• We are reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn’t based on today’s venom. Bad scores are fine. Venom filled reviews… that’s completely different. Too many went too far with their reviews.
• The Redner Group founder Jim Redner • Tweeting his anger with the negative reviews the long-awaited “Duke Nukem Forever” received upon its release. Those were Redner’s last words as 2K Games’ PR guy — his company was ditched not long after. (Because, um, he suggested doing something that’s very unethical.) The game itself, which many reviewers noted seemed to have come from a different era of gaming, received mixed reviews according to Metacritic — few reaching to the point of total hatred. source

• It certainly appears to be a statement about how they feel about being judged in the court of public opinion. It’s certainly the law that they’re not liable for it, but it’s another matter if the attorneys general are saying change your ways.
• First Amendment lawyer Thomas R. Burke • Regarding the Craigslist “Adult Services” situation. It’s probably worth noting that Craigslist has thus far let the “Censored” bar speak for itself, suggesting that they’re trying to encourage discussion about what the whole situation means as a first-amendment discussion. Or as a safety net. Craigslist needs a little leverage. They’re getting savaged right now. source

• Local Bloggers don’t really care about the rally. They see so many of them that they’re pretty much old hat at this point. In fact, sites like DCist or We Love DC didn’t even give tomorrow’s Glenn Beck rally a second notice until this hilarious guide hit the popular consciousness, starting on those blogs and eventually making its way onto Rachel Maddow’s show. They neutered it and turned it into a PR opportunity. (Smart move.) As a DC-based blog, we would like to point out a couple of things: One, we just saw a couple using the Metro tonight who blocked the aisle on the train with a couple of hunting-camo lawn chairs. Two, the nice thing about DC is that it’s a diverse city, so you might want to consider hitting U Street and checking out a show at The Black Cat. Trust us. source

• $34
  billion the amount the Gulf Coast made from tourism in 2008, which created 400,000 jobs
• $22.7 billion the amount the Gulf could lose due to the spill taking a bite out of tourism (hence Obama’s vacation) source

• They have a press conference scheduled for Friday. However, while it will be about the iPhone 4, there’s no word on whether or not it’s actually about the antenna issue, which Consumer Reports went out of their way to turn into a full-fledged PR crisis the other day. On the scale of smart public relations moves, it certainly beats Steve Jobs telling a customer, “You’re holding it the wrong way.” Unless they plan to stonewall some more. source

• Gates’ staff wrote up some new marching orders for dealing with media. Just in time! As members of the media, we would agree that the level of access Rolling Stone got with Stanley McChrystal was shocking, given the nature of his job. Now, leaders have to notify the Defense Department’s assistant secretary for public affairs prior to high-profile or high-impact interviews. Which means, in layman’s turns, they have to call the military’s PR department and ask if it’s a good idea. It was being worked on prior to the article, surprisingly. source

• Now we’ve heard from our users that we have gotten a little bit complex.I think we are going to work on that. We are going to be providing options for users who want simplistic bands of privacy that they can choose from and I think we will see that in the next couple of weeks.
• Facebook head of public policy Tim Sparapani • Regarding the site’s fairly complex privacy options. People have been complaining, and now there are tools out there that allow you to easily sort through the options because Facebook made them too complex. With all the other crap going on, they need to do something to ease privacy concerns or they’re screwed. At least they realize it. source

• Everything we expected, and less. Tiger Woods’ airtight public relations machine wanted to make sure nothing fell apart in his statement, and, yeah, it didn’t. But we also learned that they’ve learned nothing from this situation and are treating it just like everything else since the scandal broke. Leave your boy airtight guys. Let’s see how much it helps his rep. Here’s a recap and analysis of what he said:

Key phrase from the statement

• I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again.
• Tiger Woods • At the end of his public statement, which was perhaps the least-riveting piece of live TV we’ve ever seen. The lack of excitement on Woods’ face was visible – and then some. After he said this, he hugged his mom, who also looked very unhappy to be there. He didn’t veer off the script one bit.

Five things we learned from the statement:

• 1st The press has been stalking his wife and kids; that’s not nice, paparazzi!
• 2nd He could return to golf as soon as this year, but maybe not. It’s up in the air.
• 3rd He doesn’t plan to bring up his many mistresses by name, based on today.
• 4th Elin Nordegren didn’t hit him, apparently, as famously thought. He flatly denied it.
• 5th Tiger is still a Buddhist, but he fell away from his religion over the last few years.

Three things to take from this statement:

• Tiger’s PR still sucks This was such a controlled event that you could tell Woods would’ve snapped like a twig if he turned the wrong way. The lack of questions from the press is complete bull. His handlers are handling him way too tightly, leaving no room at all.
• nothing’s gonna change “These are issues between a husband and a wife.” Woods isn’t going to let go of his privacy after the mea culpa, which is a huge mistake on his part, because it means these questions will continue to dog him forever.
• Mobile mea culpa We watched this statement live from our iPhone using the CNN app and it allowed us to live-tweet the story with little trouble. Our society is in a great place if we can watch a man’s life fall apart live on a mobile phone. source

• Google’s got a LOT of PR problems right now. Some of them are legitimate (see Google Buzz), others are simply a side effect of the company’s size. But the fact of the matter is, this hoax, plotted last week while we were complaining about the snow, is pretty dang funny. The car is fake. So is the rage. But the undercurrent is definitely real. source