Confessions of a TV News Executive
[by Howard Fencl, APR] I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I earned my stripes in TV producing newscasts and managing newsrooms for the better part of twenty years, and I can now freely admit the following: I loved reporters who came trotting breathlessly back into the newsroom with video of anyone who got belligerent and […]
Volkswagen – Half-Hearted Apologies for Intentional Misbehavior
A standing joke we have with our doctor is to ask him who his doctor is. The assumption, of course, is that our doctor’s doctor just might be a wee bit smarter than our doctor. If you want to know who our doctor is, his name is Peter Sandman. Perhaps the most astute and thoughtful risk communications consultant in the […]
5 Crisis Management Tips for Your Brand
Creating a brand used to take years. Companies often started locally or regionally, developed loyal customers and built a market identity — supplemented by print or electronic advertising as brands grew. In addition to taking a long time, brand-building also took a great deal of money. Flash-forward to today: While it’s still possible to build a […]
Tips & Techniques to Help Anyone Become a Better Speaker
From our good friend – and a terrific writer – Marilyn Cavicchia at the American Bar Association: If you’ve ever heard Tim Eigo speak at Annual or Midyear meetings or at the ABA Bar Leadership Institute, you know that this is a guy who loves to present. While it is true that Eigo, editor of the […]
The U.S. is Losing the Social Media War
From Time Magazine: Our adversaries are using our own technology against us—while we’re not allowed to use it to defend ourselves. Cyber or information-environment security is often in the news, yet most of our focus has been on theft of intellectual property, denial of service attacks, and assaults on personal privacy. Far less attention has […]
When an Icon Crashes, Is an Apology Enough?
[By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications] The first car I ever owned was a ’57 Volkswagen that I bought for $100. Its most memorable features were a cloth sunroof and turn signals that flipped out of the side pillars like miniature wings. It was almost as fanciful as the Morris Minor I learned to drive on, […]
Why Saying ‘Sorry’ is the Right – and Smart – Thing To Do
[By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications] Saying “I’m sorry” can pay off – psychologically, because it’s the right thing to do, and literally, because it may get you or your business out of a tough spot while saving money and your reputation. Last month, I wrote about how an organization’s apologies also say a lot about […]
Timely TV News Interview Advice (from Another Time)
[by Howard Fencl] On Halloween, I will travel to Columbus to attend a TV newsroom reunion for WBNS-TV reporters, producers, videographers, engineers and news managers. It promises to be a horrifying, creaky affair – no costumes, just the unwelcome mask of old age necessitating name tags with our headshots from the 1980s in the event we […]
Writing for Right Now: “Iterative Journalism”
[By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications] It’s called “iterative journalism.” For journalists, it’s a profound change. With profound implications for anyone caught up in a news story. Put most simply, it means this: Stories are published online as they’re reported, in pieces. Once basic facts are known, the story goes online . Calls are still made […]
The Ultimate Media Interview Checklist
A large, broadcast-quality camera is aimed at you. Lights blind your vision. And a perfectly made up and coiffed reporter is holding a mic under your face. You try hard to look cool, but you can feel the sweat dripping down your back. Your breaths are shallow. You can barely remember what you wanted to say, […]