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Sorry about the unsteady stream of info and insight (and for those of you who visit late at night, the uneven formatting). I'm trying out a new Movable Type layout on a proprietary domain, and will move most of this blog there today. Once I get some style and formatting issues settled, I'll link to the new site here.

Thanks for your patience.

I don't know if it was intentional, accidental or simply the product of little experience as an English-language spokesperson, but how can you properly prepare a spokesperson when they forget basic grammar? I certainly remember my lesson from Grade 10 English: double negatives are always confusing!

"We don't plan on any of the vehicles not to have incentives," Dieter Zetsche, president of Chrysler Group, the North American unit of Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG, said in Detroit yesterday.

Then again, maybe it was all a cunning plan, intended to leave the company wiggle room in case they decide to discontinue incentives on the new Chryslers.

Money Mart, a Canadian cheque-cashing service, is running a new television ad featuring a crotchety and miserly Scottish Uncle. The premise? It's far better to borrow against your upcoming pay cheque than from your Uncle Angus. The point is driven home when, after an extended harangue about working hard for your money, Angus pours 400 coins from his sporran onto the coffee table, and shouts "And don't spend it all in one shop!"

Now, as an ostensible Scottish-Canadian, I could take great umbrage at this portrayal. But, as my kids would tell you, I'm cheap. If the shoe fits, wear it, I say.

In reaching into our collective subconscious for the prototypical Scottish stereotype, this article singles out Mike Myers as the flack, so to speak, responsible for its popularization: "Between Fat Bastard and the dad in So I Married an Axe Murderer, he laid the groundwork for all future Scots."

Sure, those were great characters. But we can't forget the damage done by McFiddish, the unintelligible groundskeeper in Caddyshack who somehow considered Carl Spacker "his best man".

Mike Foster, the Governor of Louisiana, is calling upon a high-profile ally to raise public awareness and build support for his wetlands preservation campaign: Tabasco, the home state company, is distributing pamphlets describing the problem and how to help with over 3 million bottles of their signature hot sauce.

It should be expected, in a state that produced Huey Long and James Carville, that the Governor knows to hit voters and taxpayers where it counts: their stomachs.

Thanks to Today's Papers for the pointer.

Interesting NYT article about the organizers and protesters preparing for the upcoming WTO conference in Miami.

A government agency operating in Newfoundland has been called out for faxing one version of a release to the local (and largest) paper, then posting a different version on their website the next day. While there were relatively minor differences between the two versions, the slip-up did result in a few days of critical coverage and required a follow-up letter to the editor from the Director of Public Affairs for the agency:

"It should be noted that the news release ... was an early draft, sent in error ... This error was actually realized while the release was being distributed by fax, and ... staff immediately called the respective media outlets to apologize and advise them of the error, and to advise a correct version would be sent shortly."

"Unfortunately, our printed fax report did not show The Telegram had received the first incorrect copy, so they were not called with an apology and explanation and, in fact, should have therefore received both versions of the release, the early draft and the final copy. We sincerely apologize ..."

Observations? Obviously a slow news day. This was not a ground-shaking mistake - in these technologically advanced times, there are many more embarassing ways for communications staff to loft the wrong draft upon the ill winds of the media - like a marked-up Word document emailed to a list of hundreds.

That said, they should have been able to identify the outlets who had received the wrong release. Especially since The Telegram is the predominant print outlet in the province. Especially since they sent it by fax - which meant either a preprogrammed list of addressees, or keying in each one individually. Or - try to visualize this, it's much funnier - they had to physically and violently unplug the fax machine once the document was scanned and they realized what had happened.

Smirk.

So. John Kerry, presidential candidate, was a guest on the Tonight Show. ABC's the Note has some hints for other booking assistants dealing with the show:

"... here is a list of acceptable people a man of John Kerry's stature may follow in the second-guest-slot on the Tonight Show: Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, any non-celebrity who has performed a heroic deed."

"Unacceptable choices include: Andy Dick, Jenna Jameson, any reality show contestant. The quintessential guest not to follow: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, particularly when said canine puppet brags about being the "lead guest. That's right: THE LEAD GUEST" on its Web site."

... While blunt political strategist Triumph assessed, "The poop I made in the dressing room had more heat than John Kerry," the Massachusetts Senator performed well under the constraints of short answer only television."

Well. The Judge in the Gruner + Jahr vs. Rosie O'Donnell bunfight ruled today that no-one deserved damages. "It seems to me ... we're just dealing with bragging rights here, who wins and who loses,'' Gammerman said. With his ruling, neither side wins -- although O'Donnell could still ask for publisher Gruner+Jahr USA to cover her legal fees.

Meanwhile, plain old multi-millionairre businesswoman Martha Stewart has used her face time with Barbara Walters to move public opinion in the lead-up to her January trial. Martha's TV interview managed to personalize the effects her legal troubles are causing to her mental and, more importantly, financial, well-being. Her online unfettered voice to the masses has attracted favourable attention in the U.S. and the U.K. media, and she has (apparently) moved public opinion about her stock trading habits back into the positives.

Now, what will the Eliot Spitzer do?

And a last note: Scott Feschuk, from the National Post, characterized the face time this way:

The intermercial concluded with Barbara inelegantly coaxing Martha to edit her trademark catchphrase.

Barbara: "... and what's happening right now is not a good thing."

Martha: "It is not a good thing."

Just to clarify, Martha was referring to the whole maybe-going-to-prison thing, not the interview with Barbara. The interview with Barbara was most definitely a good thing.

This weekend's NYT magazine has a poetic - and wordy - look at generating buzz at the Venice Film Festival:

"The goal of all the activity is, of course, the elusive thing called buzz, the deceptively soothing term that has mostly replaced words like the vaguely clinical ''hype'' and the etymologically challenged ''ballyhoo.'' ''Buzz'' sounds so restful, so natural -- like something you become aware of only subliminally, at the sleepy end of a long day picnicking on the grass. As Lauren Greenfield's photographs demonstrate, however, the creation of buzz is no picnic."

"What buzz really is, it seems, is the wholly unnatural attempt to extend the artificial ecosystem of the film festival -- the symbiotic relationship of filmmakers, journalists and fans -- into the larger, greener world of the ticket-buying public, which must somehow be made to absorb the notion that this movie is as essential to its well-being as sunlight. Or oxygen."

"It is an illusion in the service of an illusion. So we shouldn't be surprised that as the auteurs, the stars and the beady-eyed producers work to conjure that buzz, they can start to look a little ghostly, as if they were exhausted by the labor of insinuating themselves into the collective imagination -- as if the effort to be ''real'' had left them feeling unreal to themselves."

The Buffalo News focuses on what seems to be a rarity: a letter to the editor from a top State Department official. While the paper paints this letter as part of the apparent "propaganda war" with the media over the Iraq war, its exchange highlights two continuing trends in how officials from federal governments work with the regional media: the continuing concentration of senior and elected officials on what is being written in three or four "national" media to the detriment of regional media, and a seeming reluctance to immediately respond to reporting through op/ed opportunities or by writing letters to the editor.

Why would a top-ranking State Department official write a letter to a regional paper?

"I'm intrigued you would ask, and we don't do it enough," said Boucher, who has served as a spokesman under five secretaries of state. "If you look at the numbers, it's like 85 percent of Americans read a local paper. If we spend our time looking at the New York Times, Washington Post and a few others, we're going to miss a lot of this country."

The first trend is easy to explain: your first focus is naturally on the paper you, your neighbours and your boss read. In Washington it's the WP, the NYT, maybe the LAT. In Ottawa, it's the Globe and Mail, La Presse and others. It is always a struggle to find the time, let alone the resources, to identify, track and correct storylines at regional papers across the country - especially when one communications strategist could be dealing with four or five issues of national scope.

As for the reluctance to respond, there are several impulses at play here: a conscious and strategic decision to let a storyline play out at a high level; the desire to leave detailed discussions, which could include technical or regulatory details unsuitable for the op/ed page, to a more personal meeting with a reporter or editorial board; and, maybe, a suspicion that, by responding, you are simply extending the play of a story.

Thanks to Editor and Publisher for the pointer. PS: if you're interested in the propaganda idea, Michael Wolff has an interesting look at the problem.

Chris Allbritton liked his short stint as a journalist in Afghanistan so much, he decided to move from a technology to a foreign affairs beat. Trouble was, no-one would give him a chance to work in Iraq. Through his blog, donors provided nearly $15,000 to fund an April trip to report from Iraq. Editor&Publisher has more details:

"I would have liked to go freelance with some backing of a major media organization," Allbritton said. "But as the money came in I realized I didn't need it. I had my readership. I had my outlet. I had my resources. It really took on a life of its own."

Although Allbritton does not actively pursue donations anymore, money still trickles in through his blog, which he continues to update. As for the future, Allbritton hopes to devote his time to writing books. "The money in blogging sucks," Allbritton said. "It's hard to make a career at it."

A snippet in the NYT speaks to Richard Harris' search for an allegory for the culture and political environment surrounding us:

"Until he spied the couple wearing the ears for their wedding at Walt Disney World in Florida, Robert Harris, the best-selling British author, believed he could use the Disney culture as a satirical parable for modern America.

"But after 18 months of research and a growing sense that the book was not going to work, the sight of the outlandish ears in the Grand Floridian Hotel convinced him that his setting was beyond satire: fiction was no match for reality.

"I could do Hitler's Germany," Mr. Harris said, referring to the theme of his first successful novel, "Fatherland," published in 1992. "I couldn't do Walt Disney."

Tom Murphy notes that a British firm has won a contract to help sell India as a progressive and modern country.

In a related story, Promo has touched on how American firms have begun to sub-contract marketing jobs in India:

"AT&T Wireless uses an Indian-built Web site, AT&T Wireless Photo Zone, to display consumer photos taken by street teams demonstrating phones like Sony Ericsson's T68i Camera Phone ..." Why? In addition to extensive post-secondary education in IT and contact with both British and American culture, "... India is a sophisticated market in its own right. Online and cell-phone promos are hot, and text messaging outpaces even Europe, never mind the U.S. ... About 28 million Indians have Web access, and 20 million have cell phones."

But what would your mother think? "Family Unsure What To Do With Dead Hipster's Possessions" hit too close to home, since I could imagine owning a lot of the items described in this too-accurate sendup from The Onion. How would your nerdy cousin react to your complete A-Team character t-shirt set?

"... I'd like to give his dishes to Goodwill or the local church, but I'm not sure they would want them," Lowery said. "None of his plates and cups match, and every single coffee mug is different. Here's a Zoloft mug, and here's one from White Castle hamburgers. This one says 'Hands Off Howard's Coffee.' I find it strange that he owned that, considering that he lived alone and never mentioned a friend named Howard."

"See these records?" said Panziel, pointing to a pile of Herb Alpert LPs. "I don't think Grandma even listens to this stuff anymore ... is this copy of 'The Super Bowl Shuffle' worth keeping? How about this Amazing Kreskin record? I don't know how to tell."

Somehow, the really interesting stories don't seem to jump the Atlantic - like the C4 story last night about the Queen's bisexual, heroin-addicted uncle.

Here in Canada, our governing party is heading into a leadership convention in just over a week. Because we're a parliamentary democracy, that would normally mean the new party leader would become Prime Minister - unless the current Prime Minister is reluctant to leave. That means that we're about to enter an interregnum where preparing, evaluating and implementing a government communications plan becomes an exercise in literary deconstruction and semiotics. Can I plan this event for eight weeks from now? Which politician will be available to draw the press? Will this policy even fly with the new Prime Minister?

And this isn't just a natural fascination with the machinations of politics on my part. The recent announcement of $700 million for the national passenger railway system was almost immediately repudiated by a spokesperson for Paul Martin, the presumptive Prime Minister.

Back from my quick trip to Halifax and ready to blog again. I also did some training and am now fully literate in HR issues. Now, if only my employees would comply with the HR framework I was given!

Well, between the scheduled power outage at the office this weekend, the unscheduled network failure today, and the three day training course I just began, the blog may suffer.

So please be patient as I post using my Blackberry - which is as nimble as a 960 baud Heathkit home computer.

I know I saw footage on Entertainment Tonight, but The Smoking Gun details how those wonderful American Idol producers are controlling the image of their proteges: "... if press photographers want to record Ruben, Clay, and Kelly's staged holiday frolics, they'll have to sign [an] agreement drafted by 19 Entertainment, the show's London-based producers."

"In return for access and $1, shutterbugs must actually agree to let the 'Idol' bosses dictate when photos are published and must turn over all their images so that 19 Entertainment officials, if they choose, can use the material for promotional purposes for the singers (that's what the greenback must be for). And photojournalists must agree not to reveal any 'confidential information' they may learn through their proximity to the 'Idol' figures."

The November issue of Folio notes the increasing popularity of advertorial content and questions its effect upon the quality of design and editorial in magazines:

"These low-rent production values pose problems ... The intent ... is great, but in execution, we find that writers who wouldn't write for the magazine are producing editorials that the editors would not otherwise accept ... We find advertising that an ad agency wouldn't typically pass off as advertising. ... you find that most consumers look at them for what they are: crude attempts. They don't give them a lot of credit.

"Advertorials are Hamburger Helper for publishers. They stretch content and dollars to suit their needs and publishers are making hay of it ... "

But why buy advertorial, then?

"Conde Nast, for instance, which doesn't traditionally break rate card, will charge less money for the advertorial. It's a way for an advertiser to break in where they couldn't before. On a relative benchmark, if a run-of-the-book ad page costs X, the advertorial is X minus 50 to 60 percent." Conde Nast did not respond to requests for comment.

"The challenge for publishers is to create tantalizing, innovative packages for the advertiser with content that doesn't insult the reader's intelligence, but still manages to stay on the virtuous side of church and state issues."