In the aftermath of the presidential election there has been lots of analysis about how and why voters voted as they did.
An Election With Global PR Consequences
The Relevance of Opinion Essays
In recent years newspaper opinion pages have been on the decline. Statistics show they are among the least read sections of a newspaper, in print or online. Yet there is no shortage of opinion journalism out there.
Despite the low readership, opinion essays whether published in print or on a digital platform still carry weight and they carry the most weight with influential audiences who consider the opinions of community thought leaders to be essential reading. A good example recently appeared locally
Former Republican Connecticut State Senator Mark Nielsen announced earlier this month that he will vote for Kamala Harris for president. The headline on his CT Insider op-ed piece was- “I Was A Republican State Senator. I’m voting for Harris.”
When he served in the state legislature Nielsen was a pro-choice, fiscal hawk. By the end of his essay he concludes that Harris is a centrist and the only rational choice in this year’s presidential election.
This is a good example of an op-ed with legs beyond Connecticut. It is an argument that once published can re-purposed on multiple platforms from now until Election Day. It challenges people to test their own opinions and may give others the permission they are looking for to change their minds in one direction or the other.
Bottom Line: Don’t believe people who say the opinion page has lost its power to influence public debate. The power is still there it is simply applied in different ways.
Debate Season
The Choices
How To Be Media Friendly
In July, the online news site Semafor published a report on the transformation of Kamala Harris’s media strategy. The article chronicled the Harris/news media relationship from her days as a statewide office-holder in California, to her early days as vice president, to present day, where as of this writing, she is enjoying a news media honeymoon that might last beyond the scheduled August Democratic convention.
The Connecticut Journalism Pipeline
The Narrative
Kearns Goodwin at Twain House
Engage!
In our last post we talked about the practice of refusing to engage with the news media as a means of avoiding scrutiny or criticism. We have noticed that in the fast paced news world we live in - in the internet news age - many government spokespeople and private companies think they can win the news cycle by ignoring requests to respond on the record.