Wells Fargo and Ellen Make it a Week of Weak Apologies
From Seth Arenstein, writing for PR News: It’s shaping up to be a week of apologies. First, there was Ellen DeGeneres’ joke-infused apology for months of allegations that the “Be-Kind” lady’s show houses a toxic work environment. Moreover, talent and staff claim Ellen is unkind. In the opening monologue of her first show back from summer hiatus Monday […]
US Presidential Debates: 3 Studies You Should Know About
From Denise-Marie Ordway, writing for the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School: With the first presidential debate before the 2020 general election one week away, journalists across the U.S. will be trying to help voters understand the importance of this national event and how it could alter the […]
How Viewers of the Presidential Debates Can Become Better Informed Voters (And Not Alienate Family and Friends)
By Arthur Solomon, former VP at Burson-Marsteller: In a recent post, I wrote, “Soon the presidential debates will begin with their ridiculous format of having the candidates answer questions in a few seconds, instead of giving them sufficient time to fully state their positions. Even worse, after each debate TV pundits will criticize the demeanor, […]
10 Ways to Spot Online Misinformation
From H. Colleen Sinclair,Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Mississippi State University, writing in The Conversation: Propagandists are already working to sow disinformation and social discord in the run-up to the November elections. Many of their efforts have focused on social media, where people’s limited attention spans push them to share items before even reading them – in part because […]
Dealing With a Crisis
The managing partner of Hennes Communications, Thom Fladung, was recently interviewed on the subject of crisis communications for Ari Lewis and his Mastering the Attention Economy video podcast. Tune-in here for a short, 20-minute master class on crisis management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7jTEG7cHaE
Crisis Comms Lessons From a Tennis Tantrum
From our good friends at PRCG | Haggerty, written by Thom Weidlich… Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 ranked men’s singles tennis player, threw a hissy at the U.S. Open on Sunday and bashed a ball that hit a line judge in the throat. Djokovic was ejected from the tournament, was fined and suffered a blow […]
The Two Political Conventions – It’s Not Just What You Heard, But What You Saw
We’ve said it over and over again to our clients and in this newsletter: how you say something is almost always more important than the way you say it. Joe Navarro agrees. He’s author of the international bestseller What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People and The Dictionary of Body […]
They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen?
By Elizabeth Weil, writing for ProPublica… What a week. Rough for all Californians. Exhausting for the firefighters on the front lines. Heart-shattering for those who lost homes and loved ones. But a special “Truman Show” kind of hell for the cadre of men and women who’ve not just watched California burn, fire ax in hand, […]
Are Fans Ready for Some NFL Football?
Nicole Schuman, writing in PR News… Major League Soccer relaunched. Then golf. Major League Baseball. NASCAR. The NBA. The WNBA. The National Hockey League. It’s the National Football League’s time to shine. Excitement for the unique 2020 season began in April, when most people were locked down at home due to the quick spread of […]
How Police Departments are Applying the Principles of Crisis Communications in the Age of Citizen Journalism
By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications As protests rage across the country in the wake of police shootings, police departments are learning that shaping the public’s perception of any given event requires an increasingly sophisticated communications response. Gone are the days when a department’s public information officer would brief the media and then retreat from view […]