By Greg Hazley
The southern New York Gannett newspaper which caused a firestorm after publishing and mapping the addresses of gun permit holders in its region is relying on outside PR counsel as it continues to manage the fallout.
The Journal News, based in White Plains, N.Y., is using New York-based PR firm DKC to field an onslaught of media interest, criticism and debate over its Dec. 24 publication, following the Newtown massacre in Connecticut, of the names and address of handgun permit holders in Rockland and Westchester counties in New York.
Ed Tagliaferri, an executive VP at DKC and a 17-year veteran journalist for the Journal News, is managing PR for the paper.
Since publishing the gun permit data on an interactive map and with an article in the print newspaper, the paper has faced an advertising boycott, threats and continuing criticism from gun rights advocates, as well as some support for the move.
Some media outlets are also criticizing executives of the paper for not speaking out on the crisis, except for a Jan. 7 interview in the New York Times.
The Washington Post's Erik Wemple on Jan. 14 criticized the paper for using an outside PR firm when it is essentially saying "no comment" to inquiries. Seems like a pretty easy job, and one that the Journal News, which is owned by Gannett, could handle on its own without assistance from a Fifth Avenue PR firm," wrote Wemple. |