FEMA's Fake News Conference Named 2007's Biggest PR Disaster

Forbes:

It has been yet another banner year for all manner of PR gaffes and errors. The 13th Annual Top 10 PR Blunders List, compiled by San Francisco's Fineman PR, includes a phony press conference, a buzz-marketing bust-up and Los Angeles County's favorite party girl.

1. "No Reporters? No Problem." (ABC News)
2. Buzz Marketing Gone Bust
3. "Why I Hate Race-Baiting Columns" (San Francisco Chronicle)
4. Iggy Come Home!
5. "Not So Simple Life" (People.com)
6. When the Hand that Feeds Bites
7. LUV: Not in the Air
8. If You Can't Stand the Heat ...
9. Lost in Translation
10. "over b4 it began"

Read the whole story: Forbes

Comments

[loki]

11:41 PM on 12/16/2007

I would have thought all of Bush's speeches and press conferences would have qualified. Especially those on Iraq and Iran. Well, you really can call them press conferences as I dont think he actually ever answered a single question. Not truthfully at least.

[truthyguy]

06:43 PM on 12/16/2007

How does this FEMA guy Harvey E. Johnson even look in the mirror at himself each morning? Or for that matter go to work. And what does he say to his family when they have seen how utterly devoid of ethics and morals he is?

[mamacat]

03:07 AM on 12/16/2007

I can not imagine that at any other time in our nation's history, something like the FEMA fake news conference could happen. On the other hand, it does make it easier to comprehend how FEMA could have done the fake disaster response after Katrina......
These people, and this administration, have no moral compass, no understanding of right and wrong, no appreciation for laws. How did we ever get to such a low point?

[Fallacy]

02:34 AM on 12/16/2007

It's far beyond a PR blunder. It was more intentional deception by "our" administration.

"1984" isn't a mysterious, surreal fantasy about another time, another place. It is a high school textbook (10th grade in my school then) that is built on simple principles and about what happens in relative ways in much of the world. One of the main themes included is propoganda and deception, and via the media.

As a footnote, I am the bane of PR people and such, as it is inconsistent with honesty, honest journalism, and objective analysis. (In other words, spin is b.s. practiced.)

Pot calling the kettle black. Long live Ron Powers, you Eyewitless ewes.

[ibsteve2u]

11:36 PM on 12/15/2007

I don't know; I'd have had to put "No Child Left Behind" and Bush's "Childrens Do Learn" on that list somewhere.

Surely wasn't much of a PR success at endorsing a return to the educational standards of yesteryear.

[VOTER]

11:32 PM on 12/15/2007

All of the White House Press Conferences

should get the Number One Vote for Biggest PR Disaster.

The Fema Phony Press Conference gets second prize.