Tag Archive for 'detroit'

S-C-A-N-D-A-L

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on April 1, 2008
in Communication and Social media
. 0 Comments

ScrabulousThis is the last in an accidental series of posts related to web and social media coverage of the ongoing Detroit mayoral scandal. The whole thing has been a mild distraction to my regularly scheduled blog outings, and a major one for the entire region. Like most of Metro Detroit, I’d like to move on.

Since we last left off, Kwame Kilpatrick accepted my ‘friend’ invite on Facebook. I debated whether to challenge our embattled mayor to a friendly game of Scrabulous, but thought it best to leave well enough alone. He hasn’t changed his status update since my last post, so, uh, I suppose he remains resolute.

He’s been good enough—again, assuming it’s really Kilpatrick—to allow commentary from all sides in on his “wall”. Among the more eloquent posts since formal charges were filed:

Continue reading ‘S-C-A-N-D-A-L’

Mr. Webb: What the web thinks of your client

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on March 26, 2008
in Communication and Social media
. 2 Comments

As promised, I trolled through the web to get a sense of how the latest Detroit mayoral scandal is playing out in social media circles, trying my best to remain unbiased. Yet as I crunched the numbers, I came across the following head scratcher from Dan Webb, attorney for Kwame Kilpatrick:

…I told the mayor we’re not going to try this case in the press. I’ve never done that during my career. I truly believe the system works. The system works best when jurors are allowed to come into a courtroom without being blitzed with publicity for months ahead of time. I assume and hope the prosecutor will feel the same way. Therefore I’m responding today and maybe for the next day or so to these charges and then you’re not gonna hear from me again because I don’t intend to get up and try this case in the press. I also asked the mayor—I basically instructed him I guess as his lawyer—that he should do the same thing. This case should be tried in a courtroom in front of a jury and should not be tried in the press and therefore I’ve asked him not to respond specifically on a day-to-day basis to questions from the press about the case because we’ll do our speaking in court.

Mr. Webb’s statement was undoubtedly followed by knee-slapping guffaws of roaring laughter from every newsroom, PR agency and blogging outpost in town. Simply examining the past five days of online conversation alone…

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A case of the Mondays for Detroit’s mayor

Published
by
Prof. Dino Baskovic
on March 24, 2008
in Social media
. 3 Comments

A case of the MondaysTorn between several subjects from my mental ed-cal—fighting with multiple Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter status thingies, connecting my online connections, my recent blogging exposé in Prague and yelling at my web class—I will instead take the low road and follow what scooped Dr. Death’s impending congressional run. That being? Today’s announcement that the mayor of Detroit, of which our campus’ city of Southfield is a suburb, is booked with a variety of felony charges stemming from a long-brewing political scandal.

Far be it from me to cast any stones. Pure as the driven snow, my students know me to be. What caught my eye was today’s take from Detroit Free Press and NBC columnist Mike Wendland on web coverage of the Kwame Kilpatrick fiasco. I caught his piece roughly the same time I wished I had a TV in my office. But between all the local new affiliates streaming today’s press conferences online and my trusty RadioShark, let alone my wife chiming in on my Treo, I was never without coverage.

…which got me to thinking: what about social media? How much traction did the story really gain in the blogosphere? Or on sites like Digg and Delicious? Wendland’s piece scratched the surface, but honestly, what impact would this story have on our region’s reputation when taking social media into account?

Continue reading ‘A case of the Mondays for Detroit’s mayor’