Super Bowl Champ Sent to Prison

Super Bowl Champ Sent to Prison

By Kelley Bennett

New York Giants Super Bowl champion, Plaxico Burress, has recently been sentenced to 20 months in prison followed by two years of probation after violating the state of New York's gun laws. Burress, a nine-year NFL veteran, accidentally shot himself in the leg while at a New York City nightclub last November. Burress was carrying an unlicensed .40-caliber weapon when the incident occurred. The gun had been licensed at one point in time, however it was licensed in Florida and expired in 2008.

In April of 2009, the Giants, suspended Burress from the team. However, Burress has stated that he hopes to return to the field after his 20 months in Ulster Correctional Facility in New York. Burress plans on using his time in prison productively and even hired a consultant to help him make the most of his time. Burress is confident that he will return to the NFL following his sentence. When he gets out of jail, Burress will only be 33-years-old. Burress is quoted on ESPN saying: "...I'll still have the God-given ability to snag footballs; that's what I love to do. Of course, I want to play again."

When Burress was sentenced to his 20 months in jail, he left behind his pregnant wife, Tiffany and their three-year-old son, Elijah.

In the book Who Moved My Cheese? written by Spencer Johnson, the reader is told a story about four mice that deal with change in different ways. Burress' jail sentence is a prime of example of someone's cheese being moved. He now has to live in a jail for almost two years, while keeping his family safe at home. Burress also has the challenge of trying to play for the NFL post jail sentence, a task that might be difficult for someone who won't have the ability to practice for quite sometime.

Those who have read the book might say that Burress reminds them of the character Haw. Burress has to deal with these challenges on his own and find a way to turn them into something productive, just as Haw had to do with the cheese.

The story of Plaxico Burress is a great learning tool for those who might be dealing with a difficult change but plan on making the most of their new life.

Image courtesy of NYdailynews.com

Ewww, wash your hands!

By Ciara Amir

“Wash your hands, right now” is probably a phrase that was often repeated in your home as a child. Well, at least in my home it was often shouted at me after coming in from a long day’s worth of fun and games.

Washing your hands is such an easy task that most children can complete the task by themselves, however may adults still fail to take this task serious.

In the earlier part of 2009, many new cases of the H1N1 influenza were reported and had the Nation wearing mask that resembled modern day gas masks. However, Americans are still failing to use their number one defense mechanism against this National epidemic.

"Hand washing is a simple thing to do and it's the best way to prevent infection and illness," said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, Bradley's first Healthy Hand Washing Survey found that 54 percent of people surveyed said they "wash their hands no more or less frequently in public restrooms since the H1N1 virus emerged.”

Hand washing is something that American’s have had previous problems with. A research study conducted by the American Society for Microbiology in 2007, found only 77 percent of Americans washed their hands after using public restrooms. Another study conducted in 2004 by the Minnesota Department of Health, found that hand washing at the Minnesota state fairgrounds were even more frightening. The studies showed that only 75 percent of women and 51 percent of men washed with both soap and water after using public restrooms.

The trends found in this research correlates with a character from the book “Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life” written by Spencer Johnson.

Throughout the book, the character Hem is faced with many life-changing experiences, but yet he did not change. The character refused to accommodate his life to his current situations. He was even warned by a friend that if he didn’t change his ways, he wouldn’t survive.

We are facing unusual times and disease is continuously running ramped around us. Perhaps someone should chisel in our walls, "If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct!"

Bradley Corporation is currently doing its part in helping chisel this message in the minds of many Americans. If you would like to know more about their healthy hand washing tips campaign please visit. www.bradleycorp.com

Ethics as Electives: How import is ethics in relation to strategic communication

by Rashida Douglas

Why is business ethics distinguished from ethics in general? Is it because there is a separate code of conduct that is acceptable in business that is not acceptable in interpersonal relationships? The “Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public Relations: Pure and Applied” discusses the lack of emphasis placed on ethics in strategic communications academics and how this lack of proper ethics engagement results in public relations catastrophes like that of Enron and Arthur Anderson. Albert S. Atkinson, a contributing writer to the book, goes on to say that there was not enough culpability placed on the corporate communicators who acted as the “faces” of these organizations. “I found that out of 13 universities offering advanced accounting degrees only one required an ethics course, while of the 12 universities offering advanced communication degrees, none made ethics a required course.”

According to the book the public also has a keen sense of where the ethical barometer lies according to profession. Polls indicate 90 percent of individuals surveyed believe fire fighters have a high ethical standard, 58 percent for college teachers, 25 percent for executives and 11 percent for advertising professionals--the category most closely related to public relations. How can PR practitioners create the soul of an organization if they have no ethical framework for guiding their decision-making? Essentially, the text indicates there should be more emphasis placed on how ethics fits into strategic communications and the level of responsibility practitioners have for disseminating proper and correct information to target publics.

Ethics for Journalists

Ethics for Journalists

By: Tafara Cameron

Richard Keeble’s text, Ethics for Journalists (2nd Edition) examines the issues that journalists encounter on a regular, day-to-day basis from the perspective of the media. Keeble also tackles the various ethical dilemmas with provided interviews and overviews that can ultimately develop strategies to assist in 1) the representation of gender, race, health, disability, sexual orientation 2) the impact of competition on media standards 3) ethics and its challenges on “professionalism” 4) approaches regarding cynicism 5) the handling of confidential dilemmas and sources of war and 6) the power of the press and controversy thereof.

Ethics is somewhat expected to be defined in a variety of broad senses; for example one definition can imply that ethics promotes the freedom to choose. In retrospect, this would conclude that our actions are drawn by our very own self-interest. Some explanations of how to carefully examine the truth about ethics would derive from the stressors on professionalism/ public interest; including the idea of free press, the press/ media as a Fourth Estate, accuracy and truthfulness and the codes of conduct. Keeble comments on The Watergate Investigation and the ethical/ non-ethical opinions The media, including the Washington Post took this scandal and ran with it on all levels.

Even further, during the 1995 O.J Simpson Trial, The Gulf Wars of 1990-1991, and the death of Princess Diana in 1997 all critically evaluated because of the media’s depoliticisation with sports, lifestyles, sex and health. Some say that critics have been reluctant to the idea of political apathy and are obsessed with media coverage which ends up losing the value and ethical credibility in due time.

PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences

by Nick Holmes

PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge highlights the “new” Public Relations. Public relations has become a “Two-Way Highway” in the past few years. No longer does one send a press release and hope it gets published, then hope someone actually reads it. In the modern day, publics feel the need to interact with their lives.

Social Media is the face of this changing medium. Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have forever changed the way Public Relations practitioners interact with the publics. Using these new tools, PR professionals can place messages in places not traditionally known for news.

These new tools are developing around us. PR Practitioners needs to realize that this new medium is the way of the future and to embrace it rather than fight it.

PR Practitioners need to remember in this digital age to monitor what they send out, and the frequency in which information is released. The fastest way to lose followers is to pollute their streams with useless information. Publics are willing to share their social networking time with outside organizations, but this privilege should not be abused. As a twitter user, I have “unfollowed” many celebrities or companies when they pollute my Twitter feed. If I am doing this as a Public Relations student who understand and supports their efforts, what is this causing your average society member to do?

Social Media will continue to evolve and eventually be replaced by the next “big thing.” But until PR 3.0, this is the world we’re living in.

R.B.I. Hits a homerun

By Matthew Burris

Major League Baseball has been seeing a decline in urban American youths wanting to pick up a glove and bat.

It's a dangerous prospect, the concept of losing a whole generation of stellar athletes to other games, or, worse, a life of crime.

That's why the Major League Baseball offices have gone to drastic measures to reach out to these publics and target minorities in particular, in an effort to increase young minority participation in the game of baseball.

The program, Reviving Baseball in Inner cities, or RBI, and the accompanying PR campaign have been a great success.

MLB has used a variety of exciting and effective tactics to bring kids to baseball.

From the old stand-by's of news releases and press conferences, to community events and public service announcements starring real MLB stars (most of whom are a minority), MLB has reached out to community leaders as well as kids.

Going forward, MLB plans to open more RBI locations and give back to many more communities. Building baseball facilities around the country not only serves to improve the life of the game, but the lives of those kids who wouldn't have otherwise had the chance to play ball.

Great job, Major League Baseball.

"Image Makers: Advertising, Public Relations and the Ethos of Advocacy" by Jackall & Hirota

by: Angenene Kendrick

I chose “Image Makers: Advertising, Public Relations, and the Ethos of Advocacy” by Robert Jackall and Janice M. Hirota.

This book traces the roots of American advocacy in the form of advertising and public relations back to World War I. The government’s role in the creation of the Committee on Public Information was the beginning of selling America’s international relations to its public. Public opinion was effectively altered through the work of the CPI, and subsequent messages from the U.S. government came from the strategic messaging and imaging models that were developed in the early part of the 20^th century. I think this is amazing, because the most popular media avenues which we now use weren’t even invented yet.

Today nearly 80 percent of production of “news” now comes from advocacy sources. Branding, centralized messages, and moral interpretation was propagated in the profession and vocation of advertising and public relations. In today’s integrated model, we see that sometimes the lines have blurred between the two divisions, but historically, they have worked in tandem also.

“Image Makers” also traces the connections between public policy, the market economy and strategic communications professionals. It follows the social and cultural changes in American thinking and how it was impacted and is still impacted by advocacy professionals.

Jackall is a sociologist and Hirota is an anthropologist. I think their views are very interesting in interpreting the historic advocacy and strategic communications fields. They define the modern expert as “the image maker skilled in the creation and propagation of symbols to persuade mass audiences to some action or belief."