Considering the many ways there are to communicate (Twitter, Facebook, email, blogs, broadcast TV, old-fashioned newsprint), rumors circulate fast, so it’s not even a little bit surprising that clarity is often a casualty of multi-media speed. Take, for example, the amusing Rachel Maddow vs. Scott Brown kerfuffle reported in the Boston Globe, in which Brown sent out an email blast to followers with an earnest appeal for support in order to face a possible challenge from Maddow. The only thing is, she’s not running against him.
Why the confusion? Well, there was a 3,700 member Facebook page “Rachel Maddow for US Senate from Massachusetts in 2012.” And then there was a tweet by a Massachusetts Democratic Party honcho that read “Some are talking about you running vs Scott Brown in ’12.” Then, there was the sincere email appeal from Brown. Befuddled? Well, yes, of course you are. But Maddow says the Facebook page was started by a friend as a joke. “There are Facebook pages out there now about, ‘Can I get this pickle to have more fans than the Jonas Brothers?’” she was quoted saying in the Boston Globe.
Just to set the record straight, MSNBC and Maddow took the unprecedented move of taking out a $70,000 full page ad in the Boston Globe with a reprinted letter from Maddow, saying, “I’m not running against Scott Brown. I never said I was running against Scott Brown. The Massachusetts Democratic Party never asked me to run against Scott Brown. It’s just not true. Honest. I swear. No, really.”
Where is the truth in all this? It seems like just a big media misunderstanding. And perhaps a fortuitous one at that, since Maddow has made it known repeatedly she would love to have Scott Brown as a guest on her show.
Photo by Paul Schultz via Wikimedia Commons, photo by Dexta32084 via Wikimedia Commons.