KDKA's Story on #ravenstahlrumors on Twitter

KDKA's Jon Delano interviews Bram Reichbaum of The Pittsburgh Comet, Chris Potter of the Pittsburgh City Paper and me about the online reaction to Lil Mayor Luke's hiring of a Philly attorney to handle speculation about his marital woes:

http://kdka.com/video/?id=65725@kdka.dayport.com
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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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Fear Factor

The Ravenstahls have hired Philadelphia attorney Richard Sprague to represent them in contacts with the media. According to Sprague, his job is "to prevent there being a whole bunch of smears, innuendoes, defamatory things being suggested. If that is so, I will bring appropriate legal action."

In light of the background on Sprague found at the Pittsburgh City Paper, this will now be 2PJ's Official Statement on the Ravenstahl Separation:

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is the bestest mayor in the world! Richard Sprague is the bestest lawyer in the world! The Ravenstahls had and have the bestest marriage in the world! The separation is no more and no less than an Act of God.

For those keeping score at home -- in secret I hope -- you can get $50,000 for flipping off a cop in Pittsburgh, but you may be sued if you get caught gossiping about our mayor. What does this remind me of...

UPDATE: Just in case you were wondering, here's a small sample of what people are googling tonight on the intertoobz and how they are making their way here:




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