bryantfacts changes purpose of blog, deletes posts

The infamous twitter and wordpress accounts of bryantfacts that were subsequently revealed to be operated by Navigator have been turned 180 degrees.

The blog has been once again re-dressed, and post have been deleted. However, the original content has been recovered via google cache. It has changed radically from:

"The purpose of this blog is to quickly correct inaccuracies as they appear with factual responses. This is not a repository for news releases, statements or other traditional communications products."

to:

"used for the release of any official statements"

a similar re-branding of the bryantfacts twitter account occurred.

The posts from bryantfacts propagated certain factual inaccuracies, repeating a provably incorrect statement of events from police at the morning after press conference. Perhaps they are beating a retreat, in fear of legal reprisals... Lest we forget, the past is as mutable as the truth to these spin-sters.

--- once again the past has been preserved here --- bryantfacts original blog follows:

Re “Privilege is good,” National Post (09/10/2009)

Posted September 10, 2009
Filed under: Fact Correction |
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National Post letter writer David Burn today said: “[Bryant] was not, however, charged with the one charge that he is more likely to be found guilty of: leaving the scene of an accident.” According to police, however, Mr. Bryant parked his car and called 911: “Burrows said the driver parked his Saab convertible in a hotel driveway at Avenue Road and Bloor Street and called 911.” (Metroland, 09/02/09).

The truth about allegations

Posted September 7, 2009
Filed under: Fact Correction |
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The police have dismissed the allegation that Mr. Bryant fled the scene of the accident. Mr. Bryant and his wife pulled off the road and immediately called 911. Police have also dismissed any suggestion that Mr. Bryant was intoxicated.
There is an ongoing investigation by the police and by a special independent prosecutor, Mr. Richard Peck, from British Columbia. At this point neither the police nor Mr. Peck has offered specific comments on the investigation. As such, any speculation by third-parties remains just that: speculation.

Inaccurate, one-sided video commentary

Posted September 7, 2009
Filed under: Fact Correction |
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The “narration” in this YouTube clip is one-sided opinion and contains multiple inaccurate assertions, some which have already been dismissed by police (e.g. leaving the scene. In fact, Michael Bryant immediately called the police). But of course, any objectivity is totally undermined in the first five seconds: a shot of a man claiming the deceased had been “murdered.”

A record correction site for Michael Bryant

Posted September 5, 2009
Filed under: Fact Correction |
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From the beginning, there have been numerous erroneous assertions and speculation pertaining to Michael Bryant which have appeared online and in the mainstream media. The purpose of this blog is to quickly correct inaccuracies as they appear with factual responses. This is not a repository for news releases, statements or other traditional communications products.

Technical Difficulties With Bryant Video Articles at Montreal Gazette

Technical Difficulties With Bryant Video Articles Persist:

For Those following this twittered link to The Montreal Gazette:

http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/blogs/ontwowheels/archive/2009/09/14/new-youtube-footage-of-the-bryant-sheppard-incident.aspx

Got the following message a few hours later:

Sorry, there was a problem with your last request!

Either the site is offline or an unhandled error occurred. We apologize and have logged the error. Please try your request again or if you know who your site administrator is let them know too.

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here is a mirror of that article for those wanting to read it while the link is invalid

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New Youtube Footage of the Bryant/Sheppard Incident

By Aaron McConomy 09-14-2009 COMMENTS(0) On Two Wheels

Filed under: Bryant-Sheppard incident, road rage

Surveillance footage of the Bryant/Sheppard killing has made it to the internet. It removes any kind of doubt I might have had about the situation. This is a incident of the most despicable kind of vehicular homicide. We can now see that all of the discussion around Sheppard's alleged drinking and possible road rage are completely irrelevant.

What the video shows is Sheppard pulling ahead of Bryant's car. When Sheppard is stopped in front of him Bryant appears to pull close to Sheppard's back wheel. Bryant then guns his engine putting Sheppard up on the hood of his car and pushing him ahead a full car length. From the second angle we see Sheppard clearly stunned attempting to pick up his bike. Bryant drives around Sheppard who then seems to make a reflex grab at Bryant's car. The video cuts off there.

This footage removes a lot of the ambiguity and mystery surrounding the incident. In no way shape or form can we consider this an accident. What this footage shows is a brutal assault that lead to the death of a cyclist. Nothing Sheppard did appears to be in anyway aggressive or violent. He is clearly in Bryant's view when he is attacked. It is truly shocking and disturbing to watch.

Here are some further links for those looking for more information about this terrible crime.

NOW Magazine (read public comments at bottom)
http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=171209

Bryantfacts
http://twitter.com/bryantfacts

Bryanttruths
http://twitter.com/bryanttruths

Direct link to the YouTube footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFISP_PrhFo&annotation_id=annotation_933448&feature=iv

A big thanks to Donald Wiedman for sending this my way.

--- article end ---

Bryant Twitter PR Globe and Mail Article "Technical Difficulties"

The Globe and Mail website is having "technical difficulties" with its article on Michael Bryant's PR firm Navigator Ltd. using twitter. As a courtesy, I mirror it here.

----- article start ----

Michael Bryant's political strategy: PR 2.0

Representatives for former Ontario attorney-general turn to blogs and social media to get their message across

Kate Hammer

Globe and Mail Update Last updated on Wednesday, Sep. 09, 2009 11:50AM EDT

The seeds of Michael Bryant's campaign for political survival have been sown in the fertile soil of social media.

A blog and a Twitter account are being tended by Navigator Limited, the public-relations firm hired by Mr. Bryant shortly after a fatal collision with cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard.

Even Mr. Bryant's Facebook page got a makeover, his candid profile picture replaced by a tidy head shot and links to the statement he released the morning after the accident posted on his wall.

The blog and Twitter account, Bryantfacts.wordpress.com and @bryantfacts, are modest (the Twitter account has only 21 followers) and generally respond to what others have written and posted on Twitter and YouTube.

“The police have dismissed the allegation that Mr. Bryant fled the scene of the accident,” reads an entry posted Monday to the blog. “Mr. Bryant and his wife pulled off the road and immediately called 911. Police have also dismissed any suggestion that Mr. Bryant was intoxicated.”

Dan Robertson, of Navigator Limited, wrote in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail that the sites were being maintained on behalf of Mr. Bryant and that he couldn't elaborate on the work his company did for a client.

“From day one, there has been speculation, innuendo and rumour,” the e-mail read. “It is perfectly fair to insist on accuracy, especially at a time when Mr. Bryant is not able to publicly tell his side of the story.”

It has become standard fare for public-relations firms to use social media to help shape the tides of public opinion, according to Sidney Eve Matrix, a professor at Queen's University's Film and Media Department.

“I'm not surprised that they're there [on a blog and Twitter], they have to be there if they want to influence the sway of public opinion and influence the way that this story is trending,” she said.

Navigator Limited is the same firm that handled Brian Mulroney's public relations during the Oliphant inquiry, a public inquiry into the former prime minister's dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber. Throughout the proceedings, the firm maintained a blog, Mulroneymediaroom.com, and posted updates with blogging software from Coveritlive.com.

“A PR firm, particularly one that's engaging in crisis communications and offers services for crisis situations like Bryant's, the number one thing you do in crisis communications is get out front of the message and Twitter is the absolute front line of people's reactions,” said Greg Elmer, a media expert and professor at Ryerson University.

It's only in the past four or five months that the corporate and private sectors, including public-relations firms, have come to recognize platforms like Twitter as the place where the public's first impressions are born, he added.

After reviewing the Bryantfacts blog and Twitter site, Ms. Matrix said that Mr. Bryant's public-relations team wasn't maximizing the potential of these social-media platforms.

“It looks like they're trying to cover their social-media bases but they're doing it in a very thin way,” she said, noting that there were only four tweets from the Twitter account. “That can backfire on you because then people will go there and they will see you have nothing to say.”

She said that the messages might be more powerful if they seemed to be coming more directly from Mr. Bryant, rather than his public-relations team.

“The purpose of these two sites is not to challenge opinion or different points of view,” Mr. Robertson wrote. “The sole purpose is to correct demonstrable errors in fact and respond to potentially slanderous comments wherever they may appear.”

---- There FTFY ;) ----