Ellen DeGeneres — Time for a Crisis Management Lesson
From David E. Johnson, writing for CommPro: Talk show host and comedian, Ellen DeGeneres is the latest celebrity that could be cancelled. Both she and the top management of her hit talk show, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” are under an internal investigation by the show’s distributor, Warner Brothers. There are allegations of intimidation, sexual […]
How Talking About the Coronavirus as an Enemy Combatant Can Backfire
By Tabitha Moses, writing for The Conversation: We see this war reflected in the language that gets used by politicians, policymakers, journalists and healthcare workers. As the “invisible enemy” rolled in, entire economies halted as populations “sheltered in place.” We were told to “hunker down” for the long battle ahead and to “support our troops,” […]
Journalism and Prediction During the Coronavirus Pandemic
From Oliver Roeder, writing for NiemanReports: In the normal course of human affairs, journalism is the first rough draft of history. In a pandemic, however, journalism is the first rough draft of the future. We are all sitting alone in our homes. We are also sitting somewhere in the mathematical foothills of coronavirus’s epidemic curve, staring […]
Are You Prepared for Bad Press About One of Your Suppliers?
From Bridget Satinover Nichols, Hannah Stolze and Jon Kirchoff writing in the Harvard Business Review: It’s always been true that when companies behave badly, consumers react by spreading the word and sometimes boycotting. But our recent research found that negative news is also bad for business in a new way: Consumers react even when the bad news extends beyond […]
Nailing Your TV News Interview – Part 2 – The Ambush
By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications You’re grappling with serious challenges that threaten your organization, and perhaps your career. Someone leaks an internal e-mail to the media, and reporters have been leaving you voicemail messages all day asking for your comment on the issue. Your company’s unwritten policy is to ignore the media, and your general […]
How Talking About the Coronavirus as an Enemy Combatant Can Backfire
Tabitha Moses, a doctoral candidate at Wayne State University, offers an interesting approach to communicating about COVID-19, with lessons for business leaders, too. We see this war reflected in the language that gets used by politicians, policymakers, journalists and healthcare workers. As the “invisible enemy” rolled in, entire economies halted as populations “sheltered in place.” […]
Muddled COVID-19 Messaging: Sometimes the Data Changed; Other Times – Masks, for Example – Your Dishonesty Caught Up with You
It shouldn’t be this hard. The rules of risk and crisis communications are fairly simple: Tell the truth. Tell it all. Tell it first. Tell it fast. If the situation – or the science – is likely to change as more research is done, warn people ahead of time. And keep repeating that warning. So […]
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Coverage of the Kent State Shootings Through the Eyes of a Young Editor
There are a number of days, when the world seemed to come to a full stop, seared into the collective memories of Americans: The end of World War I; the market crash of 1929; Pearl Harbor Day; D-Day; the end of World War II in Europe and the Pacific; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations […]
How to Nail Your TV News Interview – Part 1
By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications 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 […]
Journalists Believe News and Opinion are Separate, but Readers Can’t Tell the Difference
From Kevin M. Lerner, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Marist College: The New York Times opinion editor James Bennet resigned recently after the paper published a controversial opinion essay by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton that advocated using the military to put down protests. The essay sparked outrage among the public as well as among younger reporters at […]