By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications Attorney Andy Phillips, like many folks, looks back a bit wistfully at the “good old days.” “I wish it was back in the day where I could go home at 6 o’clock and sit down with the paper for a half hour,” says Phillips, whose practice at von Briesen & […]
John Guilfoil writes… The Astroworld Tragedy is gut-wrenching. Media reporting about it, especially a New York Times story today, reminds us how important professional journalism is to finding the truth behind a major incident. In the story, a source tells the Times that Houston Police Chief Troy Finner shared concerns about crowd control directly with performer Travis […]
David Ball, writing for PR News, hits it on the head… With the return of HBO’s “Succession” next month, I remember at least one teachable communication moment from the second season. In episode six, a magazine writer approaches the leaders of fictitious Waystar Royco with a story of sexual harassment and abuse within the company. The story […]
by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications When we help clients break news – good or bad – we often talk about one of the few redeeming factors of social media: Your company’s ability to leverage its social platforms to get its message around the media filter and push audiences to factual, contextual information on your organization’s […]
From Renee DiResta, writing in The Atlantic… One Sunday morning in July of last year, a message from an anonymous account appeared on “Bernie or Vest,” a Discord chat server for fans of Senator Bernie Sanders. It contained an image of Shahid Buttar, the San Francisco activist challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the 2020 congressional runoff, and […]
By Evan Nierman, writing for PR News… The swift downfall of “Jeopardy!” host Mike Richards is the latest example of the jeopardy that surrounds us in today’s lightning-fast unforgiving age of social media. Whether you make a wrong move, say something offensive, or have ugly skeletons in your closet, the career-ending rush to judgement can be fast […]
By Tom Jones, writing for Poynter… If the world can see what is happening, help is more likely to follow. One of the most powerful storms to ever hit the U.S. — 16 years to the day that Hurricane Katrina hit the same part of the country — dramatically overtook the news on Sunday. Right […]
Tim O’Brien writes… There are anniversaries and then there are anniversaries. The one that’s coming up is the latter. On September 11, 2021, the country will mark 20 years since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that not only shook a nation, but changed it. The event created a new term that defines the era in […]
From Bar Leader, a publication of the American Bar Association: “You’re all living in a media revolution,” said Thom Fladung, vice president of Hennes Communications. “And you don’t even know it.” Offering a window onto one aspect of that revolution, Bruce Hennes, president of the same crisis communications firm, said, “I don’t think there’s a reporter […]
From our friends at PRCG/Haggerty… The Cleveland Indians professional baseball team, like similarly branded clubs, has been pressured for years to change its name, which many Native Americans view as racist. Last week, it unveiled a new moniker with a campaign aimed at anticipating blowback. It wasn’t just good PR, but good crisis communications. Baseball […]