Thursday, August 30, 2007

OPB invites feedback in the blogosphere on how they handled the Ira Glass/New Hope debacle

...but while doing so, manages to insult bloggers everywhere by saying we here at Lelonopo are "spreading the usual blogosphere load of rumors, misinformation and hype." Oh dear. Okay, so traditional media is using their blog media to now insult the blogosphere. Let alone dismiss the difference between a venue that is open and welcoming to all, and one whose congregation is actively pursuing discrimination against a portion of the population.

Their response makes me more sad than mad, really, because my intent here was never to flame OPB, but to help generate a response so that they would listen and examine what they were doing. Last week they dismissed communication from my friend, Roey Thorpe, when she e-mailed and engaged in dialogue with their staff about the venue. They dismissed the inquiries and concerns from The Portland Mercury. I used my venue here on the blogosphere, not to flame and bash OPB, but to encourage a call to action for others to contact them, and to contact Ira Glass to apply pressure on OPB. If OPB isn't going to listen to their own community, I would think they would listen to Ira Glass.

So while I am so glad to know that pressure and feedback applied to OPB caused them to change the venue, I'm disheartened in how they are now bashing blogs (while using their own blog to do so) and really kind of putting it up for a vote in their forum. I don't blog about what I do for a living here on my blog, but I'll out myself that as a seasoned PR professional, I'd have to say this is a prime example of how not to handle a situation like this. I've put in a call to Becky at OPB to speak face to face so that this perceived bashing OPB and bashing blogs doesn't continue and hopefully to see eye to eye and there's good intent on all sides: I sincerely hope Roey and I get the opportunity to do so. In the meantime, do check out their forum, see what they have to say and perhaps share your thoughts. Also, it sounds like Friday's Oregonian will have a story as well. Now, I think I'm going to go back to doing a post about my dog Wink, cooking, or the campout for our niece we're doing this weekend in our backyard--the regular stuff here at lelonopo....

8 comments:

Norm! said...

OPB's "rumors, misinformation and hype" remark irked me too. The statement conveniently overlooks OPB's misinformation yesterday when their own VP told The Oregonian that the venue would not change. Of course, even when they corrected their VP's "inaccurate" statement they seemed to blame The Oregonian reporter for calling their VP at home. Is anyone at OPB willing to take responsibility for their self-inflected member-relations problems?

Worse, the dismissive, unapologetic, unsympathetic tone from OPB's John Bell and Becky Chinn has exacerbated this controversy.

bemused said...

Oh, dear, lelo...you ventured where I'd be too timid to go (did you hear me cheering you on?) and you did so without ugly bashing. You behaved like an adult whose differing opinion needed to be heard and you used today's technology to do so.

And then they treat you so rudely and callously, as if your opinion doesn't matter.

Shame on those who performed and condoned this behavior. Since OPB generally does a bang up job of reporting news that is censored or overlooked by other media, I'm going to hope that this episode is an aberration and not a sign of things to come.

My Eye said...

I am a big fan of Ira Glass, OPB, Lelo and the rest of the left wing bloggers. You could not pay me to attend any event at the New Hope house of hate. Kudos to Lelo for bringing this up- I was shocked when I heard the ad on the radio and honestly wondered how this was going to fly. Discrimination is not to be commended and supported, especially in a city such as Portland. The blogosphere should be celebrating a victory against bigotry and intolerance. I will now attend the event gladly. Thanks for moving the event. YOU Go GIRL

Anonymous said...

Great story in the Oregonian!

Rob said...

Congrats to you Lelo for a job well done!

Rob said...

P.S. I'm an Ira Glass fan as well, but there is absolutely no way I could support an event at the ironically named "New Hope".

Pupienus Maximus said...

Git down offen yer high horse girl. Did you bother to contact OPB BEFORE you posted the original bit of this astro-turf campaign? Be careful - I know what the correct answer is.

Wake up and smell the coffee - the blogosphere IS full of rumors misinformation and hype. How you could claim your post wasn't hype is beyond me.

"They evidently can do that no problem, and are paying a pretty penny for the use of the venue."

hype. And misinformation.

"...John Bell, OPB’s Associate Director of Membership, New Hope was the only space available. I really don’t buy that one bit."

You called John Bell a liar. That's character assassination. You should be ashamed of yourself.

"Word is there are plenty of other places available that night."

rumor.

QED

Anonymous said...

Lelo, good work! You have my trust and attention!

What I posted at the OPB site:

OPB: where’s the apology? You indict the nasty, unwashed blogsphere for your insensitive mistake, and you blame the messenger in this ridiculous post. The blogsphere is based on trust and attention. OPB you have lost your credibility here, so if you expect to raise funds among these listeners and gain credibility, you are currently lacking. Marie Antoinette you are not!