GIMME SOME PROPS

Motorists driving by the State Capitol recently may have spied a 20-foot high yellow rubber duckie outside the hallowed halls of government. The giant inflatable was a gimmick for an environmental group.

The Coalition For A Safe & Healthy Connecticut held a press conference urging passage of a bill to phase out toxic chemicals in kids' products. Even little rubber duckies contain plastic softeners known as phthalates that the group claims can cause developmental problems. The big duckie was phthalates-free to show that safe alternatives are available.

The big yellow duck was a "prop" of course, aimed at gaining media attention. Press releases hyping news conferences often entice television news crews by promising "great visuals." Interest groups and politicians know government news often is dry. Any gambit that can persuade a TV assignment editor to send a camera is all to the good.

The use of props is a time-honored tradition in Connecticut political circles. Decades ago, an animal rights group, hoping to show the horrors of trapping, brought an ominous-looking leghold trap to a legislative hearing. The device, used to snag small mammals was left behind, and to this day hangs in the State Capitol pressroom as a rusty talisman to past legislative battles.

In 2000, Joe Lieberman ran as the Democratic vice presidential nominee while seeking reelection to his U.S. Senate seat. His national campaign kept him away from Connecticut and the Senate race. In frustration, his Republican opponent, then Waterbury mayor Phil Giordano, drew media attention by vowing to debate a life-size cardboard cutout of Lieberman. The somewhat silly event took place in New London with plenty of media coverage. Giordano lost the Senate race. Later he was convicted on child sex charges and is serving a lengthy term in federal prison.

Retired state crime lab director Dr. Henry Lee used props in a different way. He handed out personalized trinkets to reporters and attendees at various news conferences and events, apparently to highlight the importance of modern detective techniques. These items ranged from rulers with a Sherlock Holmes magnifier at one end to a coffee cup featuring the glazed-on equivalent of a crime scene blood spatter!

The Connecticut Audubon Society, lobbying for habitat preservation, brought live hawks and owls, "rescue" birds, for lawmakers to see. Nothing argues for conservation more than the innocent look of a live creature seen up-close.

An anti-nuclear group once brought a goat to the State Capitol lawn. The group charged that "Katie the Goat," living near the Millstone nuclear power plants, had become a radiation monitor because her milk showed abnormal levels of radioactive strontium-90. Katie nonchalantly munched state government grass during the news event.

While most modern-day media props are lures for TV, radio can use audio gimmicks. To cap off their news conference against toxic plastics, the sponsoring Coalition had its spokesman, Chris Corcoran, sing Sesame Street's famous "Rubber Duckie" song with some politicized lyrics. Check it out here.

I must confess I've used props in radio news stories. Back in 1988, while covering the Connecticut delegation at the Republican National Convention, I wrote a feature story about a well-liked Connecticut GOP figure, Roger Eddy. Eddy invented a little device he called the "Audubon Bird Call." He said that as he travelled the nation for politics or business, he would hawk his bird call at nature centers and zoos, urging them to stock the item in their gift shops. For effect, I wrote: "If you want to know what Eddy's bird call sounds like—take a listen." Roger Eddy has passed on—but the "Audubon Bird Call" is still sold.

Even if props are just a shameless attempt to snare media coverage, they do lend a much-needed element of humor to politics, popping the bubble of pomposity, at least for a little while.
 

Posted 3/17/08

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