bronson's blog</em>
My comment about the Beatles on Ron Bronson's blog

Turns out I was the one who got schooled. By someone named Kanye, no less:

<em>The response to my comment from "Kanye"</em>
The response to my comment from Kanye

Yeah, I know the Kanye jokes are getting old. But this one made me laugh. I can only imagine who the prankster was. Anyone care to come clean?

Memo to POTUS: There is no such thing as ‘off the record’

So, President Obama was off the record when he called Kanye West a “jackass” — a comment that was overheard and tweeted by ABC News “Nightline” co-anchor Terry Moran, and subsequently retweeted, Facebooked and otherwise spread virally throughout the social mediasphere.

Um, excuse me, but: Since when is a president — or any public figure — ever off the record?

Media Relations 101, Rule No. 1: There is no such thing as “off the record.” This goes for presidents of colleges and universities as well as presidents of the countries. It goes for any public figure. (This means you, too.)

Never assume you are ever off the record when talking to a reporter, a blogger, a tweeter. Never assume anything you say while prepping for an interview will not become the story.

This lesson is more important in today’s always-on mediasphere than it’s ever been.

Higher ed PR colleagues: Please make sure your university’s most visible, high-profile employees learn this rule. If you aren’t teaching it to them, then start. Use President Obama’s off-the-record gaffe as a teachable moment.

(Thanks to @SashaWolff for the L.A. Times story link.)