Crisis Management Hot Seat: The Ambush Interview (and How to Survive it)
By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications: There are a few surefire ways to ensure you, as a representative of your organization, can get on TV: Run as fast as you can from a reporter and videographer Grab the videographer’s camera lens and wrestle with it Jump in your car and floor it Slam your front […]
The Hashtag That Became a Movement Marks its First Anniversary
From Nora Jacobs at Hennes Communications: After this week’s events, if there is a place in America where the issue of sexual misconduct is not top-of-mind, it is a place without access to the internet, television and newspapers. Although the phrase “Me Too” dates back to 2006, it wasn’t until October 2017, when it […]
How the Media Encourages – and Sustains – Political Warfare
By Kyle Jensen and Jack Selzer, writing in The Conversation. Since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has been waging war against the American press by dismissing unfavorable reports as “fake news” and calling the media “the enemy of the American people.” As a countermeasure, The Washington Post has publicly fact-checked every claim that Trump has […]
America Is Under Cyber-Attack, and It’s More Than Russian Election-Meddling
An interesting, provocative piece from Deborah Lee James, former Secretary of the U.S. Air Force. The United States is under attack. Having served as Secretary of the United States Air Force, I know this for a fact. Our sovereign border – and our critical infrastructure – has been breached in a number of serious […]
Are Your Employees Recording You, Too?
From Donald Scarinci, writing in The Observer: Omarosa Manigault Newman dominated the headlines when she released an audio recording that allegedly captures her firing by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. She made a separate recording of Lara Trump offering her another job, which Manigault Newman considered to be an offer of hush money, and she […]
What CEOs Should Know About Protecting Cyber Infrastructure
Edgard Capdevielle, writing in Chief Executive Magazine about cybersecurity, summed it up by stating, “To protect critical infrastructure and manage cyber risk associated with industrial operations, executives need to execute well across three dimensions: improve visibility, incorporate modern cyber defenses, and ensure preparedness in case an incident does occur.” The Department of Energy said, ““It […]
How Mayo Clinic Responded Directly to a Damaging News Report
By Carlin Twedt: No organization is immune from crises. A CNN report on Aug. 13 titled “Escape from Mayo Clinic” alleged that Mayo Clinic had held a patient against her will and refused her request to transfer to another hospital, an assertion that officials of the health care facility have strongly disputed. The crisis unfolded […]
Lanny Davis is More Proof That 2018 is Year of Lawyers Living Dangerously
From Jonathan Turley, writing for The Hill: For lawyers, it has been a year of living dangerously. The scandals swirling around Washington have left a pile of attorneys accused of false statements, leaks or other improper conduct. The latest casualty appears to be Lanny Davis, who just admitted to not only spreading a false story […]
Lessons From a School on Handling Social Media Crises
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications Whether in-person or virtual, the kids are still in school. For the moment, however, this will be a class for the adults – and class is now in session on how to handle a social media crisis. On a Labor Day Sunday some time ago, the leadership team at a school […]
The Speed of Breaches and Other Bad News in Cybersecurity Incident Response
In this piece written for the D&O Diary, Paul Ferrillo, a partner in the New York office of the Greenberg Traurig law firm, examines the ways that an organization can respond well to a cyber incident. Years ago, when describing a “bad news” event, it was common to describe the situation to your colleague as […]