photo credit: kevindooley

Am I the last so-called journalist in this country? (stupid question, I’m not even one of those<g>)

You may or may not know I write a business *opinion* column once a week in the Beacon – and that isn’t even my “real job”.

What am I talking about? Yes, the CPSIA again.

Rob over at CPSIA Central emailed today and said that Glenn Beck wasn’t covering the CPSIA because Glenn or someone on the show staff says “there’s no public outcry”.

Really? Is that the minimum daily requirement to get a journalist to write a story? I must’ve missed something.

Per Rob’s request, I wrote a letter to the Glenn Beck Show in hopes that they would realize that THEY (the press) are quite often the catalyst to creating that public outcry.

Here’s my letter to Mr. Beck:

Mr. Beck,

My understanding is that you feel there is no reason to cover the CPSIA story on the Glenn Beck Show because “there is no public outcry”.

I suppose that Watergate wasn’t worth covering for that reason, and nor was Iran-Contra or the Lewinsky story, et al. Part of what causes a public outcry is that journalists learn about stories that the public SHOULD learn about and/or SHOULD be upset about – and proceed to educate them via their media.

Isn’t that part of your job?

Honestly, it might be that you just aren’t listening in the right places. You’re a busy guy. You can’t possibly be everywhere and hear about every little story that affects tens of thousands of businesses across the US.

In addition, I suspect a lot of the lack of attention stems from the idea that this really only hurts “mommy businesses” – and the perception is that these “mommy businesses” really don’t do much but keep moms out of the mall and give them a little something to do when baby is taking a nap.

Because those perceptions are so dead wrong, I ask that you do three things:

First: Read http://www.rescuemarketing.com/blog/2009/01/13/strategic-cpsia-awareness/

Notice that this ISNT just about “mommy businesses”, but it reaches out to a substantial piece of the business community.

Second: Google CPSIA and see what you find: 985,000 search results. No outcry indeed.

Third: If you’re really interested in learning more about the CPSIA, read http://www.rescuemarketing.com/blog/category/cpsia/, http://www.thesmartmama.com/bg
http://www.fashion-incubator.com just to get started.

Thanks for listening,

Mark Riffey

Rescue Marketing

406-249-0307

By the way, if you feel like joining the fray, Mr Beck’s email address is me at glennbeck dot com.