The ten worst media disasters of 2011 include a politician who lost his place, a country singer who lost his job, and a celebrity who lost his show. The list was published December 14 on the Mr. Media Training Blog, the world’s most visited media training website.

The media spokespersons were selected based on the impact of their gaffes. All ten people reinforced an existing narrative about their lack of preparedness for office, their lack of discipline, or their lack of compassion. Videos of all ten media disasters are available at http://www.mrmediatraining.com/index.php/2011/12/14/the-ten-worst-media-disasters-of-2011/.

10. Hank Williams, Jr. Compares President Obama to Adolf Hitler

In October, country singer Hank Williams, Jr. was fired up during an appearance on Fox and Friends. While reflecting on a golf match between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, Mr. Williams quipped, “It would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu.” ESPN promptly dropped his theme song as its Monday Night Football opener.

9. Sarah Palin’s “Blood Libel”

Months before Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in Tucson, Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) released a “crosshairs map,” which placed a target over Ms. Giffords’ congressional district. In the days after the shooting, Ms. Palin was blamed by some journalists for the shooting.

Palin was upset by media stories connecting her to the crime; she was right that no evidence linked the shooter to her map. But she over-reacted, gracelessly blaming the media for committing “blood libel.” That term is most commonly used as an anti-Semitic slur referring to Jews murdering Christians. Her poll numbers immediately plummeted among Independents and Republicans.

8. NPR Fundraiser Ron Schiller Blasts The Tea Party

National Public Radio’s chief fundraiser, Ron Schiller, went to lunch with a couple of men claiming to be Muslim donors in March. It turned out they were Republican activists with a hidden camera. During the meal, Schiller called members of the Tea Party, “seriously racist, racist people.”

That he made those comments was bad enough; that he made them while NPR was already in the midst of a heated debate about its public funding was flabbergasting. His comments led to his immediate resignation and the resignation of NPR’s CEO. The House of Representatives voted to strip NPR of its federal funding; the Senate prevented that from happening – for now.

7. Rupert Murdoch Channels Tony Hayward

While testifying before the British Parliament in July, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch was asked whether he accepted the ultimate responsibility for his company’s phone hacking scandal. Not only did he say “no,” but he delivered his answer without even a hint of humility. By delivering such an indifferent answer, he gave former BP Executive Tony “I’d like my life back” Hayward competition as the world’s most clueless corporate executive.

6. Rick Perry’s “Oops” Moment

During a Republican presidential debate in November, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) confidently declared he would eliminate three government agencies – and promptly forgot what they were. For 47 painful seconds, Mr. Perry tried to recall the third agency he would eliminate. He finally gave up, shrugged his shoulders, and lamely said, “Oops.” That one moment likely sank any remaining chances Mr. Perry had of winning the nomination.

5. President Obama Jokes About Joblessness

With the nation’s unemployment rate above nine percent and millions of Americans desperate to find work, President Obama cracked a joke in June that few people found funny. When a questioner asked a serious question about the nation’s inefficient permitting process, Mr. Obama cracked wise about his two-year-old pledge to create shovel-ready jobs, joking, “Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.” Many people blasted the President for displaying an insensitive political tin ear.

4. Charlie Sheen’s Downward Spiral

There’s little funny about addiction, and Charlie Sheen’s dangerous spiral was sad to watch. Sheen stayed in the news for months, but it was his out-of-touch interview with sycophantic radio host Alex Jones in February that led to his dismissal from his top-rated sitcom, Two and a Half Men.

In that interview, Sheen made vaguely anti-Semitic comments about “Men” creator Chuck Lorre, called Alcoholics Anonymous a “bootleg cult,” and labeled Thomas Jefferson a “pussy.”

3. The Herman Cain Affair

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was caught flat-footed in October when numerous women accused him of sexual harassment (another woman later asserted she had had a long-term affair with him).

Mr. Cain changed his story on an almost-hourly basis, even arguing that a “settlement” meant something different than an “agreement.” Mr. Cain dropped out of the race in December, maintaining his innocence to a public that no longer believed him.

2. (Alleged) Penn State Child Rapist Jerry Sandusky Speaks

When former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky spoke to NBC’s Bob Costas in November about horrific allegations that he raped numerous boys, no one was prepared for his jaw-dropping answer to this direct question: “Are you sexually attracted to young boys?” It took Sandusky 16 seconds to say “no.”

Instead, he began by saying how much he “enjoyed” young people and loves to be around them. Sandusky’s alleged actions, combined with Penn State’s ineffectual response, led to the firings of the University president and legendary football coach Joe Paterno.

1. Anthony Weiner’s Twitter Scandal

Self-immolations rarely come in more spectacular fashion than when Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) was caught tweeting naughty photos to strangers in June.

His approach to crisis management was to deny the charges and claim his Twitter account had been hacked; call a reporter a “jackass;” say that although he hadn’t sent the photos, he couldn’t rule out “with certitude” that the erect undies shot was of him; hold a tearful press conference to admit he had actually tweeted the photos himself; watch helplessly as a nude photo of his penis was released; and resign in shame.

After Mr. Weiner resigned, a Republican won his seat, costing Democrats a critical seat in the House of Representatives.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanprogressaction/

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By now, if you have been reading the news lately, the story about Representative Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-New York) and his lewd picture on Twitter would catch your attention. In brief, on the evening of May 27, a lewd photo of a man’s bulging underwear was sent to a 21-year-old female college student in Seattle from Weiner’s Twitter account.

Although it was deleted extremely quickly, lots of Twitter users and other means of news and media outlets could see it. Weiner’s spokesman immediately claimed that his Twitter account had been hacked and he was just a victim of a photo prank; they needed time to conduct an internal investigation to find out what had occurred to Weiner’s account.

However, after 10 days of denialsa choked-up Weiner confessed that he tweeted this photo of himself.  He further admitted that over the past three years to having“inappropriate” and sometimes explicit exchanges with six women he met online through the social network sites like Twitter or Facebook, before and after his marriage.

Even though with a hugely regrettably attitude,Weiner wiped his eyes during the conference, it may be too difficult to forgive his lies when he got caught and his attempt to cover up by blaming someone else for his misconduct.  And despite all of this, he said he won’t resign but one week after his confession many House Democrats are calling for his resignation and even President Obama,commented on the scandal.

So now, the question is what is happening with the other Congress members since the Weiner’s Internet Affair? It is shown that Republicans are avoiding Twitter altogether or at least they are much more cautious with any action on social networking.

TweetCongress, a site aggregating tweets from members of Congress, looked at the Twitter activities of Democrats and Republicans from May 9 to June 8, with weekends excluded, and found out that tweets from members of both parties are down roughly 30% since Weiner’s lewd photo. Perhaps the Congress people did learn the lesson not to have inappropriate romantic relationship on Twitter and that is the reduction we are seeing, not just avoiding Twitter altogether. Nope, it is just a joke.

In the end, we all know that the “Weinergate” drama is going to die-off like many scandals due to gaffes on political social media account; nevertheless, the bottom line is the valuable social media lessons politicians should learn fromRep. Weiner’s Twitter failure.

The first islearning how to use social media. Before posting, tweeting and using any apps, you have to be sure to use the platform correctly; otherwise it’s easy to make a mistake. Don’t be wrong between sending a private message and sharing it in public. Remember that it’s a social network- you send something through a private message, that doesn’t mean the person receiving the information will not publicize the content with one simple click.

Secondly, deliberate on the message you want to share. If you’re sharing something through social media, you should think twice in order to make sure whether or not it’s appropriate.

Last but not least, you must to be honest. Anyone can make a mistake, even famous politicians.Lying just makes everything more mess-up and difficult to resolve. You know that the hardest thing in the world is to regain people’s trust therefore telling the truth should be prioritized.

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So by now I am sure you are aware of Congressman Anthony Weiner’s resignation. Fox News carried the live coverage for most of the afternoon last Wednesday. But, is this really news?  Weiner’s extramarital affairs should be covered by the media that covered Tiger Woods’ downfall or Jesse James numerous liaisons. Shows like “Extra” and “E News” should worry about this. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News though?  I don’t think so. This was a case of the media dictating the story and eventually causing the sad and tragic outcome of a brilliant politician’s career ending tweet.

I agree that what Rep. Weiner did was gross. But, come on morality police, half the married men in America are doing something that gross or grosser. There are specific websites designed for married men that want to have an online flirtation or a down and dirty affair. As gross and disgusting as this is, it happens every day in our society. I don’t want to see pictures of any politicians in his underpants or read transcripts about his bulge in his pants. This is not news. This is the reliving of the 90’s and Monica Lewinsky’s stained dress.  This is between Weiner and his wife and I don’t want to know about it.

Someone in some control room decided that this was a story. I have actively tried to avoid this story for over a week. The media does not operate on the principle of supply and demand. It is a case where the media decides the news and we say “ok.” Weiner’s cybersex is not news. It just isn’t. There are real actual scary things happening out there. The economy still sucks, banks are still illegally foreclosing houses on poor American families, unemployment is running out, homelessness is growing, there are still 2.5 wars that we are officially involved in and countless other secret operations that we are carrying out. Thousands of humanitarian events occur across the world yet America focuses on Rep. Weiner’s Facebook and Twitter activity. I am pulling out my hair. The cybersex of Anthony Weiner is only news to his wife and no one else.

The sad thing about Weiner is that he resigned. Democrats joined with Republicans to sell out one of the more promising and progressive voices of the party. It is a giant double standard that Weiner had to resign when Senator David Vitter is still in office.  David Vitter committed a CRIME with his affairs because he liked prostitutes. Apparently that is okay though. Senator John Ensign not only had an extramarital affair with one of his top aides’ wife, but used his influence as a Senator to pressure other staff members to keep quiet about the affair. After Ensign’s aide found out about the affair, Ensign used his influence to get the man a great job for a lobbying firm even though senior aides are prohibited from lobbying the Senate for a year after leaving their posts. The former senior aide, Douglas Hampton, used Ensign to push through legislation that benefitted his company.

It is a complete double standard and the list goes on and on. All politicians lie to some degree and especially to cover up their scandals. But, there is a difference between lying to spare your personal life or your reputation and lying to cover up criminal charges. Let us not forget that.

Image Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanprogressaction/

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The absolute worst part of the whole Anthony Weiner scandal is that Andrew Breitbart is getting media time. The ultimate dirtbag, even wins over Fox News Roger Ailes, feels that Weiner coming clean somehow vindicates him.  Breitbart stated in his own news conference that he has never told “one provable lie.”  What the hell this man is talking about?  Media Matters has an entire guide doing just that, proving almost everything the scumbag says is a lie.

Breitbart runs a blog called Big Government. Although it often contains absolutely no facts and in many cases, it is completely made up rhetoric, Fox News regularly uses this drivel as a source further proving that that station is not a news network.  Breitbart perpetuated the whole ACORN as something evil story that Fox quickly picked up and ran with.  Claiming that ACORN was engaged in a child prostitution ring, Breitbart posted deliberately altered videos as “proof.”  Breitbart ruthlessly attacked a Department of Education staffer for starting a gay rights organization and seems to be obsessed with “fisting.”   The worst smear of all of Breitbart’s attack was against Shirley Sherrod.  Using edited video, Breitbart made it appear that Sherrod, a Department of Agriculture employee, was using her position to discriminate against white farmers. Breitbart’s misleading video led to Sherrod’s forced resignation.   Soon after, the entire video was released where it was clear that Breitbart purposely took Sherrod’s statements out of context.  There are plenty more examples of this dirtbag’s lies and smears.  He has told many, many very provable lies.

It is bad enough that Fox News actually takes this idiot seriously.  But, now because of the Weiner-gate, other news outlets are actually listening to Breitbart.  I woke up on Tuesday morning and saw him on CNN.  Isn’t CNN still pretending to be an actual news network?  That was some hard-hitting news journalism, asking Breitbart if he felt vindicated. This man received something that was factual this time.  But, it was not real journalism but just some luck. He is wrong more times than he is right.  Please, do not treat this man as if he uncovered some great story.  The story was already unraveling and this dude had no part of it.

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Once again another one bites the dust…you see folks, twitter is not all fun and games. Twitter has started revolutions and has played a large role in social media all over the world but today it has caused the potential downfall of Congressman Anthony Weiner.

He admitted to having had relationships with several women outside his marriage which he characterized as a “deep personal failing.” As funny and unfortunate as this situation might be at first I must ask whether this is an offense that would require him to step down as Congressman.

I have laughed again and again at this man, although I may be the only one laughing at this point… but I think we must put this “personal failing” in context.  After lying repeatedly and continually putting his foot in his mouth, he has finally come clean.  I was beginning to think this story would never die considering the case of our favorite governor from California who has done a lot worst…but let me hold off judgment until the ethical issue is resolved and Weiner is proven to be just another horny politician.

He also stated emphatically that he will not resign his post.

That will prove to be very difficult especially being in New York and dealing will constant media questioning his every action. Let’s not forget the impact this will also have on his relationship with his colleagues in government whom he will need to be re elected or even mount an attempt to be Mayor of New York; which is where his trajectory was pointing before this brain fart.

By the way, who were these reporters? The level of questions being asked was very childish and somewhat unprofessional and unnecessary.

I may joke about this because of the way it occurred and the weeklong denial that provided some great sound bites, along with ex Governor Palin botching our history; but it is important to understand how insignificant this should be in terms of whether his constituents re elect him or not.

As his voice faded in and out and the emotion overwhelmed him, i couldn’t help think about his wife and what he must have been thinking while fumbling through lie after lie this past week.  Then again, it’s easy to be remorseful after it all goes downhill and ego doesn’t really serve any purpose at that point… but there’s no way to know for sure.

Yes  i’m still intrigued by this…simply put, this is big story for now because of who we are as consumers of daily television, but this is not to the level of other politicians who have lied, cheated on their wives and in some level cheated on the American people.  Step back for a moment, laugh (laugh a lot), let this die down and let this man fix his private situation with his family and get on with his career; whatever piece of his career is left .

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It has been an interesting week for American politics.  Perhaps the biggest non-news of the week was about New York congressman Anthony Weiner. This ginned up controversy has it all, sex, stupid controversy names such as Weiner-gate, and a shocking downfall of one of the smartest and most passionate members of congress.  So, of course, the media is all over it.  I, for one, do not care but being a part of the media forces me to follow this ridiculous story.

In case you have been away from the news (lucky you) a picture of a man’s crotch was posted on the Democratic congressman’s Twitter page.  Big deal, right? Apparently it is though. Weiner just follows 198 people on Twitter; one of those followers is Genette Cordova, a Washington state college student.  Apparently, she was the intended recipient of the risqué photo.  It is unclear why Weiner follows Cordova but it really doesn’t matter.  Weiner and the21-year old student state they have never met in person or had any inappropriate exchanges.

Weiner states he did not send the photo which was directed to Cordova but posted to all of his followers on Twitter.  People, meaning conservatives, have criticized Weiner for his response to the controversy.  He did not completely deny that the photo was of his crotch but he clearly stated he did not post it. I guess people want to know if this picture is really Weiner’s weiner.  I have no idea why.

In an interview on CNN, the brilliant Wolf Blitzer tried his darnedest to get Weiner to admit that it was a picture of his underpants. “You would know if this was your underpants,” Blitzer stated in his hard hitting journalism. I really wish I was making this up.

Many in the conservative media are jumping on the non-scandal.  Bill O’Reilly is one of those that are criticizing Weiner, the same Bill O. that had to pay off a former producer who claimed sexual harassment. Interesting.  The sexual harassment suit has become notorious for its’ explicit details.  The charges are also famous because of Bill O’s constant drumbeat of morality.  It is easy to forget your own sordid past when there is someone else you can make fun of though.

This seems to be a private affair and like Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, I don’t see why we care.  Time after time, the GOP does this.  They shoot themselves in the foot by raking a Democrat over the coals for some sort of violation of morality.  But, the Republicans who run on platforms of “family values,” are in bed with the Christian coalitions and oppose gay rights are the ones that most often get caught doing something very “un-Christian like.”  Us liberals do not care if you are gay or cheat on your wife.  It is only when you pretend to be so against that stuff that it can be used against you.  For every Anthony Weiner, there are 10 Chris Lee’s so it would be best to just let this “scandal” fade away.

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