As you probably know, the Patrick campaign ran into a bit of controversy when it first started putting video testimonials on its blog (called “The Source“). John Walsh, Deval Patrick’s campaign manager (and occasional BMG contributor under the name “John from Abington“) then posted here to request the assistance of our little community in formulating a policy for future video testimonials. We had a good number of what one might call meta-comments on that post (which discussed not the subject matter of the post itself but rather why it was posted here), but from the comments that were directly responsive to Walsh’s request, I was able to put together a proposed policy and send it off to him last week.
Today I received the following email from Walsh:
David –
Thanks for the policy. We accept it in full as follows:
“The speaker’s full name, hometown, occupation, and formal affiliation with the Patrick campaign (if any) will be disclosed by the person speaking. It’s not necessary to disclose the fact that someone is volunteering for the campaign, unless they actually have a title (like “volunteer coordinator,” or “campaign co-chair” – “envelope stuffer” doesn’t count). If for some reason the speaker doesn’t say that information, then it will be disclosed on the blog itself.”
We have taped a few testimonials prior to receiving this where the speaker did not speak these items, so for those we will include the information on the blog as you suggest. All future testimonials (such as ones done at the event on Thursday night with Senator Obama or at the convention) will include that information or they will not be run.
So there you have it. IMHO, this policy will not only make the testimonials more honest, it will also make them a good deal more effective. And everybody wins.
