I Studied How Journalists Used Twitter for Two Years. Here’s What I Learned
From Alecia Swasy, writing for Poynter: Twitter reflects the good, the bad and just plain ugly reality of social media these days. For academics, journalists and voters, there’s never been a more crucial time to talk about the impact these social media platforms have on factual journalism and being watchdogs of the powerful. It’s in […]
True or False? It Depends.
[By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications] When we talk to clients about the challenges of communicating about an issue they are facing, we often discuss the phenomenon of “confirmation bias” – the tendency individuals have to believe facts that support their personal points of view while rejecting similarly legitimate facts that run counter to their personal […]
When the Friendly Skies Suddenly Turn Hostile
By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications If you watched mainstream news early this week, or had your news feed set to the right coordinates, you no doubt saw that United Airlines became the latest victim of a Tweet storm on Sunday, after attendants on a flight from Denver to Minneapolis refused to allow two girls to […]
Should You Apologize for Mistakes?
If you’ve ever attended one of our seminars on crisis management, we often talk about the power of apology. Real apologies; apologies that are authentic and true; apologies without qualification or the use of “weasel words” (e.g. “mistakes were made”). Perhaps no industry does apology better AND worse than the health care industry (hospitals, nursing homes, […]
How to Destroy Your Organization in One Easy Step
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] We’ve facilitated hundreds of seminars to help companies work more effectively with the media and survive social media attacks. In the last few weeks, we’ve had to update our presentations to offer help dealing with the rise of alternative facts and the increasingly nonchalant promulgation of lies. But a question […]
New Rules of Engagement for General Counsels in the Age of Presidential Tweets
From our colleague Richard Levick, writing in Forbes: Reverberations from President Donald Trump’s recasting of political behavior are being felt in every corporate counsel’s office – not only in the U.S., but abroad, too. Civility, subtlety, even facts, are out. Confrontation, predawn tweeting, and “alternative facts” are in. When coupled with the disquieting new realities […]
BBC Interview Goes Awry & Viral
[By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications] The blogosphere lit up with smiles this past Friday after a toddler photobombed Robert Kelly’s Skype interview with the BBC from his home in S. Korea. Kelly, a political-science professor, was discussing the South Korea impeachment scandal from his home office with a door closed behind him. As the questioning […]
So, Um, How Do You, Like, Stop Using Filler Words?
From The New York Times: So, how do you, like, um, stop using verbal fillers that can make you sound, you know, nervous or not so smart? Is there a name for this? Communications experts describe “um,” “aah,” “you know” and similar expressions as discourse markers, interjections or verbal pauses. They often occur when we […]
Facebook & The Press: The Transfer of Power
From the Columbia Journalism Review: JOURNALISM’S BUSINESS CRISIS is well known, but in the wake of the US presidential election it is increasingly obvious that the true existential crisis for journalism is its lack of influence. Fake news, a decline in trust, and plunging revenues are all proxies for a loss of influence and impact […]
The Oscars – When a Good-Looking Tuxedo Isn’t Enough to Save Your Reputation
[By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications] Wow. One minute, you’re a global company with a brand so esteemed it almost glows. The next, you’re the centerpiece of a social-media pile-on, raked over the coals by wits and late-night TV wannabes. All because a partner with 20 years of service takes his eye off the ball and […]