Filed under: Democratic National Convention
The Committee to Protect Journalists is mixing it up with Brown Palace public relations manager Shannon Dexheimer over the arrest of an ABC News producer during the DNC.
Filed under: McClain Finlon
The Denver Daily News talks to Denver Zoo and Vail Resorts about their plans following McClain Finlon’s decision to close its doors.
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
Columbia Journalism Review analyzes the 15,000 reporters in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, and comes to some very believable conclusions. (Hat tip: Brad Bawmann)
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
Bill Clinton’s three-night stand at Shotgun Willie’s is apparently over.
Don’t screw with 5280, lest you suffer the consequences. Brava, Vanessa.
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
Welcome to conventionland, where this becomes news at ABC. Of course, an elevator mishap is better than a wardrobe malfunction.
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
It’s all fun and games when the cable news show hosts turn on their guests, but tensions at MSNBC are so high that Joe Scarborough is turning on his colleagues. It gets fun at the 2:15 mark.
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
It’s starting to look more like a convention finally — body-armored police riding on the sideboards of SUVs and pepper-spraying protesters, and protesters finally showing enough nerve to get arrested. Things were so pathetic on Monday that we saw a guy in a convertible Miata making fun of the so-called protesters who were trying to block traffic. If you can’t scare a guy in a Miata, well, there’s probably little hope for your protesting skills. Here’s what others are reporting:
- Denver police arrested 100 protesters this morning and have taken them to “Gitmo on the Platte”
- Police also arrested three losers who may or may not have intended to assassinate Barack Obama
- The “Freedom Cage” isn’t getting quite the workout organizers had hoped
- Delegates from Guam rode the light rail (seriously, the RMN covered this)
- Penny Parker is getting annoyed that A-list stars keep bypassing her to talk to the national media (Hey Penny, is George Clooney coming to the DNC?)
- And, finally, Bill and Hillary are still mad
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
Filed under: RTD
The rats are starting to jump ship train. Liz Rao, who heads the RTD FasTracks project that can charitably be described as “financially troubled,” has accepted a position in the private sector. Says an RTD spokesperson, “It’s totally coincidental that (her departure) came about at the same time (as the financial woes), it’s been in the works for a while now.”
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
U.S. News & World Report is giving the Denver Police Department high marks for how officers are handling DNC protests.
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
We are downtown today, and we’d be pretty happy if the DNC was here every day. Sure, the helicopter noise gets a little old, but traffic is light, people are smiling and the protesters don’t smell bad yet. All in all, a better-than-average day. Here’s a run down of what others are reporting:
- Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi will perform at Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday
- The Republicans are bringing Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney in for their war room response
- Dusty Saunders is still alive
- Despite the Fort Worth Star-Telegram calling Denver a cow town (and those Billy Bob’s-loving rednecks probably meant it as a compliment), the DNC host committee is loving the national press the city is getting
- The biggest story of the day seems to be that Joe Biden eats barbecue (here, here, here, here, here and here)
- And, finally, there’s waterboarding going on at the federal courthouse
Denver Post editor Greg Moore issued his quarterly memo to staffers reminding them that the Rocky Mountain News is a weak, failing newspaper that would certainly go away long before anything happened to the Post:
“It seems foolish to think The Post would disappear. The Rocky Mountain News declared itself a failing newspaper in 2000, and nothing has changed.”
Metzger Associates has picked up the commission-free, full-service real estate brokerage ReLogic as a client.
Filed under: blogs
Playing catch-up on a trend that started five years ago, the Washington Post examines corporate blogs, which, depending on your perspective, either represent the ultimate in high-touch marketing or are the scourge of the authenticity that should define online communication. And while we agree with the Post that corporations are increasingly using blogs to help distribute information in a controlled manner, the statistics the paper cites (“Of the approximately 112.5 million blogs on the Web, almost 5,000 are corporate”) are hardly persuasive.
Filed under: Associated Press
Associated Press political reporter Ron “Keep Up the Fight, Rovie” Fournier isn’t making any friends in the Obama camp, and questions about his objectivity are getting louder and louder.
We put the odds at 3-1 that Fox News commentator Griff Jenkins gets out of Denver without being beaten up at least once.
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
The first arrests have been made, so the Democratic National Convention has unofficially started. How will the circus that surrounds the DNC affect Denver’s image? Jason Chupick of PRNewser has an interesting interview with Henry Miller, the head of New York’s 1992 DNC convention, that addresses how Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul can use the rapidly shortening news cycle to cultivate and reinforce positive perceptions of their cities.
Filed under: Uncategorized
U.S. News & World Report is out with its latest college rankings, just in time to make the poor freshmen moving into dorms rethink whether they should have gone somewhere else. The Colorado/Wyoming results:
77. University of Colorado at Boulder
80. Colorado School of Mines
89. University of Denver
125. Colorado State University
Tier 3 University of Colorado at Denver
Tier 3 University of Wyoming at Laramie
Tier 4 University of Northern Colorado
And, even though it isn’t Colorado-related, Elaine Ellis would want you to know that Notre Dame is ranked 18th.
UPDATE: And Colorado College ranked 30th in the magazine’s rankings of Liberal Arts schools (thanks, Bree.)
- Schenkein has landed Idea Work Studios as a client
- PRSourceCode named Catapult PR-IR’s Guy Murrel and VisiTech’s Kendra Westerkamp as Top Tech Communicators
- Cactus landed the Center for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
That’s the rumor. Apparently the loss of the Qwest account was too much.
UPDATE: Yes, sadly McClain Finlon is closing its doors. See Cathey Finlon’s comment below. Denver Post coverage is here and Denver Business Journal coverage is here.
Longtime KCNC/Channel 4 reporter and anchor Bob Palmer passed away last night. He was 77.
Penny Parker has the scoop on the DNCEats.com Web site that made restaurant reservations all over town during the DNC and then tried to auction them on eBay. The only two problems were the reservation times sucked (most were after 9:45 p.m.) and the restaurants were apoplectic when they realized what was going on and immediately cancelled the reservations listed on the site. The site has since gone dark, but you can see a cached version here.
Filed under: Newspapers
From the Associated Press:
“(U.S. Sen. John McCain’s) top (vice presidential) contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.”
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
A wood hotel key card that replaces the traditional plastic version will make its U.S. debut in Denver at the Democratic National Convention. Sustainable Cards LLC has donated 70,000 of the sustainably harvested birch cards that will carry the logo of the Denver 2008 Host Committee. Denver’s Stefanie Jones PR is handling communications for Sustainable Cards.
Filed under: TV News
It looks like your grandfather is more average than you thought.
The mystery/blessing of former 850 KOA critic Reggie McDaniel’s disappearance has been solved.
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
The Denver Police Department has issued a flyer with suggested guidelines for Democratic National Convention protesters, and Paula Woodward can stand down. It is clear that none of the DPD money budgeted for new weapons has been illegally diverted to a graphic designer.
Hat Tip: 5280′s Elevated Voices.
Filed under: Jobs
Among those hiring this week: Voca PR, CoorsTek, Engineers Without Borders, Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, US Airways, Village at Lowry and Waste Management. And if you like Texas, the American Heart Association and City of Austin are also hiring.
Filed under: Economic News
Colorado lost 13,700 jobs in July … but that is actually good news because it is a slightly lower-than-usual drop for the month … but the number of unemployed Coloradans has increased significantly since April and is roughly 41,000 higher than a year ago … but statewide payrolls have grown by 31,400 (or 1.3 percent) over the past 12 months.
Mark Harden at the Denver Business Journal has taken a hard look at the latest ABC audit of the circulations of the local dailies and found that the Denver Post’s numbers aren’t quite as good as it might seem. The Post actually “trails the Rocky by about 6 percent in sales of full-price weekday copies,” but has been inflating its numbers with “sales of its discounted ‘electronic edition’ as well as copies distributed to hotel guests and sales to ‘third parties.’ “
Qwest has avoided a potential public relations disaster at the Democratic National Convention (and the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis) by reaching a contract agreement this morning with its largest union, the CWA.
Filed under: Rocky Mountain News
Credit Rocky Mountain News publisher John Temple for addressing the “eight-word gaffe” that caused Keith Olbermann to name the paper the “Worst Person in the World” Tuesday. The timeline of what happened is clear, but left unexplained is exactly what process exists that lets staffers rip “facts” from the Internet and package them as verified material.
The American Water Works Association has added Deirdre Mueller as Public Affairs Manager. Mueller formerly was with LeGrand Hart.
Newspaper publisher (and KUSA/Channel 9 parent) Gannett is in the process of laying off 1,000 employees from its local newspapers across the country. Reuters has the details.
The Holmes Report named JohnstonWells the fourth best agency to work for in the small agency category. The agency ranked seventh last year.
Filed under: Obit
Rockmount Ranch Wear CEO “Papa Jack” Weil passed away yesterday at the age of 107. Weil was believed to be the oldest working CEO, and was featured in a national ad campaign for Denver last year.
Filed under: Newspapers
Time to check under the couch cushions for any spare change –- the Grand Junction Sentinel is for sale.
KUSA/9News will carry nearly 60 hours of broadcast and online news coverage of the Democratic National Convention. The coverage will appear on both Channel 9 and KTVD/Channel 20, as well as include a six-hour daily live Web cast from the Pepsi Center anchored by Gregg Moss and Shawn Patrick.
Filed under: Public Relations
A survey funded by the Colorado Environmental Coalition finds that … (GASP!) … a majority of Coloradans have “negative feelings toward the oil and gas industry.”
Westword has the details on Keith Olbermann naming the Rocky Mountain News the ”Worst Person in the World” last night.
A number of changes are afoot at Metzger Associates, which has promoted Doyle Albee to president, promoted Lisa Metzger to Vice President of Agency Services, hired Bevo Beaven as Vice President of Client Services and Senior Account Executive, and hired Lauren Preston as Account Coordinator.
Already reeling from the disclosure that the Opening Ceremony’s electrifying fireworks display was digitally enhanced, Chinese Olympic officials are now facing their own Milli Vanilli moment.
Rocky Mountain News parent company E.W. Scripps Co. is taking a $874 million write-off “to account for the diminished value of its newspaper holdings. The write-off includes a $779 million noncash charge to reduce the value of goodwill and a $95 million reduction in the value of its investment in the Denver Newspaper Agency and Prairie Mountain Publishing.”
Filed under: Jobs
Among those hiring this week: AIMCO, CoBank, CTA, Level 3 and Quantum.
JohnstonWells isn’t the only one on the move. Weise Communications has relocated from downtown Denver to East Colfax, which offers cheaper rent and better client access.
Filed under: Democratic National Convention
The Seattle Times offers a nice antidote to this weekend’s New York Times DNC preview titled “36 Hours in Denver.” The Times‘ advice:
“Ditch the cowboy boots. Pack the party clothes. More new West than old, Denver has morphed from sleepy former Gold Rush town in the foothills of the Rockies to urban outpost with an artsy, outdoors vibe.”
