Today's answer to the challenge "How can MSU make the Nassar thing worse"
Apparently, MSU sunk a cool $500k (presumably of taxpayer dollars) into hiring a social media PR firm to spy on Nassar's victims on social media.
No doubt this information was well used in crafting that ever nimble and effective MSU PR response to this crisis.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2018/03/28/msu-spe…
Still a fan of Michigan Shameful University. Saw it on here during the trial and it's fitting.
This has nothing to do with lawyers. The lawyers fees are fairly typical for the big firms. Why they thought it necessary to spend $500k monitoring social media trends for the victims is not only tone-deaf but I also don't see the point. I guess that judgement and use of PR explains the horrible resignation letter from Simon
I might be misinterpreting Toledo here, but I think the question for lawyers is: is this sort of thing legal? I have no idea about how the potentially relevant laws regarding obstruction of justice and usage of public funds might apply, but any chance this sort of conduct crosses from just being really shitty into being actually criminal?
No. Monitoring of social media is a normal thing that happens all the time. There is no expectation of privacy when you post things publicly on social media. Agree with prior comments that it is very tone deaf in these circumstances (and perhaps as a public school in the first place since inevitably the public will learn about this type of spend and won't like it.)
and while we perceive it as tone-deaf, it is actually not a bad idea. social media is frequently a treasure trove of helpful information. i walked a guy out of a courtroom on a life offense a couple of years back because of the complaining witnesses single post right after an alleged incident. on another guy i got a 7 minute 'not guilty' verdict after impeaching the complaining witness with some FB posts.
separate the crime from the professional handling of its defense. i would agree $500K is way, way high though. i'm guessing there's more to all of that.
sentence is life or 'any term of years'.
but of course you might find out on your own, while using....social media.
March 30th, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^
There's definitely a lot more to it than social monitoring. I pay for a lot of social monitoring and $500,000 is either them getting fleeced or it's much more than that.
some New York communications consultant got paid $500,000 for one month of "monitoring" social media commentary relative to Nassar, MSU and the victims. And guess what they discovered? People are mad!
I could have told them that for a fraction of the cost.
I see....you would have been one of those guys that bills 300 hours in a week, which only has 168 hours? In this particular case and considering the client, yeah, I like how you think. I would have gotten a whole staff on it billing at the same rate, just to make the firm financial goals by Easter.
So they can get a count of #MSUshameonyou?
I am sure that SD - Spartan Devotee - would have done it for say, a new couch???
This subject was talked about quite awhile ago .
Staee but I understand somewhat having to perform due diligence to make sure that victim claims are legitimate. But every single detail of the entire affair is going to be publicized at some point so...nice job thinking that one through. I trust LeRoy Jenkins more than these asshats.
which in turn bought them more bad PR. I'm waiting to see how MSU justifies the expense and how it was approved. On its face, it seems like an extravagance. Monitoring social media doesn't take $500 an hour skills.
I just came from the basketball Final Four send off, it was great, got to see Beilein and the crew up close, and high fived Teske!!!
And apparently knocked some crazy woman's phone out of her hand while high fiving Teske. Sorry ma'am, if Jon is trying to high five me, I'm high fiving the 7 footer. If that means knocking your Samsung S6 out of your hand, than so be it.
I think Lionel Hutz... Er I mean Miguel Sanchez, must be general consul for Staee at this point.
March 28th, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
They always were.
I was pretty sure I witnessed astroturfing on Reddit and other platforms to try and sway opinion. This is looking pretty likely suddenly.
Should I start tagging MSU in my tweets to save them some money? #MeTooMSU
— Morgan McCaul (@fatherjuanmisty) March 28, 2018
On one level, I get that it's due diligence for a PR firm to do this.
On the other hand, this underscores the need for every institution to retain a reasonably aware high school kid as a social media consultant to tell you whether or not Thing You're Doing is going to go over like a wet fart in church. Because when your PR work itself winds up as even worse PR... you deserve every bit of scorn coming your way and then some.
OMG. You seriously can't make this stuff up. What a fucking joke MSU is. I'm actually starting to feel sorry for people who identify with this place. Obviously they were hoping to find dirt, they didn't, so they fired the firm. Now they get to reap the benifits which are a big eyeroll and laugh from any non slappie in the world that is paying attention to this circus. Good work little bro!!!
They spent $500,000 to learn that people were upset with them covering up for a child rapist. MSU's incompetence will be a lecture topic for the next 100 years.
At some point you just have to laugh. How pathetic. Someone get these morons out of there.
I could have condensed the whole thing into:
"This is bad. Really bad."
This type of data is entirely commonly collected, it's out there in the public airwaves, so I don't think it counts as spying (which would suggest investigation of things people understood as private). It IS creepy as hell, but it's not spying, if people let anyone follow them on Twitter and post so that those anyones can see it.
If you are on twitter, you are doing that too.
I would point out however, that $500,000 for that kind of reporting is KRAZY. We have dashboards at Ross that will allow you to do that kind of data capture for yourself, and the entire B!G could have what we have, and it still would not be a half million. The cost is having someone summarize it in detail, manually, and that is not only creepy as hell but also lazy as hell. There is nothing special about those data except the price tag.
...is to appear so ridiculous that people just start to laugh instead of getting mad? Some sort of a ploy for sympathy? God, these poor people are just a little bit slow, we shouldn't be so mean to them... I'm starting to be at a loss for words and that is rare for me...
March 28th, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
So after the PR firm tracks down a post, Mark Dantonio responds to it? Critcizing not the content of the post but rather the auto-generated picture?
March 28th, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
This is really happening. It's like a train wreck that I can't stop watching.
Zero ambulance chasers in this photo. Two rape enablers, but zero ambulance chasers. How classy.
Where are Klages, Perles, and Hollis??? Strampel, Nassar, Cleeves, Appling, Robertson, Payne, and Walton had other matters to attend to, but the rest of team MSU should have been there to show support for high school basketball and the victims...
It would have made for a nice photo of the cult - I mean family...
These people truly don't care. I wonder what color the sky is in Sparty land? I'm going to go barf now. Anybody have a picture of the nun for a pallete cleanser?
It's hard to imagine how anyone with either brains or a conscience would donate money to that institution now.
March 29th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
From what I saw:
1. It was perfectly legal, normal work in a high-profile case that has many hallmarks of a class action.
2. The info should have been handled as “work product” and from what I could tell, the official distribution of copies was way too wide for what I’d have advised.
3. It was not at all clear how it leaked. It should have been totally protected from FOIA as “work product” (see above) and probably attorney-client communications (two different privileges), and the latter requires some care in how communications are distributed (see above, again).
4. That’s a surprising hourly rate for web monitors. Were they lawyers? Michigan and Ohio State (among too many others to list) have contracted for social media monitoring of student-athletes. Do they still do it? I think so, but I haven’t seen anybody FOIA those contracts in a long time. Last I looked, Michigan paid $400k a year, for targeted monitoring.
I am having a bit of difficulty figuring out the outrage over this story. Does anybody think that general press coverage of the story, and statements made by alleged victims on public web pages should not be collected by MSU attorneys? The one glaring ethical breach and possible illegality I saw was the leaking of what might be private, privileged communications to MSU leadership from their attorneys.
As I have said before; MSU is not going to treat the alleged victims in a parental, protective way as long as the alleged victims have contingency-fee lawyers representing them and are suing the University. MSU is acting like a "defendant" because it is being treated like a "defendant."
March 29th, 2018 at 11:03 AM ^
I don't care that they're monitoring news stories or people's social media accounts. What bothers me is the amount of money they spent doing so for about a month of work. From the story:
The work by Weber Shandwick, a New York-based firm, totaled $517,343 for more than 1,440 hours of work, according to documents obtained through a public records request. The firm billed for work done by 18 different employees, whose hourly rates ranged from $200 to $600 per hour. Five of those employees billed MSU for more than $50,000, including one who billed for $96,900 and another who billed for $120,893.
However, do the priveledges apply to a PR firm? This wasn't legal work technically? I honestly don't remeber the rule on that... It's been too long since I've practiced law.
At any rate, it got out and it is just more bad PR. Considering the amount of victims, the current climate, MSU's "transperency" mantra, and the obvious public perception it was overkill and unwise on the part of MSU, but what's new.
Rachael Denhollander-
MSU spent 500k in January, during my abuser's sentencing hearing, as the victims were testifying, to monitor the social media accounts of survivors, including reporting on Jacob's accounts. MSU, did you think I was lying? That the 256 women who raised their voices were making it up? You were looking for ways to attack us, to discredit us, instead of monitoring your OWN employees who let our sexual assault happen. And if you had wanted to know who we were and what we thought, you could have responded to the MANY offers and requests to meet with me.
Want a better use of 500k? You should have been monitoring Dean Strampel. He had porn on his computer, and a video of Larry "treating" a little girl. Or you could have reviewed his personnel file. The one with all the warnings about his sexually abusive behavior. But that somehow got missed while you monitored the victims.
Because you weren't looking to deal with abusers or enablers. You wanted to attack us. Shame. On. YOU.