The Case of the Maligned Academic

Yuet Ling Law

RESEARCH

1. Background

Buck Raymond has 17-point lead in the polls for the primary election, which he has a significant lead over his nearest opponent. Raymond's party has never failed in his district. He has support from both the party faithful and residents or the communities. The university president has written Raymond a letter on a complaint from the opposing political party. KSL-TV has a copy of the letter. Raymond has not received the letter and knows about it. Raymond has not used any students in his campaign. He does not violate the law even he used his students in his campaign. The university president is out of state and will be back on Monday.

Still not known is the identity of the person who gave the copy of the letter to KSL-TV. Knowing the reputations of Raymond among his students and university faculties will be helpful. The demographics of the KSL-TV viewers should be known. The demographic of Raymond's supporter should be known as well. Knowing the media that the majority of the voters use would also be useful. Knowing the change in view of the voters towards their representatives after negative news on their integrity are spread out would be helpful.

A list of potential key publics for our campaign include voters, KSL-TV, and the other media. Potential Key Intervening Publics who can best influence key publics for me would be KSL-TV, voters, the other media, the university students and faculties.

2. Situation Analysis

After looking into the problem, we found that the letter of complaint was sent by another university faculty to KSL-TV. Raymond has good reputations among his students and university faculties, which he is highly respected. Demographics of KSL-TV viewers including house wives, aged working man, and students. Their typical ages range from 20-60. The voters who support Raymond are residents within his district and his party faithful. Their ages range from 35-70. The majority of the voters watch television and listen to the radio. Voters are very sensitive toward the news about their representative's honesty. The majority of them would choose not to vote for that candidate if they have doubts toward the candidate's integrity.

Obstacles to convince the voters that Raymond did not use his students in his campaign include the opposing campaign, that they will take the chance to spread rumors about Buck Raymond. They will have 4 days to make the public hold doubts towards Raymond's professionalism before the election on Tuesday. The other media can also be obstacles to our campaign since they will report the case after KSL reported it. This would confound the public. They will also make the case nationwide and may damage Buck Raymond's reputation. Voters who originally support Raymond and now believe in the opposing campaign will oppose our campaign and persuade other supporters not to vote for Raymond. They will have uncertainties toward Raymond's integrity.

3. Core Problem

The voter's negative perception on Raymond must be overcome, or else Raymond may lost voter's support and lose in the election.

ACTION PLANNING

Goal & Objectives

Goal: To let Raymond win in the election

Objectives:

-By Monday night, demonstrate to the voters that the majority of the students and faculties of the university support Buck Raymond.

-Show KSL that Buck Raymond has the evidences that he has not used his students in his campaign and to get KSL's support to Buck Raymond ,that is showing Buck Raymond's side's story by Friday.

-To demonstrate the other media that Buck Raymond's evidences have news value that reporting them will increase their viewing rate and that they will report the Buck Raymond's side's story by Saturday.

5. Key Publics, Messages, Strategies and Tactics

Key Public, Messages, Strategies and Tactics

We need to reach our key publics in order to achieve our goals as an organizations and our objectives. These key publics include the voters, KSL-TV, and other media.

Voters:

Voters would be concerned about the integrity and trust-worthiness of their representative that is Buck Raymond. Our communications message to the voters will be, By supporting Buck Raymond, you can have someone who is trustworthy and honest to represent you.

With the use of both mass and face-to-face communications, we will persuade voters to vote for Buck Raymond and strengthen their support towards Raymond.

Tactics:

1. Have KSL-TV interviews Buck Raymond at the 10:00 p.m. newscast

2. Radio interviewing Raymond's students

3. Meeting with voters in local communities to strengthen their faith on Buck

4.Meeting with the students and faculties to answer their questions.

KSL-TV:

KSL-TV concerns about the truth of the case and the credibility of itself. They would be concerned about the trustworthiness of Buck Raymond, whether he has used his students in his campaign. Our message to KSL-TV will be, By reporting the evidences provided by Buck Raymond, you can show the audience that KSL is credible and can help them understand the truth of the case.

With the use of mass media and face-to-face communications, we will convince KSL-TV that Buck Raymond has not used his students in his campaign, that he has professionalism, so KSL-TV will help proofing the constancy of Buck Raymond.

Tactics:

1. Meeting with the KSL-TV producer, showing Buck Raymond's campaign's list and Buck Raymond's class roll, convince the producer that Buck Raymond has not used his students in his campaign.

2. Have student's supportive statements on Buck Raymond shown on local newspapers (Deseret News and Daily Herald)

The other media:

The other media concerns about the news value of the case. Our communications message to the other media will be, By reporting the truth of the case, you will have more audiences and therefore an increase in revenue since this news is nationwide and everyone wants to follow the news.

With the use of mass media and social media, we will persuade the other media to report Buck Raymond's side's story.

Tactics:

1. Have Buck Raymond's interview shown on KSL-TV

2. Facebook page showing Buck Raymond's explanation and his students' statements

3. Talking to the public showing Buck Raymond's evidences on a press conference

6. Calendar and Budget

See next page.

COMMUNICATION

7. Communication Confirmation

See next page.

EVALUATION

8. Evaluation

Our first objective was, By Monday night, demonstrate to the voters that the majority of the students and faculties of the university support Buck Raymond. In order to access the increase in support for Buck Raymond, we will do a survey both before and after our campaign.

Our second objective was, Show KSL that Buck Raymond has the evidences that he has not used his students in his campaign and to get KSL's support to Buck Raymond ,that is showing Buck Raymond's side's story by Friday. In order to show the increase in support from KSL, we will measure the positive news story provided by Buck Raymond shown on KSL-TV.

Our third objective was, To demonstrate the other media that Buck Raymond's evidences have news value that reporting them will increase their viewing rate and that they will report the Buck Raymond's side's story by Saturday. In order to access the increase in reporting Buck Raymond's side's story on other media, we will do a research on the coverage of Buck Raymond's side's story on the media both before and after our campaign.