We hate to seem like we are piling on to the PR woes in the City of Detroit’s Mayor’s Office. But, when there are fundamental mistakes made, seemingly every week, that are relevant to PR in general, we have to point them out.
Case in point – what Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s latest press secretary pulled late last week.
As detailed by the Detroit Free Press, she called the news director at a Fox affiliate in Southwest Florida to complain about a 20 second story. The affiliate had a field day with that call and turned into a five minute story on the evening news.
Yes, with that call, she gave the station an opportunity to hammer home the Mayor’s troubles, instead of letting the original story be just another forgettable national item in a morning newscast.
Instead of complaining about brief coverage hundreds of miles away, the Mayor’s PR team should be buildling and rebuilding relationships in their own backyard. Then again, that would be simple, fundamental media relations – something we have never seen demonstrated consistently during this administration.