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Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in PR mess over botched deer hunt

On opening day of deer hunting season in Minnesota, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a possible presidential contender in 2012, shot and wounded a small buck, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune . Hunters commenting online claim the governor failed to find the shot deer to learn if it was dead or alive, which is common practice among deer hunters. Pawlenty left Minnesota the afternoon of the hunt to fly to Iowa for an event. His hunting party claim they searched for the deer and, after failing to find it, determ…

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

How to pitch a Boston Globe columnist

Want to get a story in The Boston Globe or on its website, Boston.com ? Scott Kirsner, a Globe columnist, wants to help. In a blog post yesterday, he explained what kinds of stories he wants from PR pros, and he asks PR pros how the changing media landscape has altered the way they pitch to the media.

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Is this the best acquisition press release ever?

“Woot.com, an e-commerce company which sells ‘one item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59 p.m. Central time,’ has been acquired by Amazon.com,” PRNewser reported on Wednesday. The company announced the acquisition with a  press release that started: “Holy crap! Woot has signed an agreement with Amazon — yes, the Amazon — to become an independent subsidiary of the ecommerce colossus.” PRNewser called the “best acquisition press release ev…

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

As PR problem looms, P&G acts to win hearts and minds of mommy bloggers

Here’s an example of a company handling a PR problem well. You’ve probably heard that thousands of parents have said Pampers Dry Max diapers cause rashes and even chemical burns on babies. P&G, which owns Pampers, has denied these accusations. To counter the negative publicity, P&G stepped up its ad spend and invited mommy bloggers to its corporate headquarters to ask questions and see evidence that the diapers are safe. At least one mommy blogger walked away from the meeting satisfied, …

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Hollywood’s most overpaid actors in 2010

Will Ferrell tops the list for the second time, and, coincidentally, he also claimed this weekend’s top movie at the box office with DreamWorks Megamind , though this list from Forbes doesn’t include animated films. Check out all the other overpaid actors .

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Model wins unprecedented lawsuit to unmask anonymous blogger

Beware anonymous bloggers of the world: a lawsuit in Manhattan might change the tenor of your snark. “A Vogue cover girl has won a precedent-setting court battle to unmask an anonymous blogger who called her a ‘skank’ on the Internet,” reported James Bone for The Times of London. “In a case with potentially far-reaching repercussions, Liskula Cohen sought the identity of the blogger who maligned her on the Skanks in NYC blog so that she could sue him or her for defamation. …

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

America’s favorite sports stars: A serial cheater and an (accused) rapist

PR disasters — what PR disasters? Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant tied for No. 1 in the Harris Poll, “America’s Favorite Sports Stars.” Rounding out the top five are Derek Jeter, Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning. Funny thing is Jeter is hated by nearly everyone outside New York (yes, Gothamites, there is a world outside New York); Favre is despised by everyone in Wisconsin; and Manning, well, hmm, he’s OK — if you’re into that wholesome kind of image.

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Restrictions placed on Facebook promotions

It used to be so easy to launch a promotion on Facebook. Not anymore. Last week, Facebook announced changes to their guidelines for sweepstakes and promotions. “The changes mark a major shift from Facebook’s previous policies under which companies could launch campaigns easily without any form of permission,” Nick O’Neill wrote for the All Facebook blog. O’Neill explained the changes.

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

Does anyone care about NYC’s newspaper war?

There’s been lots of dramatic talk in the media about the  war between Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and Arthur Sulzberger Jr.’s New York Times . The Associated Press  called it “the last great newspaper war.” Wired   described it as a “clash of the titans.” Thing is does anyone outside of the media world — the Manhattan media world — care about this newspaper war? Village Voice blogger Foster Kamer  posed the question to hi…

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

7 tips to help make your CEO a Twitter pro

Is your CEO interested in Twitter? If you said yes, be thankful — for many communicators that’s not the case. “It’s disappointing to me that while businesses try to be more open with consumers,” blogger Reid Carr wrote for  Fast Company magazine, “studies show that CEOs have little to no involvement with a company website or a social media presence.” He offered  seven tips to help your CEO become more socially active on Twitter. — Matthew Royse

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

More than 250 million people use Facebook — EVERY DAY

Facebook has about 500 million members, but how many actually use the site? And use it on a regular basis? According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, more than half of those 500 million users log on every day. That number, he said, is growing thanks to mobile. Zuckerberg made these remarks at the Web 2.0 Summit, according to Mashable .

Ragan Insider   |  Ragan Staff

5 mantras to help mid-career pros ride the social media wave

Among the over-40 crowd, a sort of social media panic has set in, reports PR strategist Claire Celsi. Many mid-career professionals fear they should be tweeting, Facebooking, blogging — you name it — more than they are. “They don’t want the social media wave to knock them over,” Celsi wrote, “rather they want to learn how to ride that wave to social media success.” Celsi, who describes herself as “someone who has already entered middle-age,”&…