The union representing The Denver Post employees reached an agreement to extend the contract with management that expired a year ago. The terms include having employees take an additional three weeks of unpaid time off – on top of the three weeks that were already required – before the end of the year. That means the staff will have spent 12% of this year on unpaid furloughs.

It is a travesty what is happening to the journalists and staff at The Denver Post. I know the Denver PR Blog is a popular read with billionaires, so could one of you please buy it and return it to what it once was.

It is nice when the good guys are recognized, and that happened today when Jeremy Jojola from 9News was honored with the Don Bolles Medal that is awarded to reporters whose work subjects them to threats of violence and intimidation.

Jojola’s series “Homegrown Hate” investigated white supremacists and extremist groups in Colorado and resulted in members of a local neo-Nazi group showing up at his home while his wife and newborn were inside.

It is sad that such an award is necessary, but it is heartening that recognition is given to reporters for the sometimes extreme challenges they face.

 

A new nonprofit news site, Colorado Newsline, launches Wednesday with the backing of the national States Newsroom initiative.

The start-up’s staff includes editor Quentin Young (formerly of the Boulder Daily Camera) and staff members Moe Clark (formerly of the Colorado Sun), Faith Miller (formerly of the Colorado Springs Independent) and Chase Woodruff (formerly of Westword).

Seizing on the national protests against systemic racism and injustice, Brooklyn agency Praytell has launched a new practice group to “help brands promote diversity, equity and inclusion both internally and in the range of dealings with the public,” Diana Marszalek at PRovoke reports.

“The people, culture and allyship practice aims to help brands define their role in the current racial justice movement, and follow through with actions and communications aligned with it, bringing in multicultural experts, artists and activists for a top-to-bottom assessment and plan.”

CBS4 News Director Tim Wieland announced that reporter Dominic Garcia will now co-anchor the local CBS4 This Morning show with Britt Moreno. Garcia replaces Alan Gionet, who is moving back into a reporter position. Moreno returned to the studio just this week after giving birth to her first child in March.

“I’d also recommend that up-and-comers go to work for a major PR agency as the experience is second to none. Don’t be afraid of hard work and be passionate about excellence. When I worked at large PR agencies, I frequently worked 12-hour (or longer) days. While it could have been easy to be frustrated by working 50% more than my peers, it also meant that I was becoming better at my job 50% faster and I was given greater responsibility sooner.”

– Novitas Communications Founder & CEO Michelle Balch Lyng in a profile article of her firm in ColoradoPolitics.com

Some 9News staffers were unhappy that anchor Kim Christiansen was selected to host the station’s “Racism and the Road to Change” special instead of a person of color, according to Scott Jones at FTVLive.

“Christiansen is white and while the show used a number of black leaders, some in the newsroom thought that a journalist of color should have fronted the special. Sources tell FTVLive that a number of people attended a Zoom meeting with management to ask questions about this and about other diversity issues with the station.”

Fox31/KWGN is adding Taylor Brooks as a sports reporter/multimedia journalist. Brooks has spent the past two years at Spokane’s NBC affiliate.

Nothing says “avoiding controversy” like picking the non-scientific side of a divisive public health issue and announcing it to the New York Times. Theater chain AMC’s CEO, Adam Aron, appears to be playing checkers tic-tac-toe thumb war in a chess world. The New York Times reports:

“Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Entertainment Holdings, said that moviegoers would not be required to wear masks at the company’s theaters when they reopen next month after a shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic.”

“’We did not want to be drawn into a political controversy,’” Mr. Aron said in an interview published on Thursday by Variety magazine. …

“Mr. Aron also said that AMC Theaters, the largest movie theater operator in the world, would not perform temperature checks on patrons, a practice some businesses have adopted to screen for fever related to the virus.”

The Associated Press has apologized for using a quote from Jefferson Davis, president of the short-lived Confederate States of America and inspiration for the name of Dukes of Hazzard villain Jefferson Davis “Boss” Hogg, in its daily “Today in History” feature.

The quote — “Never be haughty to the humble; never be humble to the haughty” — was included as the feature’s Thought for Today on June 3, Davis’s birthday.

“We are embarrassed that this happened and we apologize,” an A.P. spokeswoman said.

PRWeek: “Los Angeles County is defending its decision to hire Mercury Public Affairs and Fraser Communications for COVID-19-related work that has been criticized as wasteful.”

“The county brought on the two shops in mid-March to help manage crisis communications for the pandemic, said Lennie LaGuire, director of county-wide communications for Los Angeles County’s chief executive office.”

“The initial contracts with the two agencies cost the county $200,000 each, LaGuire said. However, the county has spent approximately $1.9 million for their services, according to reports from Los Angeles TV station Fox 11, which LaGuire confirmed.” …

“Specifically, the two firms augmented county comms staff by maintaining websites and social feeds, creating external video content and photography and translating content, she said. They also helped with outreach to stakeholder groups like professional organizations, chambers of commerce and faith-based organizations and provided capabilities the county lacked, like the ability to create motion graphics for Instagram.”

A little more than three years ago, Westword used the departures of then-Denver television newscasters Drew Soicher, Kyle Dyer, Kirk Montgomery, Gregg Moss, Susie Wargin, Molly Hughes and Ed Greene to put together a career Deadpool list of personalities whose expensive contracts could make them expendable. As it turned out, Westword went 1-14:

• Kim Christiansen – Still at 9News
• Kyle Clark – Still at 9News
• Kathy Sabine – Still at 9News
• Rod Mackey – Still at 9News
• Gary Shapiro – Still at 9News
• Anne Trujillo – Still at 7News
• Mitch Jelniker – Left 7News
• Mike Nelson – Still at 7News
• Lionel Bienvenue – Still at 7News
• Alan Gionet – Still at CBS4
• Jim Benemann – Still at CBS4
• Karen Leigh – Still at CBS4
• Kathy Walsh – Still at CBS4
• Dave Fraser – Still at Fox31
• Jeremy Hubbard – Still at Fox31

Paul Farhi and Sarah Ellison at The Washington Post:

“Like the nation itself, news organizations across the country are facing a racial reckoning, spurred by protests from their own journalists over portrayals of minority communities and the historically unequal treatment of nonwhite colleagues.” …

“The newsroom uprisings are partially about the lack of minority employees in key jobs and leadership positions — but also about how stories about race are reported and framed, and who gets to do the reporting and framing. Some argue that mainstream news organizations are long overdue for a cultural change.”

Two weeks ago, former 9News anchor Bob Kendrick was playing defense over an ill-advised social media post calling protesters “animals.” He apologized shortly after that, but he has not appeared on-air since the incident. Sources tell FTVLive that the station has in fact suspended him.

PR Week: “The founder and CEO of CrossFit stepped down on Tuesday after making inflammatory statements about the death of George Floyd. Greg Glassman, in announcing his retirement, apologized, saying he “created a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members.” Prominent CrossFit sponsor Reebok dropped its affiliation with the organization after Glassman’s “FLOYD-19” tweets over the weekend.”

The New York Times: “Last week, Mr. Glassman posted a tweet that made light of both the coronavirus pandemic and the killing of George Floyd in police custody, and last weekend spoke belligerently to CrossFit gym owners about race and racism in a remarkable Zoom call that was leaked to reporters.

“We’re not mourning for George Floyd, I don’t think me or any of my staff are,” said Mr. Glassman on the Zoom call, according to a recording of the call provided to The New York Times. “Can you tell me why I should mourn for him? Other than it’s the ‘white’ thing to do. I get that pressure but give me another reason.”

Sukle Advertising & Design and the Colorado Broadcasters Association (CBA) have unveiled an initiative to remind Coloradans how important local businesses are. The pro-bono campaign includes television ads, social media and a website where small business owners can find assets and support.

The online sports news site The Athletic was a soft landing place for many sportswriters who found themselves out of jobs at traditional media outlets such as newspapers and magazines. The site was backed with $140 million in VC money and promised to fundamentally change sports news with its online subscription model.

Unfortunately, the economy and COVID-19 were too much, and The Athletic today announced that it would lay off 8% of its staff – 46 people – and cut salaries for those remaining by at least 10%. The company cited slowing growth in its number of subscriptions and significantly decreased podcasting revenue as reasons for the layoffs.

Making matters worse, SB Nation, the sports media network owned by Vox, today announced it is laying off more than 100 employees it originally furloughed in May.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Civil, the blockchain backer of a number of emerging digital news outlets including the Colorado Sun, has shut down.

“I’m very grateful for everything they have done for us,” Larry Ryckman, co-founder and editor of the Colorado Sun, told Rick Edmonds of Poynter. “We could not have gotten on our feet without them. And it wasn’t just the money … they gave us technical support and expertise we lacked.”

Edmonds noted, “For the Colorado Sun, launched by Denver Post alumni as MediaNews Group had cut a third of its staff there, Civil’s collapse together with the current recession have required a complete redo of strategic plans. ‘But we’re going to make it,’ Ryckman said.”

(Subscribe to the Colorado Sun)

“Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold was caught in a public relations pickle Sunday as the result of a city staff mistake that caused her to appear to wobble between distinct statements on the George Floyd killing that incited protests and riots across America for the past several days,” Sam Lounsberry at Boulder’s Daily Camera reports.

“As marches proceeded in downtown Denver for a fourth straight day calling for justice for Floyd, a black man who died in handcuffs after a Minnesota policeman kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest, the city on Sunday released a statement from Herold criticizing the officer’s actions and acknowledging the suffering people of color have endured at the hands of police.”

“Less than a half-hour later, staff released another. The revised quote from Herold was much different than the original, and less assertive, Colorado public relations experts” (including Doyle Albee and Dawn Doty) suggested.

(Subscribe to the Daily Camera)

Mayor Hancock’s Director of Strategic Communications & Media Policy Theresa Marchetta has been mixing it up on Twitter with a who’s who of journalists over the weekend as the peaceful protests followed by semi-violent riots took place. Among those involved have been Jeremy Jojola, Steve Staeger and Marshall Zelinger from 9News; Alex Burness from The Denver Post; and Mitchell Byars from the Boulder Daily Camera.

Former Westword staff writer Chase Woodruff captured some of the interactions on Twitter.

Former Denver Post editor Greg Moore wrote an insightful opinion piece on what it is like to be a professional black man in America, including describing the 20 or more times he has been stopped by police:

I’m a 65-year-old black man, and I have literally spent most of my life doing everything possible to avoid encounters with police. My mother warned me when I was about 12 to beware of the police because even though I was a good boy, I could be killed with impunity. I’d be just another dead black boy supposedly mixed up in guns, drugs or gangs. …

The history of the police and black people dates back to the slave catchers and overseers. A lot of police officers in our country come to the job generationally with stereotypes and disdain toward black people that has been handed down from the old days. Whether they want to admit it or not, it is part of the DNA of the profession, and it really doesn’t matter what color the person is who wears the uniform. Those attitudes are ingrained in the culture. …

I’m exhausted watching black men die at the hands of police. I hate seeing the fear in my daughters’ eyes from knowing I could die, begging for air, under the knee of a police officer. I don’t hate cops. I fear them. But I’m about to turn 66 years old, and I’d like to exhale for a change.

If you have five minutes, read the entire piece (and then subscribe if you don’t already). It is a fascinating and saddening glimpse into what it is like to be a black man in our society – even if you are one who is among the most successful in your profession. And also interesting is where Moore placed the article for publication – the Colorado Sun.

And speaking of the local George Floyd protests, former 9News anchor Bob Kendrick is taking criticism for a social media post in which he referred to the mostly African American protesters as “animals.” Kendrick is an anchor at ABC6/Fox28 in Columbus, Ohio (the stations have a shared services agreement).

For those of you relatively new to Denver, Kendrick was the original Shannon Ogden – funny, clever and bright, but you were never completely sure he wasn’t actually one of those fancy AI robots that come really close to appearing human.

Last night was a tough one for local television reporters who had to navigate both tear gas and angry protesters while giving live, on-air updates. Fox31 reporter Keagan Harsha seemed to have an average of about 15 seconds on air before protesters invaded his live shots performing their best Kim Christiansen impressions.

Bank of the West has selected Carbondale-based Backbone Media to help promote the bank’s environmental sustainability initiatives via public relations, social media management and association marketing.

From Brian Steinberg at Variety: “More Madison Avenue heavyweights are looking to TV journalists and TV-news outlets to help them land a punch. General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles are among the blue-chip advertisers that have recently struck deals to sponsor news programming and align themselves with news personalities – a practice that in a different era might have drawn more scrutiny. …”

“One executive producer at a network morning show says advertisers have ramped up their efforts to tie themselves to the program in recent years. It is all part of larger efforts by Madison Avenue to find ways to weave products and pitches into content as more traditional TV viewers find new ways to skip past ads – or simply ignore them. This producer says news executives often determine whether such advertiser requests are suitable or not. The product and the pitch cannot offend viewers, can’t pose any sort of harm, can’t be off putting, and can’t undermine the standards of the show, this person says. But the ad integrations offer a new stream of revenue for the program, this producer says, and executives work to keep anchors who deal regularly with hard news away from segments that involve a heavier sponsor influence.”

ESPN resurrected Michael Jordan, so why can’t Amazon bring back another relic from the 1990s – the Video News Release? As you can see below, the company is proving that a script and some mildly interesting B-roll is still gold in some media markets.

 

Update: Legal experts interviewed by Vice say that running promotional content such as this without disclosing who provided it could be a violation of Section 317 of the Communications Act.

Colorado-based, Emmy-winning filmmaker Brian Malone released the trailer for his upcoming documentary News Matters: Inside the Rebellion to Save America’s Newspapers. Airing on PBS this fall, the documentary focuses heavily on The Denver Post and the efforts of its staff to push back against its hedge-fund owners at Alden Global Capital.

Amelia DeBoer has joined Capital City Public Relations as senior writer and publicist.

CU Denver News features an interview with outgoing Vice Chancellor of University Communications Leanna Clark, who is leaving after nine years to join the Girl Scouts of Colorado as its CEO.

At the end of May, Clark will be leaving CU Denver to begin a new endeavor as CEO of the Girl Scouts of Colorado, a statewide nonprofit with 125 full time employees, 20,000 members, and 10,000 volunteers. In her new role, Clark will set organizational vision and strategy, oversee all operations, and work to expand visibility and create opportunities for strategic partnerships. She will be greatly missed at CU Denver, but her skills and expertise will undoubtedly take this preeminent leadership development organization for girls to the next level. 

Novitas Communications has joined Public Relations Global Network (PRGN), a global network of independent PR firms:

“PRGN is now represented in Denver by Novitas Communications, a full-service public relations firm that specializes in corporate communications, issue management, and crisis communication across numerous industries. Novitas helps clients craft and implement communications campaigns that influence public opinion, enhance brand recognition, and keep stakeholders informed.”

Congratulations to B Public Relations for being named ColoradoBiz’s 2020 “Best Public Relations Agency.” The travel and lifestyle agency picked up the honor as part of the magazine’s Best of Colorado Business Choice Readers’ Poll. Finalists in the category included Linhart PR, Ellis Communications Marketing and (ahem) GroundFloor Media.

Steve Barrett at PRWeek shares the results of a PRWeek survey “covering infection rates, budgets, layoffs, furloughs, payment terms, financial assistance, offices of the future and return to work.” Among the findings:

• “Almost half of respondents have been directly impacted health-wise by COVID-19; 18% have team members or family of team members who have died from COVID-19
• Clients: Almost 64% reduced PR budgets, one in three significantly. Agencies: 77% of clients reduced retainers; 90% postponed campaigns, 83% canceled activations
• Almost four in 10 clients imposed extended payment terms during COVID-19
• One in five agencies laid off staff and instigated furloughs; 11% of clients
• Only 30% of respondents applied for Payment Protection Program loans
• New world of work will include: social distancing, virtual workforces, daily deep cleaning, screening, temperature tests and work-life balance
• More than half of respondents believe they will return to the office in June or July”

About 750 Edward R. Murrow award winners were announced today, and 54 of them went to Region 3 that includes Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. So how did our state compare to the competition? Pretty well, as it turns out:

• Colorado – 29 Regional Murrow awards
• Arizona – 16 Regional Murrow awards
• Wyoming – 6 Regional Murrow awards
• Utah – 3 Regional Murrow awards
• New Mexico – 0 Regional Murrow awards

The big winners in Denver were KOA NewsRadio, Colorado Public Radio, 9News and KMGH-7. Among the winners:

• KMGH-7 for Overall Excellence (large market television)
• KOA NewsRadio for Overall Excellence (large market radio)
• 9News’ Next with Kyle Clark for Excellence in Innovation (large market television)
• KMGH-7 Excellence in Social Media (large market television)

Staff Writer Chase Woodruff at Westword is the latest victim of the COVID-19 pandemic’s assault on advertising dollars. I wrote nearly two months ago about the advertising drought that was hammering Westword’s parent company and sister publications, and unfortunately the financial impact has now been felt here in Denver.

I’ll share the same PSA I shared in the previous post:

Subscribe to every publication you read. Most of us will never notice the $5-10 per month each of them cost, and it makes a huge difference in the ability of those publications to do great work. Imagine what a bleak information landscape we’d have if other news outlets went the way of the Rocky Mountain News.

9News anchor Kim Christiansen takes a few minutes each week to read viewer feedback on the air, and to her and the station’s credit, the feedback often is negative. Unfortunately, Kim didn’t navigate the minefield of expletives as well as she had hoped in this viewer’s feedback.

April 24
Brian Maass, CBS4: “Top executives at Denver Health Medical Center received significant bonuses this month for their performance in 2019, ranging from $50,000 up to $230,000, one week after frontline hospital workers were asked to voluntarily take leave without pay or reduce their hours as the hospital dealt with the financial downturn resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.”

May 4
Brian Maass, CBS4: “A CBS4 Investigation has learned that about 40 retirees from the city of Denver — widows, widowers and their beneficiaries — have been ordered to repay a total of $11 million in retirement benefits. … Denver Employees Retirement Plan (DERP) recently notified Denver Health and a group of DERP members, who are retired and current Denver Health employees, that DERP has discovered an error it made in calculating the retirement benefits of those retirees and employees.”

May 5
David Sachs, Denverite: “Healthcare workers at Denver Health, the medical arm of the city’s public health department, are recruiting fellow employees to unionize in order to secure better benefits and workplace conditions, which organizers say will translate to a better institution. … Hospital employees were … sparked by the revelation that executives were getting large bonuses for their 2019 performance during this turbulent time.”

 

Cision is out with its annual State of the Media Report, and it is worth a read. It focuses on the impact COVID-19 has had on the day-to-day life of reporters, and there are a few key lessons for those of us in PR:

• Keep pitches short: Among reporters’ comments: “Directly tell me in one or two sentences why this is important for the public to know about;” “Put your point in the first five words. Skip all blandishments;” “Wasting prime real estate in the first line saying ‘For Immediate Release.’ Or, ‘I hope this finds you well.’ We need to see what it’s about without having to open it.”
• Make experts available via phone: “Respondents deemed interviews the most trustworthy non-brand source.”
• Timing your pitches: Reporters receive the most pitches on Mondays, and they decline consistently each successive day through Friday. Waiting until late in the week may give your pitch less competition. And Sunday pitches may work best – no competition at all on the eve of a workday.
• The moment is fleeting: Nearly half of reporters do not plan what they will be covering more than a day in advance. They are reacting to events and opportunities in real-time.
• Stay focused: Blankety pitches that are not customized generally get nowhere.

We’re all enjoying relaxed dress standards during the COVID-19 pandemic, but correspondent Will Reeve one-upped most of us when he took the opportunity to go full Winnie the Pooh (shirt, no pants) on his segment on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Interpublic Group of Cos. – parent company to agencies such as Weber Shandwick, Golin, FCB and McCann – released its Q1 earnings earlier this week, and Lindsay Rittenhouse at AdAge reported on some of the details about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic:

• Like its competitor Publicis Groupe did in North America, IPG posted a slight organic revenue increase – 0.8% – but noted that it faces a “very difficult second quarter”
• IPG acknowledged it has implemented cost-cutting measures such as “deferred merit increases, freezes on hiring and temporary labor, major cuts in non-essential spending, furloughs in markets where that option is available and salary reductions where possible or appropriate”
• IPG reduced base compensation up to 25% at a number of its agencies
• Management team salaries at the holding company level have “are deeper than anything else … seen in the industry”
• IPG is planning additional “staffing reductions” at firms who have significant clients in the retail, hospitality and event industries

Congratulations to longtime Denver journalist Mark Harden on being named editor at Colorado Community Media. CCM owns 18 weekly newspapers and two monthly publications across the metro Denver area that have a combined audience of more than 300,000 people. Harden formerly was managing editor of Colorado Politics, and prior to that spent a decade at the Denver Business Journal.

French multinational marketing company Publicis Groupe, the parent company of Qorvis/MSLGroup among other advertising and PR firms, shared its Q1 earnings, and the data is concerning, to say the least.

In North America, Publicis Groupe’s organic revenue grew 0.5 percent, but the results in regions of the world further along the COVID-19 curve give some insight into what is headed our way:

• In China, Publicis Groupe’s organic revenue declined 15.3 percent in Q1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• In Europe, the company’s organic revenue declined 9.2 percent
• In Latin America, organic revenue declined 10.9 percent

Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester, notes in the Ad Age article by Lindsay Rittenhouse, “If Publicis Groupe’s first quarter 2020 organic revenue decline in China is any indication for what’s to come for Europe and (the) United States, then the second half of 2020 will be an enormous challenge.”

Conrad Swanson and Justin Wingerter at The Denver Post have the behind-the-scenes tick-tock on Denver’s ill-fated, two-hour closure of liquor stores and marijuana dispensaries:

“Denver Mayor Michael Hancock reversed himself twice on March 23 when he ordered residents to stay at home to prevent spreading the coronavirus sweeping the country. Had he stuck to his instinct, the mayor could have avoided hours of intense lobbying from residents, small-business owners, industry advocates and politicians, all of whom urged his administration toward the city’s ultimate conclusion: Liquor stores and recreational marijuana shops should be considered essential and remain open during Denver’s stay-at-home order.”

Marc Tracy at The New York Times reports, “The news media business was shaky before the coronavirus started spreading across the country last month. Since then, the economic downturn that put nearly 17 million Americans out of work has led to pay cuts, layoffs and shutdowns at many news outlets… . Finding a sizable audience has not been a problem for publishers. Hunger for news in a time of crisis has sent droves of readers to many publications. But with businesses paused or closed — and no longer willing or able to pay for advertisements — a crucial part of the industry’s support system has cracked.”

The tally: “Roughly 28,000 workers at news companies in the U.S. have been laid off, been furloughed or had their pay reduced. Some publications that rely on ads have shut down.”

Granted, the name “Good Friday” can be a little misleading, but …

Global public relations firm Edelman has released a COVID-19 edition of its annual Trust Barometer, and among the findings:

• Ongoing trust issues with government and media has left employers as the most credible source of information for workers
• Unsurprisingly, scientists and doctors remain the most trusted spokespeople
• Employees want regular updates from their employers, with 63 percent asking for daily updates
• Employees expect businesses to act to protect employees and the local community, including by adapting its operations, including remote working, canceling non-essential events and business travel bans

You can read the executive summary and full report here.

Voice Media Group, the parent company of Westword and other alternative weeklies nationwide that rely heavily on restaurant and other advertising, has take draconian steps to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. From Travis Waldron and Tara Golshan at HuffPost:

“Every employee of Voice Media Group, which includes Denver Westword, … had their pay cut: 25% for employees making less than $80,000, 30% for those making more than that, and 35% for executives.”

In December 2019, Westword followed the Colorado Sun, which itself followed the model of NPR/CPR, in positioning itself as membership-driven public-interest journalism enterprise. If you want to support Westword to help it and its staff survive this pandemic, click here.

And just a quick PSA: Subscribe to every publication you read. Most of us will never notice the $5-10 per month each of them cost, and it makes a huge difference in the ability of those publications to do great work. Imagine what a bleak information landscape we’d have if other news outlets went the way of the Rocky Mountain News.

“… I’m not looking to be in a situation where I make the front page of the news for being that guy who hoarded 20,000 bottles of sanitizer that I’m selling for 20 times what they cost me.”

– Matt Colvin, a professional profiteer who participated in an in-depth New York Times interview that included a photo shoot.

 

 

Former KMGH/Channel 7 VP & GM Byron Grandy will return to Denver as the new GM of the KDVR/KWGN joint news operation. Grandy left KMGH in 2014, and most recently was GM at WNCN in Raleigh, N.C.

Earned media beats paid media. Taegan Goddard at Political Wire:

What Joe Biden has executed over the last 72 hours is one of the most extraordinary comebacks ever. … Biden is crushing his rivals in states that he never visited, where he had no field offices, and where he spent next to nothing on television ads. … In contrast, Mike Bloomberg spent more than half a billion dollars and it looks like he won’t meet the 15% delegate threshold in at least a half dozen states tonight. He only won American Samoa. … The key takeaway is that — at least in a presidential campaign — earned media matters much more than television and other ads.

9News’ Jeremy Jojola is a rock-solid journalist who sometimes investigates people and organizations that would rather remain in the shadows. What kind of personal toll can that professional role take on a journalist? Michael Roberts at Westword reports:

Last December, 9News reporter Jeremy Jojola told Westword about ugly threats he’d received over stories about local neo-Nazis. Now, Jojola has filed temporary protection orders against three individuals affiliated with such groups after they showed up at his home in the wake of him reporting about one of them: Samuel Cordova, who pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor bias-motivated crime related to June 2019 vandalism at BookBar over an event called “Drag Queen Story Time.”

Jif CMO (2013): I saw this New York Times article about the debate over how to pronounce “gif.” Anything we can do with it?

Jif Advertising Agency (2013):  …

Jif Advertising Agency (2014):   …

Jif Advertising Agency (2015):   …

Jif Advertising Agency (2016):   …

Jif Advertising Agency (2017):   …

Jif Advertising Agency (2018):   …

Jif Advertising Agency (2019):   …

Jif Advertising Agency (2020): This?

 

For decades, nurses and firefighters have been the spokespeople of choice when you need to convey trust in your product or service. Perceptions are that doctors are greedy and cops are crooked, but nurses and firefighters have a halo of authenticity and trust that few, other professions have.

The Denver Fire Department is testing those perceptions. though. For the second straight year, firefighters are apologizing for crude sexual jokes and the presence of sex toys at their Annual Gala. And this year, the consequence includes Denver Fire Chief Eric Tade resigning. Perhaps most disconcerting, their behavior resulted in Coloradans having to hear Brian Maass utter the phrase “sex toy” three times in his two-minute report.

 

WLOS-TV reporter Justin Hinton didn’t realize he had a random filter generator turned on when he shot a Facebook Live update for the station:

Michael Roberts at Westword profiles Denver7 anchor Anne Trujillo as she celebrates 35 years at the station:

Because she’s about as modest and unassuming as television personalities get, Denver7’s Anne Trujillo isn’t one to crow about her accomplishments. But she’s quietly become a Mile High City icon owing to one of the longest runs at a single station in the market’s history: 35 years and counting. In addition, she’s served as lead anchor for the outlet’s main weekday newscasts since 1999, a two-decades-plus stint that makes her the present local title holder in that category, too.

Colorado Rockies GM Jeff Bridich: Did you see the way I refused to answer the media’s questions? I actually stopped to answer their questions, then refused to answer the questions they wanted to ask, and then lobbed both a “no comment” and a “next question” at them. I own the award for worst off-season press conference!

Houston Astros Owner Jim Crane: You’re cute, Jeff. Hold my beer.

 

This Houston Astros video will be used for years as a media training tool for what not to do in a press conference (and as proof that a press conference is not always a good idea). How was it received? ESPN’s Dan Le Batard said it best:

What a %$#& show. You thought that this team was good at baseball – and it is. And good at cheating – and it was. How can it be this bad at public relations? This was insincere. They had months to prepare for this. And then their owner is out there making a fool of himself because he’s combative and arrogant, and he won’t acknowledge that they got a competitive advantage form one of the great cheating scandals of our time.

 

Mel Tucker spent most of yesterday telling the world he was staying in Boulder as CU’s head football coach because he had “#UnfinishedBusiness.” It turns out his only unfinished business was his signature on a Michigan State University coaching contract.

No reasonable person begrudges a coach for changing jobs, but doing it after only a year at the school is pretty weak. Weaker still is waiting until February when you have lured an entire class of freshman to sign with the school. Tucker gets to leave clean. Those kids he tricked have to sit out for a year if they want to transfer somewhere else.

One grandparent of a Buff recruit went public with his anger, and unfortunately for Tucker it was former Dallas Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson:

Why put up with this …

Just to get to this …

Ski Park City Instead!

John Ensslin, a widely respected reporter who worked for the Rocky Mountain News, The (Colorado Springs) Gazette and most recently ColoradoPolitics.com, has died. His colleague Joey Bunch offers a look at John, his life and his career.

The year is now officially more than halfway over, and we already have some blue-chip contenders for 2019’s biggest PR disasters. Among them:

BOEING – Boeing, by a wide margin, has had the worst 2019 so far. Following plane crashes by Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines that killed 346 people, countries around the globe began grounding Boeing’s 737 Max. Then, air travel authorities worldwide officially grounded the plane in March. Boeing has since been working to fix its flight control software, which is thought to have played a role in the crashes. Four months later, the crisis remains unresolved. The most damaging crises are those where you remain stuck without a clear resolution – think Malaysia Airlines when cable TV news covered its missing Flight 370 for months on end. Boeing finds itself in a similar situation since it is unclear when its 737 Max planes may get the green light to fly again. Meanwhile, media are penning sidebar stories about the history of quality complaints at the facility that produces the 737 Max and whether flyers will trust the plane when it does return.

---

ROBERT KRAFT – The incredibly successful owner of the New England Patriots saw his personal life turn into a bad made-for-TV movie when he was charged “with two counts of soliciting sex as part of a wide-ranging investigation into prostitution and suspected human trafficking.” The colorful nature of the allegations – a billionaire NFL owner visiting a low-rent, strip mall massage parlor – made the story even more intriguing to journalists. He has fought the legal charges in court with some success, but the underlying facts seem clear: he paid money to women who performed sex acts on him. And with that, his stellar, grandfatherly reputation has vanished.

Continue reading the full list on the GroundFloor Media blog  >>

Neil Westergaard, the longtime, award-winning editor-in-chief of the Denver Business Journal and most recently a columnist for ColoradoPolitics.com, passed away Sunday. He was 67.

Update: Kirk Mitchell at The Denver Post has published an article about Neil.

 

Nike has gone all in on a marketing strategy that positions itself as a socially progressive company. From Colin Kapernick to Serena Williams to LeBron James, Nike has been aligning itself with athletes who are known for social justice issues as much as they are for their performances on the field or court.

So why are high-profile athletes now hammering the company? Sports Illustrated’s Jenna West reports:

“Olympic runner Alysia Montaño opened up to The New York Times nearly two weeks ago to shed light on the lack of maternity protection given to female athletes in sponsorship contracts. In a video for the Times, Montaño called out Nike for preaching a message of chasing dreams—only until an athlete wants to include motherhood in her journey.

 

 

More than 15 countries have now grounded Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft due to its auto-crash feature. The New York Times reports:

“Britain, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Oman banned all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes from their airspaces on Tuesday, two days after 157 people were killed on such a plane during a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya. At least 27 airlines have now grounded the Max 8, which has crashed twice in five months. Boeing stands by the airworthiness of the jet, but it said it planned to issue a software update and was working on changes to its flight controls and training guidelines.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. is not among the countries grounding the jet, and American Airlines and Southwest continue to carry passengers on it.

New York Times: “When the left sneaker of college basketball’s biggest star split open on national television Wednesday night 30 seconds into the biggest game of the season, what spilled out was not only his foot but also questions about the future of a marquee player and about the huge influence shoe companies hold over big-time college basketball.”

“The episode occurred in a game between the archrivals Duke and North Carolina. Zion Williamson, a Duke freshman, pivoted with the ball above the foul line, and the sheer force of his 285-pound frame and acrobatic versatility appeared to cut the shoe almost in two, as though severed by a sharp knife.”

“Former President Barack Obama, sitting on the sidelines at the Duke arena, was seen on video pointing at Williamson and appearing to say, ‘His shoe broke.’ “

They say timing is everything, a truism that Denver City Council members apparently are not aware of.  While Denver teachers are on strike fighting for what they say is a living wage, council members “voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward a proposal that would raise their own and other elected leaders’ salaries by the maximum amount allowed by law.”

Denver Post: “Under city law, the salaries for elected officials are up for review every four years. Right now, Denver City Council members make about $92,000; the council president makes $103,000; the auditor and clerk make $148,000; and the mayor makes $171,000.” …

“For comparison, Aurora voters narrowly approved a measure to raise council members’ pay to about $19,000, while their mayor makes $80,000. Denver council members also significantly out-earn state legislators, who just got a raise to about $40,000 a year. The governor makes $123,000.”

Tech Crunch: “On the heels of a recently filed class-action lawsuit over wages and tips, as well as drivers and shoppers speaking out about Instacart’s alleged practices of subsidizing wages with tips, Instacart is taking steps to ensure tips are counted separately from what Instacart pays shoppers.”

“In a blog post today, Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta said all shoppers will now have a guaranteed higher base compensation, paid by Instacart. Depending on the region, Instacart says it will pay shoppers between $7 to $10 at a minimum for full-service orders (shopping, picking and delivering) and $5 at a minimum for delivery-only tasks. The company will also stop including tips in its base pay for shoppers.”

One of the cardinal rules of crisis communication is “Don’t Drag Your Partners Into Your Problem.” It appears that is a rule that representatives of Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown haven’t quite figured out yet.

The Hollywood (Fla.) Police Department confirmed to ESPN that Brown is the subject of an investigation relating to a domestic dispute that allegedly occurred last month. When Brown’s attorney was asked about the investigation, he responded, “We have no comment on the situation. We are focusing our attention on a new shoe (Antonio) just released with Nike.”

I put the over/under on Nike dropping Brown as a representative at two days.

Issues management firm SE2 has crunched the numbers, and determined that:

Interestingly, the Colorado Sun has already jumped to the #11 spot in terms of unique monthly visitors, ahead of more-established media outlets such as 5280, Denverite, and the Denver Business Journal.

A work strike is at its heart a public relations battle. Economic leverage and political influence are only as strong as the strikers’ ability to win the hearts and minds of the public.

That is why Denver Public Schools’ misstep last night – a letter sent to teachers threatening to report visa-holding teachers to immigration authorities – hurts so much. They lost a bit of their moral high ground at a pivotal negotiating moment, and no doubt increased solidarity among teachers. DPS spokeswoman Anna Alejo quickly apologized for the letter, calling it an “incorrect communication” and an “error.”

Denver Public Schools wasn’t alone this week with its misstep. Douglas County Schools is continuing to address the fallout from one of its middle school teachers who incorrectly identified the Covington Catholic student at the center of the Lincoln Memorial viral video and then doubled down by alleging he was a member of “#HitlerYouth.” (Side note: I imagine there is a long line of defamation attorneys lined up at that student’s house.)

DougCo quickly suspended the teacher, but the school board was not in the mood to dwell on the issue. As Erin Powell at 9News reported last night, the board selectively enforced its civility rules and had a sheriff’s deputy remove a speaker from the room for merely citing the teacher’s name. If the goal was to minimize media coverage, that failed spectacularly.

 

Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann’s family has retained Louisville, Ky.-based RunSwitch PR to help guide it through the media firestorm that ensued over the weekend. Grace Schneider of the Louisville Courier Journal reports:

Asked about its role, RunSwitch released a statement saying that the firm “has been retained by the Sandmann family to offer professional counsel with what has become a national media story. We are working with the family to ensure an accurate recounting of events which occurred this past weekend.”

RunSwitch partners Steve Bryant and Gary Gerdemann said that Sandmann family asked people they knew over the weekend about getting help with handling the media.

“They reached out to our firm, and we responded,” said Bryant, adding that the business specializes in crisis management “all over the country.”

Scott Jennings, a conservative political commentator and a columnist for the Courier Journal, is the third partner in RunSwitch. 

Diana Bradley at PRWeek reports:

It seems Wendy’s can’t stop trolling McDonald’s on social. Burger King, too, attempted to make the Golden Arches the butt of the joke with its #WhopperDetour stunt last month. Year after year, McDonald’s has been a target for its sassy rivals – an easy one, too, mainly because the brand never defends itself or fights back. …

The principle McDonald’s has adopted is that no fighter in the history of boxing has ever won simply by blocking punches.

“You have to go on the offense,” said Jano Cabrera, SVP, U.S. comms, global media and PR at McDonald’s. “There has to be something you stand for that is appealing. What is the case, proactively, you are making?”

“The nature of leadership brands is you get to a point where you understand real ROI is being mindful of and responsive to competition,” he said. “But you don’t stay a leadership brand by simply responding to competition. You do it by continuing to innovate and staying customer-focused.”

 

Mass Transit: “Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chief Communications Officer Pauletta Tonilas will leave the L.A. area transportation agency to return to the Regional Transportation District (RTD) in Denver to serve as assistant general manager, communications,” replacing long-time AGM Scott Reed who retired last fall.

“Tonilas held the positions of FasTracks public information manager and senior manager, Public Relations & Public Information at RTD before joining L.A. Metro in August 2015.”

“Less than a month after 9News’s Gary Shapiro caused a tweetstorm by bluntly refuting Twitter charges of fake news, the veteran morning anchor has announced that he will stop posting as he has been out of frustration over what he characterizes as the commandeering of his account,” Michael Roberts at Westwood reports.

“My feed has been taken over by tons and tons of people who are from out of state and probably don’t even know who I am,” Shapiro says. “So except for tweeting about breaking news and weather, I’m going to shut it down.”

Meanwhile, fellow 9News anchor Kyle Clark has doubled down on his approach to confront and mix it up with trolls, which has put him in an online fight with the QAnon, the shadowy, far-right conspiracy group.

Three years after forcing NFL players, including then-Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, to withdraw from a fantasy football convention in Las Vegas because of its connections to gambling, the NFL announced that Caesars Entertainment is the first-ever “Official Casino Sponsor of the NFL.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to work with one of the world’s largest gaming and entertainment companies. Combining the NFL with Caesars’ expertise in world-class entertainment will provide our fans unique experiences both here in the United States and abroad.”
–– Renie Anderson, SVP of NFL partnerships, sponsorship & consumer products

PR Week has named its 2019 Best Places to Work, and the news isn’t particularly good for agencies not located on an ocean. Denver agencies like GroundFloor Media, Linhart PR, Ink Communications, Turner PR, Sterling-Rice Group, Room 214 and others may be recognized on other lists, no firms located outside California, Florida, New York and Washington, D.C. were recognized on PR Week’s list.

The locations of the winners:

Small Agencies

• Santa Monica, Calif.
• Miami
• Santa Barbara, Calif.
• Washington, D.C.

Mid-size Agencies

• New York City
• New York City
• New York City
• New York City

Large Agencies

• San Francisco
• Washington, D.C.
• San Francisco

It has been a tough year for the Pac-12 Conference. Despite having traditionally strong teams like UCLA, USC, Stanford, Oregon, Arizona State and (ahem) Colorado, the conference continues to be overlooked on the national stage. Add to that a series of self-inflicted wounds – an exorbitantly paid commissioner, exorbitant HQ office space and a less-than-exorbitant television deal – and you can see why it has been a troubling year for the conference’s schools.

To better tell its story and repair the damage to its brand, the Pac-12 has engaged mega-agency FleishmanHillard. John Canzano at The Oregonian reports:

“Conference commissioner Larry Scott recently pitched his bosses a plan that would sell a 10-percent equity stake in the conference’s media rights to private investors for $500 million. The hiring of FleishmanHillard is designed to help position the conference for that possible offering.”

“Still, when your motto is ‘Conference of Champions,’ being left out of the championship tournaments in college football and failing to matter in men’s basketball is far more impactful to your brand than talking points.”

As 2018 comes to a close, I take time to reflect on some of the higher-profile PR disasters, debacles and mistakes:

Roseanne Barr – There has always been a fine line between creative genius and mental illness, and it can be argued that Roseanne wobbled along that line when she melted down on Twitter in May. Riding high from the return of her groundbreaking television show, “Roseanne,” the mercurial star made outrageously racist comments about a former advisor to President Barack Obama. ABC immediately canceled her show, then revived it as a separate show, “The Conners,” that does not include her.

One company did emerge from the Roseanne debacle looking good, however: Sanofi, the makers of the sleep drug Ambien. When Roseanne said her tweets were a byproduct of using the drug, Sanofi responded by saying, in part, that “racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”

---

Apple– The computer giant started 2018 with the corporate equivalent of a big New Year’s Day hangover when it was disclosed that the company was throttling iPhone performance to maximize battery life. While that trade-off is one that many might willingly choose, the fact that they didn’t let consumers make their own decisions was at the heart of the problem. Apple apologized and quickly offered an inexpensive battery replacement program for older phones, but the company still got a tidal wave of “planned obsolescence” stories that questioned its integrity.

Continue reading on the GroundFloor Media blog

If you are headed to the big game in Denver – and it really doesn’t matter which one – you may want to skip the concession line. ESPN studied recent health inspection reports from 107 pro-sports stadiums and arenas and found that Mile High Stadium, Pepsi Center and Coors Field all rank in the bottom 10.

The article is especially tough on the Colorado Rockies. Let’s just say that Dinger isn’t the only rodent wandering Coors Field. The lead paragraph in ESPN’s report:

“Most Cracker Jack boxes come with a surprise inside. At Coors Field in Denver, the molasses-flavored popcorn and peanut snacks came with a live mouse. A health department inspector found the mouse in a commercial-size bag of Cracker Jacks at Coors Field in September 2016, along with five live cockroaches in a trap in a storage room. Two weeks earlier, inspectors had found copious amounts of mouse droppings on a kitchen floor, in food-prep trays, inside a bin of rice and amid bags of cookies that had been chewed. Dead mice were found, and another live one had been found.”

PRWeek has named Denver’s 104 West as a finalist for its Outstanding Boutique Agency award. From CEO Patrick Ward:

When we submitted our entry, we were very honest and open about some critical decisions we had made which impacted our business negatively at first, but then very positively. For those who follow our shop, we have focused very assiduously on a communications strategy that we believe fits today’s PR world and offers our clients the best way to begin and maintain conversations with their markets. We also believe that that is the essence of a boutique agency. It’s about doing something specific and doing it really well. It’s not about just being a smaller version of a big, full-service agency. And we can now presume, at some level, the judges agreed.

104 West was also named a finalist in the Best in B2B category for one of its campaigns for longtime client Magisto. Winners of both awards will be announced in March.

Linhart PR has announced it will relocate to the Industry RINO Station building at 38th and Walnut. The firm currently is housed in the historic Baur’s Building in the downtown Denver Theater District.

“Linhart PR decided to move to the new location to offer a more vibrant and collaborative space for its 16 team members. RiNo is becoming a hub for creative businesses, including communications firms, studios, art galleries, designers and photographers. The new Denver World Trade Center campus also will be directly across the street from Linhart PR’s office.”

Colorado’s Right Coast Pizza is desperately trying to climb out of the hole it created with an ad that lands somewhere between stunningly tone-deaf and racist. Also playing defense is BandWagon, Greeley’s version of Westword, for publishing the ad. Bruce Finley at The Denver Post has the details.

Gwin Johnston, the founder of JohnstonWells Public Relations, passed away Thursday. A University of Wyoming alumna, she founded her agency in Denver in 1971 and helped grow it be one of the largest and most respected in the Rocky Mountain Region.

TaRhonda Thomas’ announcement that she is leaving 9News to move to Philadelphia is a significant blow to Denver on several levels. In addition to being one of the most talented and respected journalists in town, she also is the highest-profile African-American in local TV news. Michael Roberts at Westword reports:

Her departure will leave the Mile High City with no African-American anchors at present and just three black reporters at four stations, all of whom currently have significantly smaller on-air roles than she did. … (T)he remaining three are 9News’s Eddie Randle, a reporter hired in January 2017; CBS4’s Toni Mason, a reporter who came aboard last August; and Fox31/KWGN’s Shaul Turner, a onetime anchor now working in the outlet’s Problem Solvers unit. And in Thomas’s view, that’s a shame.

“We’re a large city,” she points out, “and Denver is one of the top twenty markets in the country. The African-American population isn’t that big here, but no matter how small a population it might be, seeing someone who looks like you on TV makes you feel like you can be the way they are. I remember meeting a little girl at a gala, and her mom said, ‘She’s so excited to meet you. Every time she sees you on TV, she stops and looks. Now she wants to be on TV, and she didn’t start talking about it until she saw you do it.’ “

9News parent company Tegna tends to be as incestuous as a European royal family, and it has again stayed within its own ranks to fill the open 9News News Director position. Eric Valadez, the Executive News Director at Tegna’s Dallas affiliate, has been named news director, replacing Christy Moreno who took the President/GM job at … wait for it … Tegna’s affiliate in Lousiville.

Netflix fired Chief Communications Officer Jonathan Friedland after he used the N-word in an office meeting. Emmy Stefansky at Vanity Fair reports:

(Netflix CEO Reed) Hastings explained that Friedland had first used the word in a meeting about sensitive words a few months ago, and that he had apologized to staffers who had approached him after the meeting. Just a few days after that, Friedland had used the word again while speaking to a group of black employees who were trying to speak to him about the first incident. Hastings said in his memo that he only recently learned about the second usage, and decided to terminate Friedland’s employment.

Meet the $1,100-an-hour crisis communications expert who believes that – like legal counsel – everyone has a right to public relations representation. That morally agnostic approach has landed him a bevy of bold-name clients. From Abby Aguirre at The New York Times:

“(Michael Sitrick) represented Kelsey Grammer when the star was accused of having sex with his underage babysitter. He helped Christian Slater when the actor was arrested on charges of assaulting his girlfriend. … Mr. Sitrick was retained by Halle Berry when she was in a hit-and-run, Naomi Campbell when she was accused of assaulting her housekeeper, and Rush Limbaugh when he was arrested on prescription drug charges.”

The Bawmann Group has been named the agency of record for Foothills Urogynecology TBG will provide a wide range of marketing services to Foothills, which offers comprehensive, personalized women’s health and pelvic floor care in the Denver-Metro area.

Chris Arnold joined Chipotle 15 years ago this month when the company was privately held and had fewer than 150 restaurants. In the intervening years, Chris helped position the company into a $12 billion publicly traded corporation that has more than 2,400 locations. Chris played offense with Chipotle’s “Food With Integrity” campaign, played defense with E.coli crisis communications challenges, and helped the company essentially redefine the quick-service restaurant (QSR) marketplace.

Chris has let friends know this week that he has made the decision to leave Chipotle on May 28, which is 15 years to the day he joined the company. Here’s wishing Chris the best of luck on whatever comes next.