MSNBC kicked Dan Abrams to the curb this fall. Now the lawyer, color commentator, show host and former MSNBC General Manager, is organizing a new PR firm that he plans to staff with journalists.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Abrams Research will help business executives navigate public-relations challenges — from major acquisitions to bothersome bloggers to outright scandals.
The firm’s chief selling point will be a network of media insiders whose advice is available in exchange for an hourly fee. Mr. Abrams has assembled a roster of “thousands” of such professionals, he says, with the aid of former Huffington Post media writer Rachel Sklar.
“The goal is to create a global media community,” says Mr. Abrams.
But not so fast…the Abrams Plan has a critic.
“While it makes sense for business, for working journalists to be moonlighting as business consultants is ultimately going to degrade the credibility of journalism even further,” says Trevor Butterworth, a fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs. “It’s really offering a weapon to activist groups of any kind to say: ‘We can’t trust journalism anymore.'”
I didn’t realize we could trust journalists now.
