Orlando Sentinel story about "inappropriate fondling" on the Dream

[SapphireMind]

protip: coming to furiously defend yourself on a message board never ends wel..

 

[Tony Pipitone]

I have read the confession.

Unless you've read the confession you are picking and choosing data to fit what you believe. What is the rest of the quote? Maybe is was "As she was getting on the elevator I accidetnly touched her on her right breast with my left hand." I admit this might be a stretch ...

It is a stretch. He did not claim it was an accident.

If he had, I would have stated that, as good reporters do.

Don't assume all reporters are intellectually dishonest hacks, just as one should not assume all dining room servers are prone to molesting children.

 

[rhorsley]

protip: coming to furiously defend yourself on a message board never ends wel..

This is where the questions are? I thought you wanted answers? Aren't you getting what you wanted?

At least he's providing more communication and access than Disney so far..

 

[Tony Pipitone]

Just wanted to do a small part to set some of the record straight. This user --who seems, from his posts, to be level-headed -- advises:

protip: coming to furiously defend yourself on a message board never ends wel..

While I am nowhere-near-furious, I shall take leave ... for now, at least.

Thanks.

 

[SapphireMind]

I don't care about answers from someone who may or not be the real reporter.

I am more referring to long-standing internet history where this sort of behavior invariably leads to a flamefest, name-calling and otherwise general stupidity.

 

[ranidayz]

Maybe you read into things as being snarky or are perhaps overly defensive? I don't know...I was asking a serious question since the view given is so out of sync with the day-to-day reality of the job. I take offense as a PR professional, not on behalf of the entire profession. My job is not to cover-up but to help. It is to help companies identify what they need to fix (probably that bad press) and then aid in communicating that to the public, not hide problems.

If Disney does a good job of "keeping the lid" on bad news, I can assure you that is NOT a function of a PR professional. We are communicators, not concealers. We do Damage Control - not Damage Concealment.

As for your thoughts about the PR profession having a public relations issue with how people view their profession...I counter, that we apparently have problem with a certain number of people not understanding what the profession really entails. I can almost guarantee that when decisions were made on that boat or after when it was decided to file that report away, no PR folks were consulted.

A cynic might suggest that if this is what Disney does, that those are lawyers or leadership making such dictims...however, since I am not a lawyer or an employee of Disney Corp, I cannot say. I can say however, that it appears clear that mistakes were made which need to be honestly addressed (not ignored) by the company and then communicated by a competent PR team in order to maintain the trust and faith of the public and their consumers.

I have reached out to DCL as a consumer and have asked for their comments on the matter. I will let you know, what (if anything) I hear back.

I have a degree in PR as well. Our first official assignment was to justify the Exxon Valdez. Our second assignment was to 'spin' the tainted Baby Tylenol. PR is there to advocate for the company at which they're employed. I actually never would up using the PR part of my degree because I couldn't justify or 'spin' it to myself.

 

[rhorsley]

I have a degree in PR as well. Our first official assignment was to justify the Exxon Valdez. Our second assignment was to 'spin' the tainted Baby Tylenol. PR is there to advocate for the company at which they're employed. I actually never would up using the PR part of my degree because I couldn't justify or 'spin' it to myself.

By assignment do you mean in school? Or in an actual practice? Because the Valdez occurred in 89 and Tylenol in 82. In neither case did the PR teams attempt to cover up the problems. In fact the Tylenol case is an excellent example of how PR can repair damage done by a corporation.

http://www.aerobiologicalengineering.com/wxk116/TylenolMurders/crisis.html

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

Somebody with the alias RGLakatos has written something that is demonstrably false. To wit:



I have worked at only one television station in my life, WKMG-TV Channel 6 in Orlando. In my 26 years here, I have received some of TV journalism's highest honors, including Emmys, Murrow Awards and other regional and national awards. I have never been sued for libel. Maybe some of the people I've helped put in jail consider me "garbage," but that is to be expected.

Much of his other comments are opinion, which I will not bother to dispute, but you should consider them in light of the above-stated irrefutable facts.

That is easily verifiable and Mr. Piptone is correct. He has been at the same station since 1987 and has won many awards.

http://www.clickorlando.com/Investigative-Reporter/-/1637238/1935024/-/vbgh85z/-/index.html

 

[ranidayz]

By assignment do you mean in school? Or in an actual practice? Because the Valdez occurred in 89 and Tylenol in 82. In neither case did the PR teams attempt to cover up the problems. In fact the Tylenol case is an excellent example of how PR can repair damage done by a corporation.

http://www.aerobiologicalengineering.com/wxk116/TylenolMurders/crisis.html

You got it. In school, in a class by one of the expert PR professors, this is how we were 'trained' in PR. I'm not disputing that there are wonderfully ethical and reputable PR professionals. I know there are. However, their first obligation is to their employers.

 

[rhorsley]

You got it. In school, in a class by one of the expert PR professors, this is how we were 'trained' in PR. I'm not disputing that there are wonderfully ethical and reputable PR professionals. I know there are. However, their first obligation is to their employers.

That's a darn shame. My professors always taught about the balance between employer & public...

 

[Wadekind]

As a parent of a child who was molested my first call would be to the police.....not guest services. They reported it to DCL and Disney investigated and turned it over to athorities.

Why does it only apply if its your own child? If you were the CM would you report an accusation like this to police or hand off the responsibility to someone else? To me the choice is clear you report it first then involve your employer. You keep acting like DCL is some kind of police department and they are not.

There was more than one DCL employee that knew about it and no one thought it pertinent to involve the local authority who had jurisdiction? That is a fact and that was wrong no matter how you may try to justify it.

 

[justmestace]

Why does it only apply if its your own child? If you were the CM would you report an accusation like this to police or hand off the responsibility to someone else? To me the choice is clear you report it first then involve your employer. You keep acting like DCL is some kind of police department and they are not.

There was more than one DCL employee that knew about it and no one thought it pertinent to involve the local authority who had jurisdiction? That is a fact and that was wrong no matter how you may try to justify it.

Good point!

 

[Wadekind]

After hearing about this incident, that is what I KNOW I would do. Oh course, I have the benefit of 22 pages of debate on the matter.

OTOH, had this happened at sea, they'd have no choice but to call Disney Security and trust them to handle it.

I don't know why you feel this excuses DCL from not informing the local authorities. The fact is it don't happen at sea. There was a local police force who did have jurisdiction and was not given the opportunity to do its job. The difference is at sea you have no choice but to rely on any authority you can get. In port you have access to professionals who specialize in crime and have way more experience dealing with these things daily rather than on board security who may only see a few of these cases their whole career.

 

[honeymo78]

Why does it only apply if its your own child? If you were the CM would you report an accusation like this to police or hand off the responsibility to someone else? To me the choice is clear you report it first then involve your employer. You keep acting like DCL is some kind of police department and they are not.

There was more than one DCL employee that knew about it and no one thought it pertinent to involve the local authority who had jurisdiction? That is a fact and that was wrong no matter how you may try to justify it.

Does guest services have access to an outside line? Could the guest services CM called 911 or the police if they had wanted to? Is it possible that security and other higher departments are the only ones with that ability?

 

[Wadekind]

Does guest services have access to an outside line? Could the guest services CM called 911 or the police if they had wanted to? Is it possible that security and other higher departments are the only ones with that ability?

OK, so why didn't one of them call? No one called and that is the fault here. If it is because of DCL policy then that needs to change if it is because of lack of training or access to an outside line then that needs to change.

 

[cgolf]

I have missed the last couple of pages, but have a question that I haven't seen anyone ask. This is a question not a defense of DCL. For all we know they could have already fired those that dropped the ball at the port.

The question is, since DCL employs very few US citizens, is it possible that the cm's that were investigating this did not know the US laws?

Cgolf

 

[KashasMom]

The question is, since DCL employs very few US citizens, is it possible that the cm's that were investigating this did not know the US laws?

Cgolf

US laws about what?? If CMs do not know that it is illegal to molest a child, they sure as hell do not belong working for Disney!!

Which brings me to another point....considering that CMs come from all nations, how much can we rely on any background check? There are certainly countries where there is just about no such thing as a background/criminal check (India, being one). Would make me wonder just who is watching my child?

 

[WDW in Pearls]

If I was to take a guess I'd say the family went to guest services because they didn't know where else to go. Many travelers don't know or understand the laws when on the ocean.

 

[GoofyTwinDad]

I have missed the last couple of pages, but have a question that I haven't seen anyone ask. This is a question not a defense of DCL. For all we know they could have already fired those that dropped the ball at the port.

The question is, since DCL employs very few US citizens, is it possible that the cm's that were investigating this did not know the US laws?

Cgolf

I was thinking along the same lines. I would only add that this type of molestation may not be as severe as here in the US.

 

[cgolf]

US laws about what?? If CMs do not know that it is illegal to molest a child, they sure as hell do not belong working for Disney!!

Which brings me to another point....considering that CMs come from all nations, how much can we rely on any background check? There are certainly countries where there is just about no such thing as a background/criminal check (India, being one). Would make me wonder just who is watching my child?

About The process of reporting this to the police right away. I am not sure if that is the case in other countries. In the US as soon as someone makes the accusation the call needs to be made, not sure if the same is true elsewhere. I was unaware that in the US this can be prosecuted even if the victim doesn't want to press charges. The cm's may have not been aware of this.

Again just a ? Not a defense. I truly hope DCL changes their policies after this and a few people have lost jobs over this.

Cgolf