Your PR Architect

Public relations pros once loved weekly newspapers, for several reasons: They often had more space for feature stories and were open to running accompanying photos. Eager young journalists wrote long stories about our clients. Many were delivered free or at modest cost. Unlike a daily paper, they lived in our home for a week. The daily, once read, was recycled in anticipation of the next day's edition. Most of this has changed. Weekly papers haven't fared much better than dailies as ad dollars have left the newspaper industry in favor of internet content. Dailies responded by trimming editorial staff and beefing up their online media presence. Weeklies rely more upon local advertisers and have a more modest business model, but their websites aren't a big destination for local news. By noebse via  Wikimedia Commonscontent.  We have two weeklies in our town. One has been locally written and published for years. Its design is a little dated, but I credit the own...

Last week, NASCAR gave itself a black eye. Several, actually. This week, NAPA Auto Parts smacked the team responsible for NASCAR's PR week from hell. Without digging into details that only a motorhead could fathom, it boils down to this: driver Clint Bowyer deliberately spun out in the Richmond, VA. race, shuffling the race's finishing order so a teammate could make NASCAR's big playoffs, the Chase for the Cup. You can read the convoluted details here . NASCAR, the sanctioning organization, has very deep pockets -- thanks to lucrative TV contracts and corporate sponsorships of teams and drivers. NASCAR came down hard on Bowyer's team, Michael Waltrip Racing, suspending team members, imposing a $300,000 fine, and bumping Bowyer's teammate, Martin Truex Jr., from the Chase playoff season. Truth is, there's been trickery in motor racing for years. MWR just got caught doing it, thanks to their over-the-air coded radio messages between the team and Bowyer. ...