This Is Who You Are Dealing With

The San Francisco Giants held a press conference yesterday to announce that they won't bring Barry Bonds back next season. At least 3 local TV stations carried the beginning of the press conference live at the top of their 5pm newscasts. At least 2 of them KNTV (NBC, Channel 11) and KPIX (CBS, Channel 5), put up "supers" (graphics on the screen) under the shot of the Giants' managing general partner, Peter Magowan, and MISSPELLED his name as "McGowan."

This is who you are dealing with -- paid journalists who are so uninformed that they misspell the name of one of the highest profile businessmen in the SF Bay Area. Don't even get me started on the "Giants Owner" title underneath, and I hope the other team owners listed here don't mind, either.

So -- your Doh! media relations tip: provide the media with accurate information and follow-up repeatedly to make sure they got it right. As this example shows, you can never be too sure.