Lessons From 2016 for the News Media, as the Ground Shifts
From Jim Rutenberg: Starting a weekly column about the nexus between media, technology, culture and politics in the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign was like parachuting into a hail of machine-gun crossfire. Dense smoke was everywhere as the candidates and their supporters unloaded on one another and, frequently, the news media, which more than […]
Assessing the Board’s Role Before the Next Crisis
From The National Association of Corporate Directors and The Wall Street Journal: As a host of threats continue to mount against organizations, more boards are weighing a broader, more proactive approach to crisis management. This is a positive development: in doing so, these boards are opening the door to adding significant value and stability to the organizations they oversee. Boards are uniquely […]
Do You Have a Crisis Communications Plan?
[By Bruce Hennes, Managing Partner, Hennes Communications, and Keynote Speaker, American Public Power Association Legal & Regulatory Conference, 2016] It’s not just terrorist attacks, explosions, active shooters, and environmental disasters. More often than not, it’s going to be sexual misconduct, data theft, unfair labor practices, OSHA complaints, mergers & acquisitions, layoffs, accusations, or employee fraud […]
Reputation Management, Fake News and How to Deal With the Constantly Changing Rules
[By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications] Remember the good old days – like, oh a few months ago – when one of the major threats to reputation was getting caught up in critical news coverage or disparaging social media chatter? That was then. This is now: Try fighting to save that reputation when you’re under attack from […]
Mother Tongue of Global Crisis Management: Social Media
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] Recently, Thom Fladung and I had the honor of meeting with a group of Russian public relations professionals from Volgograd to answer their questions about crisis management and media relations in the U.S. The group, sponsored by the Council of International Programs USA, spent a week in Cleveland meeting with […]
As Profanity-Laced Video Leaks, Outlets Grapple with Trump’s Language
From Poynter: Open microphones have often left politicians and other powerful people red-faced and apologetic. But The Washington Post’s decision Friday to publish a video of Donald Trump explaining how he kissed and groped women pushed some newsrooms to dance around the graphic language while others took it public unedited. Because Trump’s attitude toward women […]
Body Language at the Second Presidential Debate
From The Washington Post: It’s not our faces that tend to offer the strongest clues about what we are feeling, but rather our bodies. In fact, the more intense the emotion, the more difficult the human face becomes to read and the more telling and accurate body language seems to become. That’s what a team of […]
I Muted Donald Trump & Hillary Clinton During the Debate. I Still Knew the Score.
We’ve told people for years that HOW you say something is more important than the exact words you use. Last week, the New York Times watched the first presidential debate with the sound off. The idea was simple: to test the theory that what presidential candidates say during debates is less important than what they look like […]
Trick or Treat! Outrage Masquerades as Principles in Crisis Management
Why are organizations punished in the Court of Public Opinion for violating ethical principles when they have not broken any law? Dr. Peter Sandman, a preeminent risk communications expert, says when an issue sparks outrage (and we see plenty of organizations pilloried in social media by outraged trolls every day), society becomes desperate to blame […]
You’re Ready For Your Video Interview. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Don’t like being interviewed on video? Prefer an in-person meeting? Well, according to Chris Brown, Vice President of Human Resources at West Corporation, you are out of luck. Video interviewing is here to stay. Love it (most Millennials) or loathe it (many of the rest of us) we’ve all got to get better at it. […]