The 10 Worst Spins of 2005

[quaoar]

Here are the first four:

http://www.ideagrove.com/blog/2005/12/media-orchard-presents-10-worst-spins.html

Media Orchard Presents: The 10 Worst Spins of 2005

Media Orchard, one of the nation's most-read public relations blogs, today unveils its first-annual list of the year's 10 Worst Spins. The list presents the most shameless, silly, ineffective and/or ill-advised attempts to influence public perceptions.

And the winners are:

1. Michael Brown: The Nero of New Orleans.

He waded through the worst natural disaster in U.S. history with a trail of sycophantic PR people telling him (a la Fernando Lamas) he "looked fabulous." (The flacks did offer some advice, too; press secretary Sharon Worthy told Brown to "roll up his sleeves" -- literally -- so he'd look better on TV.) Brown has rebounded by starting a consulting company to help others learn from his experiences. That's some wicked spin, boys and girls.

2. Ford to Gay Pubs: "I Wish I Knew How to Quit You."

Ford stumbled into a political mess when it appeared to cave to right-wing demands to remove its ads from gay-oriented publications. It said, "It is clear there is a misperception about our intent." Then it put ads back in the gay pubs to "remove any ambiguity." Ambiguity?

3. Savvis: Topless Dancers, Bottomless Expense Accounts.

Robert McCormick, CEO of St. Louis IT services provider Savvis, racked up a $241,000 tab in one night at a New York strip club (roughly enough to get lap-danced to the moon and back.) Inexplicably, neither McCormick nor Savvis took care of the AmEx bill, so AmEx sued -- creating a humiliating public scandal. Savvis responded with a letter of apology that didn't actually include an apology, so Media Orchard did them a favor and rewrote it for them. Then Savvis whipped out the PR 101 playbook (Chapter 47: When to Announce Bad News) and issued McCormick's resignation over Thanksgiving.

4. Matt Drudge and Michelle Malkin: Liberal-Media Bashers Gone Wild.

PR people take a lot of flack (as it were) for their spinning abilities -- but nobody spins better than media and blog pundits. Two of the worst offenders are right-wing BS artists Matt and Michelle -- whose disingenuous rabble-rousing borders on the pathological. Drudge in 2005 tied the inarticulate rantings of a CNN switchboard operator to the vast liberal media conspiracy; Malkin linked a subpar Photoshop effort at USA Today to the self-same plot.