Is there private PR spending at HUD too?
Interesting discovery: the private Webwire public relations site has been distributing HUD press releases online since November 2005. Not every press release shows up there -- just a pretty big selection on high-profile issues like Hurricane Katrina and the White House budget proposal. You'll see what I mean if you search on "HUD" in the company's publicly available online archive. The search results you get will include a few releases from other sources that just happen to mention HUD, but most of these items will show the federal agency as both the source and the subject of the release. It looks like the earliest Webwire release giving HUD as the source is this one from Nov. 2, 2005, on plans to rebuild some public housing in New Orleans.
HUD probably isn't spending anywhere near as much on public relations as some other federal agencies -- actually, for all we know, Webwire could just be posting these releases for free out of sheer civic benevolence. But if in fact HUD is paying Webwire for news release posting services, it does seem worth wondering why. We are, after all, talking about a public agency that has its own press staff, its own extremely prominent Web site with its own press release pages, and considerable name recognition from the news media and the general public. So why the extra help from a private site?
This use of Webwire would make more sense if it were part of a public awareness campaign for a purpose such as preventing fraud or discrimination -- for example, if they were part of the public relations campaign to stop housing discrimination against hurricane victims. But actually the anti-discrimination effort seems to be handled separately by the Ad Council, on a basis clearly labeled as charitable. Whereas a lot of the Webwire releases seem to be promoting a general sense of HUD as provider of benefits -- e.g. the December 2005 release of $1.33 billion in McKinney-Vento grants -- without getting around to "news you can use" like where to sign up for actual grants or housing.
On the whole it's puzzling. Do readers have any thoughts?
HUD probably isn't spending anywhere near as much on public relations as some other federal agencies -- actually, for all we know, Webwire could just be posting these releases for free out of sheer civic benevolence. But if in fact HUD is paying Webwire for news release posting services, it does seem worth wondering why. We are, after all, talking about a public agency that has its own press staff, its own extremely prominent Web site with its own press release pages, and considerable name recognition from the news media and the general public. So why the extra help from a private site?
This use of Webwire would make more sense if it were part of a public awareness campaign for a purpose such as preventing fraud or discrimination -- for example, if they were part of the public relations campaign to stop housing discrimination against hurricane victims. But actually the anti-discrimination effort seems to be handled separately by the Ad Council, on a basis clearly labeled as charitable. Whereas a lot of the Webwire releases seem to be promoting a general sense of HUD as provider of benefits -- e.g. the December 2005 release of $1.33 billion in McKinney-Vento grants -- without getting around to "news you can use" like where to sign up for actual grants or housing.
On the whole it's puzzling. Do readers have any thoughts?
posted by Martha Bridegam at 1:45 PM
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