Government press secretaries, current and former, reacted in various ways to last week’s cover story about their profession. By Jeremy Alford. Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Louisiana’s statewide departments and cabinet agencies will spend more than $4.4 million this year to underwrite the salaries of 72 press secretaries and media professionals. Another $640,000 will be spent on their related operations.
These were the over-arching findings of a report that was unveiled last week in this publication and penned by this writer.
Sam Irwin, a freelancer writer and photographer who also serves as the press secretary for the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said it exemplified a journalist “arriving for an interview with their story already written,” borrowing a line from the story itself.
In particular, Irwin had a beef with a section of the report that cited ways press teams are navigating around the mainstream media to get their messages out. Here’s the rub, as he saw it: “The Department of Agriculture will put up roughly $100,000 publishing what it calls ‘Market Bulletins.’”
Irwin argued that 13,000 subscribers pay $10 a year for the publication to be printed and mailed to them. And in that respect, it should have been noted in the report that the supporting dollars are self-generated. He also said that most of the Marketing Bulletin is made up of free classified ads for cattle, tractors and so on.
However, the first two pages of the 112-year-old newsletter are usually set aside for stories and press releases containing plenty of quotes from Commissioner Mike Strain. The pages are his vehicle to get out a message without having to deal with reporters. If anything, it shows the department is proactive in promoting itself.
Bob Johannessen, former communications director for the Department of Health and Hospitals, commented that “Alford does not address how he or other reporters would be able to effectively cover state government without the assistance of a [public information officer].”
This is true. It goes without saying that PIOs and press secretaries are important to this thing we do. It would be difficult without them — sometimes; it just depends on the story. But it would certainly be boring; they’re the ones who pass along off-the-record stories for their bosses and tip off reporters to big scoops.
On more than one occasion they’ve saved me on deadline. I’ve also been led on by a few and provided with inaccurate information. There’s the bad and the good, mostly the latter. But as noted in last week’s story, “a department head without a flack nowadays is like a 4-year-old on the beach without sunscreen.”
Speaking of DHH, its initial reply to our public records request for media-related salaries produced two names making salaries totaling $100,484. The accuracy of that list, however, has come into question. In a follow-up request, the department’s attorney said Tom Gasparoli, who makes $71,000, was mistakenly left off. There’s also Kristen M. Sunde, who recently coordinated a story for New Orleans’ Gambit and held a title connected to the “Bureau of Media and Communications.” A PIO for the department says she filled that role only temporarily as new hands were brought on.
It’s an interesting twist. While many media professionals wanted to make sure it was known that they do much more than handle press requests, here’s an example of someone being pulled into the fray who typically never talks to journalists. That’s all to say it takes a lot to keep a government media outfit afloat.
Another press secretary from a bygone era of Louisiana politics offered these words on the classical relationship between hack and flack: “We may not always like the story you’re doing, but in the end we respect that you’re doing it.” Without question, that works the other way around, too. At least on good days.
Jeremy Alford can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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