Platform Prater: “Up next on C-SPAN, Justice Stephen Breyer Periscopes from the Supreme Court.” Well, not quite, but the camera-less chamber might want to think about it. Certainly C-SPAN has, as evidenced by its fast thinking June 22-23. One of the savviest traditional media brands in the digital age (its entire archive has been available online for several years, for example), the network went full-time Periscope and Facebook Live when its cameras went dark. Since the House was in recess when a group of Democrats, led by Rep. John Lewis of GA, staged a sit-in in the chamber
June 22 to demand a vote on gun control legislation, C-SPAN’s camera were turned off, per House rules. But as soon as the cable-sponsored network discovered lawmakers were live streaming the sit-in, C-SPAN jumped on it, carrying the streams, er, gavel to gavel. C-SPAN VP, programming, Terry Murphy told The NY Times its carriage of live streams likely set a record for continuous broadcast of a social media feed. Live streaming lawmakers Reps Scott Petersand Eric Swalwell, Democrats of CA, said their feeds were viewed more than 1 million times. Periscope parent Twitter was atwitter, too, with massive numbers of tweets providing evidence of ROI on the training sessions it holds for Hill staffers and lawmkers. Needless to say, numerous members posted sit-in photos on Facebook. In addition, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, looking to score points for fledgling Facebook Live video (see page 1), wrote Thursday its sit-in streams, seen by nearly 3 million, brought “more openness to the political process.” – Instagram said June 21 it’s grown to north of 500 million, “more than 300 million of whom use Instagram every single day.” In addition, more than 80% of Instagrammers reside outside the U.S., it said. – Facebook seems to be taking the correct PR approach in its issue with conservatives. The latest: It will train staff to manage their political biases, COO Sheryl Sandbergtold the conservative American Enterprise InstituteJune 23. The move stems from the platform’s scrap last month with conservatives, who charged its news feed was biased against right-leaning stories. Facebook also has invited 16 top conservatives to its Menlo Park, CA, HQ to meet with chief Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook’s actions are commendable, but it’s also a matter of self-preservation. As Sandberg noted, Republican Donald Trumphas more Facebook friends than Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanderscombined. (Heaven forbid if Trump declared a Washington Post-like blackout against Facebook.)
Check, Please: Volkswagen will cough up an estimated $10 billion to settle a civil suit with
U.S. owners of some 50K tainted diesel VWs, the largest sum in auto industry history, several media outlets reported June 23. The suits were consolidated in CA. VW had set aside $18 billion to deal with penalties arising from dieselgate. In addition, some of these outlets reported, the carmaker will pay $4 billion for environmental impacts. VW also faces other U.S. penalties and suits outside the U.S. Other worries for VW: shareholders blasted officials about their response/non-response to dieslegate (German officials took months before holding a press conference on the matter, which hit headlines last September) during the company’s annual stockholder meeting June 22 in Germany; meanwhile, by most accounts, the company has a long way to go in repairing damaged relations with U.S. dealers.
Tidbits: It’s rare in corporate America when you attack your competitor head on, like a shark.
Samantha Levine
That’s what cable channel Nat Geo Wild will do June 26 when it launches SharkFest progamming directly opposite Discovery’s Shark Week, a programming stunt that’s celebrating its 28th year. In anticipation of SharkFest TV critics received shark cookies (see photo) and a feisty postcard titled “SharkFest or Shark Weak?” Nat Geo EVP, global communications and talent relations, Chris Albert, took a more chummy tone than the postcard. The cookies show the lighter side of Wild, he tells us. The campaign “pays homage to the original week [on Discovery]...people don’t care where they watch great TV about sharks.....We’re swimming in a big cable ocean, there are plenty of sharks for everyone,” he says.
People:Congrats to PR News friend Brian Weber, formerly Bright House Networks’ corporate director of public engagement, who’s moving to Target Digital Marketing as director of digital strategy. – SKDKnickerbocker said Samantha Levine is joining its NY office as SVP, public affairs. Levine previously served as acting executive director and director of communications for the Children’s Defense Fund, NY.