Post-Gazette Article on #ravenstahlrumors on Twitter

Raise your hands if you think Pittsburgh's Lil Mayor Luke and his Philly attorney went overboard threatening to sue anyone and everyone who engage in any rumors/speculation about his separation from his wife.

The P-G interviews Gene Grabowski (a former reporter with The Associated Press who now specializes in crisis communications) and me about Lukey's failed media strategy which led to the rampant mockery to be found at http://twitter.com/search?q=%23ravenstahlrumors .

From Grabowski:

"Where I might differ on the strategy, however, is the aggressive statements that his lawyer's making," Mr. Grabowski said.

"For two reasons. One, [the lawyer] himself is making the suggestion of defamatory statements and smears and innuendos. He's the one raising the negativity before the reporters even do.

"No. 2, his language seems unnecessarily aggressive and litigious. I'm reluctant to second-guess other people's strategies, but I would say that if I were still a news reporter, such a statement would set my teeth on edge and actually spur me, not only to be more curious about the circumstances, but probably even more aggressive in my pursuit of the story."

You can read all of what Grabowski and I have to say on this issue here.

NOTE TO ATTORNEYS: No actual rumor-mongering/gossiping occurred during the making of this blog post (nor were any animals hurt).
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