Taking a Stand: How and When Should Companies Speak Out on Political Issues?
From Margaret Steen, writing for Directors & Boards… When the nation was riveted by protests over police killings, should companies have added their voices to the discussion? Should every company have an official and public position on sustainability? Questions like these are arising with increasing frequency, as companies find themselves under pressure — from employees, […]
“Use As Directed” Isn’t Just a Lawyer-Mandated Slogan
By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications (Editor’s Note: The article below was written on April 19. On May 5, Peloton completely reversed itself and agreed to recall its Tread Plus treadmills from the U.S. market in a deal struck with federal safety regulators. “I want to be clear, Peloton made a mistake in our initial response […]
Why do Americans Share so Much Fake News? One Big Reason is They Aren’t Paying Attention, New Research Suggests
By Denise Marie-Ordway, writing for the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School… Many Americans share fake news on social media because they’re simply not paying attention to whether the content is accurate — not necessarily because they can’t tell real from made-up news, a new study in Nature suggests. Lack of […]
Why Women Face Different Standards on Zoom and What to do About It
By George Bradley, writing for PR News… Research from The Harris Poll shows 39 percent of women, but just 25 percent of men, turn off video during Zoom calls. That’s a fairly significant difference. In addition, when they turn on video, women are more likely than men to prepare (do their hair, change clothes or clean visible […]
“I’m Afraid to Open Twitter”: Next-Level Harassment of Female Journalists is Putting News Outlets to the Test
By Charlotte Klein, writing for Vanity Fair… It started late one day, and you could see it kind of building on social media,” Washington Post national editor Steven Ginsberg recalled of the torrent of online abuse directed last month at Seung Min Kim. The Post reporter had been photographed showing Senator Lisa Murkowski a critical tweet sent by Neera Tanden and seeking comment, a standard journalistic practice somehow interpreted as […]
A Tasty Reputation Recipe for the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Debacle
by Howard Fencl, Crisis Communications If you’re of my vintage, when you were a little kid, you couldn’t wait for mom to get home on grocery shopping day so you could tear into a new box of breakfast cereal loaded with enough sugar to make months of payments on your dentist’s vacation home for one […]
New York Gov. Cuomo is the Textbook Example of How Not to Apologize
From Lisa Leopold, writing for The Conversation… New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s two apologies for alleged sexual misconduct are straight out of a master class in how not to say you’re sorry. The governor, who had become something of a celebrity during his nationally broadcast press conferences early in the coronavirus pandemic, is now embroiled in a sexual […]
Why Oprah’s Interview with Harry and Meghan Matters
From Tom Jones, writing for Poynter… Why should we care? What’s the big deal? Don’t we have more important things to worry about than some soap opera half a world away? That was the general feeling among many following Sunday night’s Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Millions of […]
Is Fighting Fake Videos Mission Impossible? No, But Tom Cruise Fakes Show Online Threats Rising
By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications Deepfake videos have been making news and shaking up people who worry about truth and fact for several years now. The recent release of Tom Cruise deepfakes on Tik Tok shows the technology has reached a new, disquieting level of realism. Chris Ume, the visual effects artist behind the Cruise […]
Slow Down and Write Better Emails
By Erica Dahawan, writing for the Harvard Business Review… Misunderstandings are rampant in today’s workplaces. While poor communication habits may feel inevitable with colleagues, we should always strive to engage with clarity and empathy, especially as we come to rely more on remote work and digital communication. What is a good first step to improving […]