O.J. Simpson... Really?

-Joshua M. Jones

Last Week O.J. Simpson was arrested, again. So, I will spare everyone the commentary on O. J.'s past and get right into what we are seeing here today. But first, the rundown...

O.J. was charged with 11 felony counts in a Las Vegas county courthouse on September 16. Armed robbery, assault and conspiracy charges were among them. He claims that he was conducting a "sting operation" in the Palms hotel and casino, and was simply trying to reclaim what was rightfully his. Let's not forget to mention the rather unsavory cast of characters in this sordid affair...
Timeline


What everyone seems to be missing here is that, this is a justice system that has been craving more of O.J.'s blood for more than a decade! This is truly a man on trial for his past and whether you agree or disagree with that, you must acknowledge that these people Simpson conducted his "sting" on, are the worst kind of people. So where do we draw the line? Where do we acknowledge whether or not there is even an objective truth to this story. O. J. Simpson's life represents this postmodern line of thought more than anything, what I mean is that, with the convoluted results of Simpson's first legal fray, we lack a real context of how we should feel about this current debacle.
Postmodernism


The question I pose is this. How does a PR practitioner use this postmodern "reality," or lack thereof, to their advantage when trying to frame the image of a client? How do you help O.J. Simpson if you are his publicist? I think what you would do is first set the context to O.J.'s past in relation to his present, whatever angle you want to approach that from. Then you address the ridiculous book deal that further tainted his image last spring.
Book Deal


If you can bring those forces together in a coherent way, you may be able to do the impossible, and save a man's future. Because no matter how you look at it, Simpson's life is a reflection of a justice system that is deeply, deeply flawed.

John Ridley's two cents.

OU Pro Bono Legal Service

The University of Oklahoma Legal Clinic is a clinical program that provides students studying to become certified lawyers the opportunity to assist people with legal questions. The clinic has seen a several cases since 2004 and their main focus are cases in both Cleveland and McClain Counties. Students that are participating in the pro bono assistance program are licensed pursuant to the Rules of the Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma on Legal Internship. This mean that the students handling the cases are not allowed to appear in the court but can provide legal advice with the supervision of the Clinic’s experienced team of lawyers. The students are allowed to handle both Civic and Criminal Defense when they are seeing clients.

For students to be eligible to participate in the Students for Access to Justice class they must meet certain requirements. They must complete 50 credit hours with a graduating GPA, in several areas of law, and also be registered with the Oklahoma Board of Bar Examiners as a law student or with another state.










This program is set up to not only server the public that is in need of council, but to also educate young lawyers on the vast amount of cases that are out there. It provides the opportunity for students to learn skills that are important to good legal practice through clinical courses and legal education programs.
The University of Oklahoma Legal Clinic is a free and easy way to ensure that you are not making a mistake by going to trial.

http://www.law.ou.edu
http://adams.law.ou.edu/satj/reqs.cfm
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/probono/lawschools/165.html
http://www.probono.net/ok
http://www.okbar.org/obj/accesstojustice/2006/021106.htm

Contact Information

300 Timberdell Rd., Room 2020
Norman, Ok 73019
Phone: (405) 325-3702
Fax: (405) 325-7758

"It's Britney.."

Who's Giving Britney More.....

Bad Publicity Moves?






As we all know the former pop princess has been through some traumatic times of late, and continues to struggle with her image. With MTV giving her the opening spot on their awards show recently, the pressure was on Britney to prove she was back and ready for action. Many media outlets and viewers world wide have been skeptical of her attempt to revamp her image. To judge the performance yourself, click here. As a public relations student it is impossible for me to not question who her publicist is, and what went wrong.

Unfortunately for Leslie Sloane-Zelnik, that job rested on her shoulders for some time, until Britney fired her last September. Perhaps that wasn’t the right move for Ms. Spears, who seems to have done nothing but decline in popularity since that time.

Zelnik’s other notorious client is Lindsay Lohan, who has also spent some time in the public eye for not-so-good behavior. Many people claim that Zelnik is a pro at damage control, but when does it stop being control and become total chaos. It has to be brought to attention that there are possible fallacies in the reporting from either her clients to her or from her to the media.

As reported on USmagazine.com in March 10, 2006 Zelnik claimed for weeks that the buzz about Britney’s pregnancy was definitely false, but then stated, “As far as I am aware, she is not pregnant.” Perhaps this had a part in the fallout between Zelnik and her client, and eventually contributed to the collapse of Britney as a notable public icon.

Again on June 19, 2006 another public Britney debacle took place when she broke down in the middle of a Dateline interview with Matt Lauer. According to defamer.com Zelnik did not attend, and if you watched the interview it was apparent that she was needed on the set. With her hair a complete mess, eyes filled with tears that eventually forced her false eyelashes off at one point, it was clear she had hit rock bottom.

"Britney is a grown-up and she makes her own decisions.”

- Zelnik's response when asked why she wasn't present at the interview.

Somewhere between this incident and the birth of her second son, Sutton Pearce, on September 12, 2006 Britney fired Zelnik. There were many reports that speculated the star was negotiating with various magazines for the first candid snapshots of the new addition to the Spears-Federline family.

I personally believe the events that have taken place in Britney's life over the past year certainly show the importance of Public Relations professionals in today’s society. From pop princess to mad mother, Britney Spears is heeding the backlash of firing perhaps the most important person in her life.

By:Leilani Eyster

Presidential Candidates Tap the Keg of Youth

-- Rachel Wright

MySpace and MTV announced their collaboration on a never-been-done series of Presidential Candidate Dialogues in Los Angeles and New York, today. The popular culture, youth branding giants will host 11 real-time dialogues with the Democratic and Republican front runners for the 2008 Presidential election across the country, mainly taking place on college campuses participating in the MTVU program.

Democrats Senator John Edwards, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama and Governor Bill Richardson as well as Republicans Senator Sam Brownback, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Representative Duncan Hunter, Senator John McCain, Representative Ron Paul and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney have confirmed they will participate in the hour-long dialogues taking place throughout September and December of this year.

Ian Rowe, MTV spokesman said, “Each one of these dialogues is an opportunity for young people both on a college campus – as well as millions watching via a live stream on MySpace and MTV.com – to have a one-on-one, direct, unfiltered conversation with each candidate.”

While announcing the series, spokespeople for MySpace and MTV publicized the first dialogue to be held Thursday, September 27th at noon ET on the University of New Hampshire campus. Democratic Senator John Edwards (who has his own MySpace profile for those of us who are just itching to join his Top 8) will be the first candidate to take questions from young voters and politicos who can instant message, email or text the senator during the events which will be available live on MTV.com and MySpaceTV.

An interesting aspect of these dialogues is the Flektor instant polling tool that makes its debut on the series.

“We’re providing America’s youth with unprecedented access to the top presidential candidates by empowering them to ask live questions and respond with real time polling tools,” said co-founder of MySpace, Chris Dewolfe. “The integration of Flektor will add a new dimension of rapid response and at-home engagement – we can’t wait to see it all happen live and unfiltered.”

Read more about the dialogues here:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/23/news/myspace.php
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/usa/news/article_1347013.php/Presidential_candidates_to_face_MTV_MySpace_grilling
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-19-2007/0004666054&EDATE=

Learn more about Flektor here:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/15/myspace-to-acquire-flektor/

Don Imus fired by CBS

On April 12th, 2007 CBS announced that they had fired Don Imus fired following a racial slur directed at the Rutger's womens basketball team. Imus's termination followed a week full of intense backlash from the public as well as numerous civil rights leaders.
"There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society," CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said.
Don Imus was once named one of Time Magazine's 25 most influential people. This comes as a blow to CBS both regarding reputation and income, with Imus bringing in significant income to CBS. and millions in his annual radiothon.
In my opinion, CBS took action far to late. Executives waited until backlash had reached an absolute fever before taking action, and delayed even further still before terminating Imus. The issue should have been addressed decisively immediately.
"Something happened in the last week around America," Monroe said. "It's not just what the radio host did. America said enough is enough. America said we don't want this kind of conversation, we don't want this kind of vitriol, especially with teenagers."
Comments like these were plentiful in the media. Not only was the general public speaking out, but so were guests that had been booked for the show. Many refused to appear. Also abandoning ship were numerous advertisers.
However, Don Imus's multiple public apologies were seemed well though out, and from a public relations stand point, were smart in their bluntness, and swiftness. In the end they had little effect. Don Imus lost his job.