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WSJ Bashes Utah on NCLB
Utah continues to receive plenty of national publicity on No Child Left Behind. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal editorial page hammered Utah in both its lead editorial and in an op-ed piece. (No link because the WSJ on-line edition requires a paid subscription.)
The editorial notes that may be “kissing off” $76 million for rebelling against NCLB, and the state has the right to reject the money. “That said, the complaints from today’s opponents of NCLB are unpersuasive.” The editorial says NCLB does not impose an unfunded mandate and has less to do with states’ rights than the fact that “the public education blob” doesn’t want to “change its ways” and “honestly measure academic progress.”
“This accountability and transparency is what NCLB’s foes really fear. Utah doesn’t disaggregate its data in accordance with the law . . .. The money issue is a side show intended to distract attention from these facts. And let’s be clear about whose educational under-performance these educators are trying to keep under wraps: poor kids, especially minority kids.”
The op-ed piece by Diane Ravitch an NYU historian of education and a member of a Hoover Institution education task force, outlines the history of federal involvement in education. She says NCLB “is the product of many years of bipartisan demands for changes in the role of the federal government, especially in meeting its responsibilities to poor children.”
As for me, I subscribe to the Norm Bangerter school of thought. The former Utah governor once said, “You know the biggest problem education faces? Presidents and governors.” It seems that all presidents and all governors want to tinker with education when, in reality, the best thing that could happen to education would be local control with more involvement by parents.
Have a Chat With Pete
I doubt Internet entrepreneur Pete Ashdown is going to win the U.S. Senate race in 2006, but he’s doing some interesting things with the high-tech tools of the Web. He hosts a chat every Thursday at 8 p.m. to talk about campaign issues. He has posted his April 21 chat session at http://www.pashdown.org/chat/20040421-log.html. He responded to a variety of questions and talked about finding a campaign manager, using the Internet to raise money, abortion, end-of-life decisions, religion, his age (38), and other topics. He said his campaign may have a “pioneer” theme. He finally had to tell the chatters he had to leave and put his kids to bed. To join the chat session this Thursday at 8 p.m. go to: http://www.pashdown.org/chat.html.
Rocky Gets Lotsa Ink
Several days ago we published a list of Utah’s most-exposed politicians as measured by the number of mentions in Deseret Morning News’ stories (searched in the archives) during 2004 and so far in 2005. A reader pointed out that we failed to include Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson in the list, so we did a search for the mayor and found he received more coverage than any politician except Olene Walker and Jon Huntsman. It’s pretty remarkable that the SLC mayor gets more ink than any member of the congressional delegation. So here’s the list again, with the mayor included:
Olene Walker, 1,059 mentions
Jon Huntsman, 1,019
Rocky Anderson, 644
Orrin Hatch, 580
Nancy Workman, 499
Jim Matheson, 392
Bob Bennett, 388
Chris Cannon, 348
Mark Shurtleff, 314
Peter Corroon, 230
John Valentine, 213
Rob Bishop, 206
Greg Curtis, 199
Communications Tip
How to Pitch a News Story to a Blogger
Anyone with much PR experience knows generally how to pitch a story to the traditional news media to generate publicity for a product, service or political campaign. You can issue a press release, hold a news conference, prepare a media kit, hold a “desk-side” briefing to offer a story on an “exclusive” basis, or use a variety of other techniques.
But today there’s a new way for politicians and PR practitioners to get messages out to specialized audiences: Get a mention in a particular Web log. So how do you pitch a story to a blogger? Edelman, the world’s largest PR firm, has published the following list of tips to get your message published in a Blog. Click here for the full Edelman report.
-- Read the blog. Try to understand what readers like about the blog site, and why.
-- Bloggers write about only what's interesting to them, so connect with the blog author by sharing information that his or her readers might appreciate.
-- Engage with the blogger on topics he or she has raised, thus establishing the relationship first.
-- Don't wear out your welcome. Make choices about who to contact, when to contact, and how frequently.
-- As with mainstream media writers, what's important are the relationships and trust developed over time.
-- Provide information, kernels, links, and other resources; don't just shower bloggers with canned press releases. Instead of sending a press release as a Word document, for example, send only the link to the press release on the company Web site. Send links to existing news stories, blog entries, videos, audio recordings or other resources that bloggers so love to share.
-- Beware of spam. Contact bloggers judiciously, always conscious that everyone likes as little spam as possible. (Comment sections on blogs already are being targeted by traditional spam, so don't add to the fray).
-- Be honest and transparent about your motives and intentions. Make sure the blogger knows you are a marketing or PR professional.
-- Read the blog author's "rules of contact." Honor "do not call" requests. If a blogger makes it clear that he/she no longer wants to hear from you (whether by phone or e-mail), remove the name from your list.
-- Choose the best person to engage with bloggers. Bloggers might prefer to also talk to someone in the company directly involved in the product, news, issue or event rather than with a spokesperson.
-- Like all writers and reporters, bloggers like being first... with an insight, an angle, the actual news, etc. Spread around your "tips" and "exclusives" so that no one feels slighted.
The Good (And Not So Good) Words
"The Declaration of Independence, the words that launched our nation -- 1,300 words. The Bible, the word of God -- 773,000 words. The Tax Code, the words of politicians -- 7,000,000 words -- and growing!"
--Steve Forbes
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