21 décembre 2004

How to carry a press conference?

The Washington Post writes about writes about the press conference GWB held yesterday.

Quotes from the article:
The President's Grand Elusion
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 21, 2004; Page A05

President Bush, an old F-102 pilot, showed at yesterday's news conference that he has not forgotten his evasive maneuvers.

As he fielded questions on everything from Iranian nukes to presidential personnel, the often blunt and plainspoken president employed the full range of artful dodges.

(snip)

For all the bobbing and weaving, yesterday's news conference hinted at an emerging new style for Bush. In his first 45 months in office, he had 15 full-fledged news conferences, fewer than any other postwar president. Bush, a stickler for discipline, didn't want to make unintended news, or to be embarrassed by an unexpected question, as when he was asked what his biggest mistake had been. But since his reelection, Bush has had two news conferences in as many months.

Bush is finding that, with some careful deflection of questions, he can hold a nearly hour-long news conference without serious gaffes or unintentionally making news.

(snip)

When the inevitable question came about the doomed nomination of Bernard B. Kerik to be homeland security secretary, Bush deftly avoided any mention of Kerik's various personal problems and any hint that the White House's vetting process had failed.

"And so the lessons learned is: Continue to vet, and ask good questions," he said. Only the chuckle and shrug of the shoulders accompanying those words suggested there might be more to the story.
Worth a full read.

20 décembre 2004

Sentence de Guy Cloutier

C'est ce matin qu'est tombée la sentence de Guy Cloutier: trois ans et demi de prison. Ce sera bien sûr la "une" de tous les quotidiens demain matin.

Est-ce que la couverture des médias a eu un effet sur la sentence? Pas vraiment.

Extrait du jugement:
Une personne publique qui commet une infraction, de quelque nature qu'elle soit, assume nécessairement le risque de faire l'objet d'une couverture médiatique plus intense qu'une personne qui ne l'est pas.

Lorsque la nature et la gravité de l'infraction sont sérieuses, comme c'est le cas, il devient en quelque sorte normal que celle-ci attire davantage l'intérêt et l'attention des médias.
Vous vous souviendrez que Gilbert Rozon avait eu une absolution inconditionnelle suite à un plaidoyer de culpabilité à une accusation d'agression sexuelle. Yves Boisvert, à l'époque chroniqueur juridique à La Presse, avait signé un texte pour la FPJQ.

J'avais aussi écrit quelque chose sur le sujet en mars dernier.

GWB and "the" message

Here's a funny pic about staying on-message.

15 décembre 2004

More Roadsworth

I spoke with Helen Fotopulos earlier today and just got off the phone with someone on her staff.

The feeling I'm getting is that she is very concerned about the whole Roadsworth issue and is looking into ways of fixing the situation.

I told her how my feeling was that these accusations make no sense. That being said, my conversation with her did make me think about some of the constraints that the City has to manage that I hadn't thought about.
  • What do you accept and what can you not accept? Can you write rules to manage these issues? (Think about it, can you really?)
  • How do you differientiate between graffiti and art? Or, when do graffitis besome art? (I know it's pretty clear in this instance.)
  • If there are issues with safety, what do you do?
  • Can the city intervene in police affairs? If so, when and how?
Bottom line, I'm not sure what the City is going to do about this but I do know that Helen is preoccupied and understands the difference between Roadsworth's art and someone "scratching his name into storefront windows." My understanding is that she (as well as the mayor) will be reacting to the questions sooner rather than later.

I'll keep you up to date if I Learn anything else.

Un blog pour le recrutement de la main d'oeuvre

Un article sur workforce.com nous raconte que des compagnies utilisent des blogs pour aider au recrutement.

Une citation :
(Jason) Butler (senior product development manager for BostonWorks's blog) predicts that as the market picks up, employees will start job-hopping and turn to blogs to seek out "organizations that have a more human voice." Blogs serve as a means for recruiters to say, "We’re real people; here’s what we’re looking for," Butler says, although he admits there is "some risk in having people talk directly to the audience."
Ce serait intéressant de voir si des entreprises québécoises suivent leurs traces.

14 décembre 2004

L'impact des blogs pour les relations de presse

Cet article publié dans Le Devoir portant sur l'arrestation de Roadsworth, l'artiste de la rue, est une des premières occasions où des blogueurs québécois (à l'initiative de Zeke) contribuent à ce qu'un article soit écrit sur un sujet donné (à ma connaissance).

Se pourrait-il que Michel Dumais ait eu un mot à dire là-dessus?

Mentionnons que The Mirror avait déjà écrit un article auparavant.

PR and leaks

That wasn't long.

Horaire annoncé pour NorthernVoice.ca

Northern Voice, une conférence sur les blogs qui se tiendra le 19 février prochain à Vancouver vient de rendre publique sa programmation.

Très impressionnant. Tim Bray, Robert Scoble, Jeremy Wright, Roland Tanglao sont tous du nombre.

Merci à Darren Barefoot pour l'info.

13 décembre 2004

Libération gets into blogging. Wonder when La Presse will follow?

Interesting series of articles about blogging in the most recent edition of Libération. Included is an interview with Florence Le Cam, a professor (?) at Université Laval who calls blogs "open-source journalism."

Update: Like the comment says, Florence Le Cam is a student, not a professor.

Another Code of Blogging Ethics

This one coms from Allen Jenkins' blog Desirable Roasted Coffee.

B is for blog

The New York Times Magazine (free subscription required) alphabetically lists what it calls the ideas of the year 2004. And obviously, blogs are mentionned:
From a marketing perspective, blogs make perfect sense. They are cheap to produce, immersive and interactive. It's easy to measure their readership and response rates. For small companies, blogs are a quick and dirty promotional tool that cuts out the middleman; for big companies, blogs are a tool of humanization -- an informal, chatty, down-to-earth voice amid the din of bland corporate-speak.

9 décembre 2004

Flickr

Have been playing around with Flickr. Found this one pic that was taken a couple hundred feet away from my office. Funny.




Fountain
Originally uploaded by lui.

6 décembre 2004

6 décembre 1989


Quatorze victimes

Geneviève Bergeron, 21 ans
Anne-Marie Edward, 21 ans
Michelle Rich ard 21 ans
Annie Turcotte, 21 ans,
Barbara Daigneault, 22 ans
Anne-Marie Lemay, 22 ans
Hélène Colgan, 23 ans
Nathalie Croteau, 23 ans
Maryse Leclair 23 ans
Annie St-Arneault, 23 ans
Maryse Laganière, 25 ans
Sonia Pelletier, 28 ans,
Maud Haviernick, 29 ans
Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31 ans

J'ai contribué à l'organisation des commémorations du 10ème anniversaire de la tragédie de Polytechnique où ces 14 jeunes femmes ont été assassinées.

Je ne l'oublierai jamais.

Congrès de la FPJQ

Martine Pagé était au congrès de la FPJQ, tout comme Clément Laberge.

Lisez ce qu'ils ont à dire. J'ai laissé des commentaires sur leurs blogues respectifs. J'en aurai d'autres si le projet de blogue collectif voit le jour.

P.-S. En passant, j'aurais bien aimé participer, je suis passé par le Hilton ce même jour. :(

MàJ: Jean-Pierre Cloutier ajoute ses commentaires.

5 décembre 2004