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Media: Where this appetite for scandals comes fromMy Turn
bfrassinelli@ptd.net
Media: Where This Appetite for Scandals Comes From
Do our political figures today have more scandals than their predecessors or has the media coverage changed over time?
BRUCE
FRASSINELLI is the former publisher of The PalladiumTimes. He served as a governor of the Rotary Club District 7150 (Central New York) from July 2001 to June 2002. A s we head toward the presidential The road to the White House is lined with election finish line in November, the potholes, some much deeper than others. issue of how the news media report Do our political servants today have more on campaign issues continues to dominate scandals than their predecessors, or is it that center stage. today’s news media are more probing, and
Critics say the media are obsessed with scandals and sexual indiscretions are more fringe issues, which, in some cases, result likely to get social media attention? in the destruction of candidates for high Both major candidates this year have public office. had to fend off accusations from women who
They point to Sen. Al Franken, D-Minclaim that they sexually harassed them, an nesota, and Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan. issue that presumably speaks to a candidate’s Franken, a former stand-up comedian My Turn character, especially in the age of #MeToo. who was on an upPresident Donald ward trajectory in the Democratic Party, Trump has been acresigned in 2017 after he was accused of cused by at least 16 women of sexual wrongsexual harassment. Conyers was the londoing, all allegations he has vehemently gest serving member of Congress when he denied. As if to put an exclamation point retired — also because of sexual harassment on these accusations, along came the now allegations in 2016. infamous audio of the Access Hollywood
When it comes to these allegations, tape where Trump said his fame allowed especially among presidential candidates, him to grab women in their private parts. some wonder what does this have to do with This blockbuster disclosure about a month running the country. before the 2016 election was predicted to spell
The question has much to do with the disaster for his presidential run. way the media report these missteps. So much for the so-called pundits. Trump
The role of journalism and journalists has beat Hillary Clinton. gone through many twists and turns when it Last year, a group of women came forcomes to the reporting of presidential politics. ward and accused Democratic presidential
Periodically, this band of imperfect nominee Joe Biden of being too touchy-feely, human beings is called upon to cover every to the point of making them uncomfortable. four years what is affectionately known as One of them has now gone further, accusing the greatest show on earth – the presidential Biden of sticking his hand up her dress and campaign. penetrating her. Biden has emphatically
The presidential candidates are mere denied the accusation, saying “It never mortals, who in some instances have skelhappened. Period.” etons jangling in their closets. To be sucIt’s interesting how complex these types cessful, these candidates must morph into of allegations are. For one thing, the public near superhumans and combine seemingly seems to be selective on whom they will contradictory qualities — worldliness and forgive and those they will not. an America-first principle, toughness and Why did a sex scandal do in Gary Hart empathy, skepticism but not cynicism, huin 1988, yet Bill Clinton was able to dodge manity and self-confidence and enthusiasm the tawdry affair with Monica Lewinsky and and restraint. come out of even an impeachment process
Their success in achieving these dichotowith his career – if not his reputation – pretty mous objectives are mirrored and chronicled much intact? incessantly, so it is easy to praise or blame In addition, what might be perceived us in the media for their success or failure. as scandalous in one century is business as
usual in another: • In 1836, we elected Richard M. Johnson as vice president, even though he fathered two children by his Black, live-in girlfriend. • Long before that, we just about canonized Benjamin Franklin, although it was well known that his wife was raising his illegitimate son. King George III even commissioned Franklin’s bastard son, William, to be governor of New Jersey in 1767. • In 1884, Democrat Grover Cleveland, who was mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York, was believed to have seduced a widow, fathered her child, refused to marry her and paid her off. Despite these allegations, voters chose him twice during non-consecutive terms.
So why the intense scrutiny now? Haven’t the media in the past even looked the other way when it came to the dalliances of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt? These were widely known but not reported in the press. Back then, it was a type of “presidential courtesy” not to report on these indiscretions.
Perhaps the public’s appetite for scandal is more voracious because of the rise in social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and reality TV. Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, and former Democratic New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer would surely agree.
Most press historians say the Chappaquiddick affair, which implicated the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, changed the ground rules of press coverage for all time.
After a party of drinking and merriment in 1969, Mary Jo Kopechne, one of the senator’s aides, drowned as the result of a car accident in which Kennedy was the driver. His failure to report the incident, leaving her to die and
resurfacing a day later brought Kennedy’s moral integrity and judgment into question and dashed his presidential aspirations for all time. Despite this, the voters of Massachusetts re-elected him to the U.S. Senate seven more times prior to his death in 2009.
Since Chappaquiddick, it’s been open season on politicians and their indiscretions — sexual or otherwise.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that voters, just as everyone else, find “sex” titillating. After all, it’s been prevalent for a long time in the advertising and marketing world.
A few years ago, readers saw a scantily clothed Paris Hilton pushing burgers with the message “She’ll tell you size doesn’t matter; she’s lying.”
Don’t forget: Both women and men are sexualized when it comes to promoting and selling. Don’t think this concept stops at politic door.
Women swooned over a handsome President John Kennedy, and political analysts said his good looks turned out to be one of the factors in his close victory over a sometimes gloomy-looking Richard Nixon in 1960.
Some men have gone gaga over President Trump’s newest press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany. In a feature story after she was appointed earlier this year, The Washington Post referred to McEnany as “maximum gloss, the spokesperson that an image-obsessed president has longed for but who had proved to be terribly elusive…the picture-perfect face in an administration filled with funhouse mirrors.”
But make no mistake about it: McEnany is no Barbie doll blonde without a brain. She gives as good as she gets when it comes to her media duels, even though her version of truth often goes off the rails. A Community Tradition of Service Pre-paid funeral trusts available!
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SUNY Now Has Minor in Sales
Arecently approved academic minor in sales will help make SUNY Oswego graduates more marketable and better equipped for relationship management and other key professional skills.
“This will not only improve our students’ job placement and promote their long-term career advancement but also professionalize the practice of selling in New York state and beyond,” said marketing faculty member Napatsorn (Pom) Jiraporn, who coordinates the minor. “A career in sales offers outstanding earning potential, flexibility and a good job market even during an economic crisis. Smart companies do not lay off sales people easily.”
Jiraporn said data backs up the minor’s relevance. Among SUNY Oswego students graduating in the past three years, 43% of marketing majors, 25% of business administration majors and 27% of finance majors earned sales jobs. Among non-business students, 8.7% said they have sales jobs.
The minor aims to provide knowledge and skills needed for students to perform sales-related tasks such as customer service, customer relationship management and negotiation. It complements Oswego’s School of Business emphasizing pitches and presentations in many of its classes.
The courses helping develop soft skills could benefit even those who do not take sales jobs, as Jiraporn noted that a survey study from LinkedIn found persuasion among the top skills that employers sought in 2019 and 2020.
The 18-credit minor encompasses six marketing courses, including three new offerings: “Professional Selling,” “Negotiation” and “Advance Selling.”
“The negotiation and professional selling courses will introduce students to sales-related concepts and skills,” Jiraporn said. “The advanced sales course is a capstone course for the minor, so it will challenge students to apply what they learn to experiential activities such as in-class role plays, shadowing sales professionals and actual field sales.”
Organizers expect interest from students majoring in business, education and communications, as well as others who seek to combine their majors with a sales component.
For more information, email business@oswego.edu.
