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Date: | Thu, 2 Jun 2005 10:14:14 -0700 |
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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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