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Cross-posted from The Fullerton Rag, The Voice of Some People.
“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”
—George Orwell
It is no accident that our modern author most revered for his insights into authoritarianism also supplies the best ever quote about newspapers. George Orwell was himself a journalist prior to writing Nineteen Eighty-Four, his chilling and depressingly relevant masterpiece about a totalitarian state where the government exercises complete control over printed information. Prior to adopting his now famous pseudonym, the author, whose real name was Eric Blair, was also a police officer in what was then the British colony of Burma, a position that gave him direct experience with armed authority over a subjugated population.
The title of OC Register columnist David Whiting’s latest story about police public relations firm Behind the Badge should recall Mr. Orwell’s definition of journalism. His June June 20 column, Revealing what’s ‘Behind the Badge’: Paid for by police and taxpayers, but how much does that matter?” is undoubtably a reaction to a story from the Voice of OC website by Thy Vo, published on June 1, entitled Website Blurs Line Between Journalism and PR.
The Rag, of course, brought this issue to light way back on December 12, 2013…
Read more at The Fullerton Rag, The Voice of Some People.
PR Rag indeed.
“Fullerton PD honored at kickball match”
is a very odd spin on the Kelly Thomas tragedy.
Has anyone asked/ revealed WHO is the audience for this taxpayer-funded PR? The June 17, 2014 (#21) Anaheim Council Agenda approved $96K to Cornerstone for this, yet as an Anaheim Resident, I have yet to receive any notification of availability of this “communication”, despite receiving the City’s own (separately taxpayer funded) “Anaheim” magazine, which never fails to prominently feature positive content about Police and Fire. Says its webpage-” It is the only publication that reaches every single residence and business in Anaheim, and has a quarterly circulation of 116,000.”
The ‘State Controller Report’ of City salaries on the “Transparency” section of the City’s website lists many police positions with total salary cost of $96K or less. It seems hypocritical of the Council to on one hand lament police staffing shortages and congratulate themselves for “progress”, while concurrently making a spending decision for the cost of an officer, on possibly redundant PR. I also question if any criteria for the “success” of this advertising has even been defined, let alone planned to be measured. And I question whether the expense of this self-promotion is more properly borne by the Police and Fire Labor Organizations, and not at the expense of Public Safety Staffing.