I'm not so sure that the venerable SI was fooled on this one. 

Scenario #1: A group wants to rent the auditorium at your museum. They pay 
the fee, sign a contract and hold their event. Two days later there is a 
PR-fed story in the paper that a film on Intelligent Design was held at 
your museum. If the reporter is lazy, it's a reprint of the press release, 
which the museum director can rebut with a well-written letter to the 
editor. If the reporter is not lazy, she calls your museum to get a quote, 
and gets the real story: The group rented the auditorium and they can play 
whatever movie they want. The museum and the museum's auditorium are two 
different things. It's not an endorsement of their point of view any more 
than if the local chapter of AARP had shown Cocoon. The story dies.

Scenario #2: A group wants to rent the auditorium at your museum. They pay 
the fee, sign a contract and then someone asks what movie they're playing 
and decides to deny them the right to use the facility based on the 
content of the film. Two days later there is a real story in the paper 
about how your museum is discriminating against "people of faith", 
intolerant of other beliefs, and will only rent the auditorium to the 
"cultured elite." Local churches band together with an email and fax 
campaign and the story goes national. Intelligent Design gets a ton of 
good press. Your museum gets a ton of bad press. Your PR firm raises the 
price in next year's contract.

Given the circumstances, I can't imagine doing things any differently than 
the MNH did. It just shows that Public Relations is a very complex field, 
probably best left to the experts...just like everything else. Of course, 
I'm not suggesting that there should be no restrictions on the use of 
museum facilities. A porno, for example, would probably be a bad thing to 
allow. I just think you need to pick your battles carefully, or a 
well-funded and enthusiastic minority of the population might make your 
life miserable. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Wildmon

Stephen Nowlin wrote on 06/02/2005 09:26:50 AM:

> The Smithsonian is a dignified plump old establishment, being deftly
> exploited by a younger fleet-footed upstart with a bright 
> understanding of marketing and public persuasion.  The science 
> community needs to wake up.

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