By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications It’s everywhere. You check your Twitter feed. Read a news website or the daily paper. Turn on Nightly News or NPR. It’s an unrelenting and punishing tidal wave of political news pounding us over and over again. The slightest new wrinkle in a political drama, the smallest blip on Wall […]
By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications The Academy Awards ceremony is one of the most high-profile events in the entertainment industry, drawing millions of viewers from around the world. With a large audience and so many moving parts, it’s no surprise that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has created a “crisis team” to […]
By Juliette Kayyem for The Atlantic For years, Twitter was at its best when bad things happened. Before Elon Musk bought it last fall, before it was overrun with scammy ads, before it amplified fake personas, and before its engineers were told to get more eyeballs on the owner’s tweets, Twitter was useful in saving lives during natural […]
By Paul Stregevsky for PRNEWS While shopping, a sign jolted me. Its grammar was so jarring, I read it twice: “We require that all supplements are third-party tested to contain what they claim.” Shouldn’t it read “that all supplements be tested?” Fifty years ago, I’d have firmly answered, “Of course.” Today, “Maybe not.” Times ain’t what they used to was. As […]
By Erika Bradbury for PRNEWS It’s about to happen. You hear a story will run that says unfavorable things about your company. Or, perhaps it’s a story that might lead to negative financial ramifications for your client’s organization. Perhaps, you think, as a PR pro you are paid to use your relationship with the reporter […]
By Nicole Schuman for PRNEWS What does it mean to agree to ‘off the record’? “Off the record” is a phrase that can be used by a journalist or communicator during an interview or conversation. Some communicators or sources may wish to remain anonymous, but provide useful information to a member of the media. Some […]
By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications Use gruesome video on the air or not? Name a suicide victim? Grant a silhouette interview and anonymity to a nervous informant? I found myself smack in the middle of innumerable heated ethical discussions – and sometimes knock-down-drag-out fights — over ethical issues throughout my 20-plus years managing TV newsrooms. […]
By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications Why Did the Biden Team Fail to Use the Tenets of Basic Crisis Communications? When the news broke that classified documents were found in President Joe Biden’s Delaware home, the PR pundits immediately criticized his handling of the situation. They pointed out that Biden and his staff waited too long […]
By Richard Levick Speaking with journalists, shareholders, customers and stakeholders is easy when the going is good. As the old saying goes, “We are all capitalists on the way up but socialists on the way down.” But when things turn bad? Communication suddenly becomes much more challenging. As another old saying goes, “The gods of […]
GoLocal, an online publication in Providence, Rhode Island, recently wrote an editorial critical of recent decisions by Rhode Island education officials. The editorial creatively lists everything those officials have been doing to create a crisis juxtaposed with tips for managing a crisis the right way, written by Northeastern University’s Graduate School. We urge you to […]