Score One for the Little Guy
By Jerry Brown, APR
www.pr-impact.com
It was a story with a predictable ending.
Early this month, Colonel Van Barfoot, a 90-year-old World War II veteran and Medal of Honor winner, was ordered by his homeowners’ association to remove a flagpole he uses to fly the American flag in front of his house. Even if you haven’t seen this story before, you already know who won.
The fight between Barfoot and his homeowners’ association in Richmond, Va., made national headlines when the association ordered him to remove the 21-foot-tall flagpole from the front yard of the house he moved into last summer. The trouble started after Barfoot flew the flag on Labor Day and again on Veterans Day.
The homeowners’ association objected to the size of the pole. But it beat a hasty retreat after its argument with the highly decorated veteran generated headlines nationwide.
Good for them. Sometimes the best thing to do when you find yourself on the losing end of a story like this is to surrender quickly and beat a hasty retreat. To its credit, the homeowners association did just that. And the story disappeared immediately. A good lesson to remember if you find yourself in the wrong end of a story like this.
Unlike the fight, the association’s decision to let Barfoot keep his flagpole didn’t make national headline. I had to do a little searching to confirm this story came out the way I assumed it would when I first saw it a few weeks ago. Is it unfair that the media covered the fight but not the resolution? Maybe. But that’s predictable, too. And, in this case, I suspect the homeowners’ association didn’t mind dropping out of the headlines.
This is the last Monday Morning Media Minute of this year. As is my custom, I’ll be taking next week off. I’ll check in after the first of the year. In the meantime, Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate). And I hope you have a happy, prosperous and way-better-than-swell new year.
That’s my two cents’ worth. What’s yours?
Tags: crisis communication, jerry brown, media minute, monday morning media minute, public relations