Not For All of Our Readers — Terror of Tomorrow: What Organizations Must Know to Share and Prepare
From Homeland Security Today Gate 15’s David Pounder asked Homeland Security Today Managing Editor Bridget Johnson to help paint a threat assessment for the year ahead for the benefit of critical infrastructure entities and Information Sharing and Analysis Centers and Organizations. We share that Q&A here for the benefit of all HSToday partners and readers. In […]
How to Say ‘I’m Sorry,’ Whether You’ve Appeared in a Racist Photo, Harassed Women or Just Plain Screwed Up
Written by Lisa Leopold, Associate Professor of English Language Studies, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Middlebury. “I’m sorry.” These two words may seem simple, but the ability to express them when you’re in the wrong is anything but – particularly for those in the public eye. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, to […]
Q&A: On crisis communications and attorney-client protection
Q: How can my organization use legal privilege to protect sensitive information when we’re dealing with a communications firm and discussing with them a controversial issue or a crisis? A: [From Stephanie York, Hennes Communications:] You can never ensure that sensitive communications will fall under the attorney work product doctrine – ultimately, a judge must […]
Not On My Facebook Page: How Smart Companies Deal with Dumb Online Trolls
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications The reaction is typical. Watch what happens when a business, organization or news outlet removes a user’s post from a Facebook page, website or comment string. “Censorship!” “You’re violating my free speech rights!” “You’re trashing the First Amendment!” Well, no. None of that has happened. The laws around social media use […]
Starbucks Baristas Served Lukewarm Talking Points for Dealing with Caffeinated Political Issue
[By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] Imagine you’re waiting in line at your regular Starbucks. By now, you know the baristas by name, they know yours, and you regularly chat them up. Today there’s a loudmouth jerk in front of you giving your favorite barista a hard time about the presidential aspirations of former Starbucks CEO/Chairman […]
School Shooting PR Consultant Apologizes After Calling Critics ‘Crazies’ and Reporter ‘Skanky’
From the Sun Sentinel: crisis public relations consultant created a crisis of her own for the Broward school district, after a video came to light in which she dismissed the district’s critics in the Parkland massacre as “crazies” and called a reporter a “skanky” “jerk” who “smells bad.” Sara Brady, who was paid nearly $75,000 to assist […]
Social Media Outpaces Print Newspapers in the U.S. as a News Source
From the Pew Research Center: Social media sites have surpassed print newspapers as a news source for Americans: One-in-five U.S. adults say they often get news via social media, slightly higher than the share who often do so from print newspapers (16%) for the first time since Pew Research Center began asking these questions. In […]
Disbarment for Anonymous On-Line Posts Should “Send a Message,” Says LA Supreme Court
From our friend and colleague, Karen Rubin, attorney at Thompson Hine in Cleveland, Ohio: Do we need another reminder about the perils of posting internet comments on cases and matters we are connected with? Apparently we do, and here’s a strong one. Earlier this month, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana was […]
How Free Is Free Speech On Social Media? The Courts Are Weighing In
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications The wild west of social media just keeps getting wilder, doesn’t it? Consider these court rulings, from the past few months: In Virginia, a federal appeals court ruled that an elected official violated the First Amendment by temporarily blocking a constituent on Facebook, the Washington Post reported. In Northeast Ohio, a […]
Q&A
Q: If I do a TV news interview, won’t reporters change my answers when they edit it? A: [From Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications:] It would be utterly unethical for any journalist to put words in your mouth by chopping up an interview and rearranging your words to say something other than what you intended. In […]