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| Eric Adams |
“Guns don’t magically appear in the hands of shooters,” said New York mayor Eric Adams during his Sept. 14 speech at the National Press Club.
He thinks one way to tackle the gun violence epidemic is for the media to name and shame the CEOs of gun manufacturers and their marketing enablers.
Just as media exposure of the Sackler family of Purdue Pharma helped lead to the opioid settlement, Adams wants the media to train their sights on those responsible for gun violence.
“It is a travesty that we know the places where our citizens were murdered, but not the names of the CEOs who approved the marketing of the weapons that were used to kill them,” said Adams, according to the mayor’s prepared remarks.
He named names:
“People like Marty Daniel, CEO of Daniel Defense, makers of the gun used to kill at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
"Ron Cohen, president and CEO of Sig Sauer, makers of the guns used to kill 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando and 60 people at a music festival in Las Vegas.
"Christopher Killoy, president and CEO of Sturm, Ruger & Company, makers of the weapon used by the killer who murdered 26 people at a Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
"And Mark Smith, president and CEO of Smith & Wesson, makers of the gun used to kill parade goers on the 4th of July in Highland Park, Illinois.”
The mayor also put the communications business on notice.
He wants Americans “to learn the names of every firm and agency that has been paid to shamelessly market guns, promote the ‘tactical lifestyle' or mislead the public. They must be called out and held accountable.”
ANA targets ‘purpose-washing.” The Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice warns that as more brands and businesses declare themselves “purposeful,” there is a growing cynicism among stakeholders over inauthentic attempts to appear socially and ethically conscious.
He cites a Razorfish and Vice Media survey that found only 43 percent of consumers believe brands are living up to their purpose.
And in today’s “call-out culture,” a backlash is inevitable.
The ANA has developed six principles to avoid purpose-washing.
Media missed the boat on child poverty. The US has cut child poverty by 59 percent since 1993. The drop occurred in every state and among white, Black, Hispanic and Asian kids living with one parent or two.
David Leonhardt, who writes the New York Times’ “This Morning” newsletter, calls the downward childhood poverty trend one of the biggest unreported stories of recent times.
He blames the media’s “bad news bias” for the lack of attention. “Journalists and academic experts are often more comfortable reporting negative developments than positive ones,” he wrote. “We worry that we come off as blasé or Pollyannaish when we report good news.”
Joe Biden wants the media to snap out of it.
It’s just business. The offices of King Charles and the Queen Consort are moving to Buckingham Palace in the aftermath of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
That means up to 100 staffers at Clarence House, the residence of Prince Charles and Camilla, may be getting the boot.
Many of them, including the members of the communications team, faithfully served the longest reigning monarch-in-waiting for years.
And the kicker: they received notifications of redundancies during the Sept. 12 thanksgiving service for the Queen that was held at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.
A union official blasted the timing of the notifications as “heartless.”
It certainly was a bad PR move.
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