By James G. Robinson, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review: A central irony of the newsroom is that while many journalists’ decisions are made with readers in mind, the audiences for their work often remain unfocused, imagined abstractions, built on long-held assumptions, newsroom folklore, and imperfect inference. This is not particular to journalism. Writing, like […]
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications This 4th of July, amid the fireworks, hot dogs and parades, let’s remember another grand American tradition: making stuff up. Or, as John Adams noted with delight in his diary in 1769, he’d spent the evening in “a curious employment. Cooking up Paragraphs, Articles, Occurrences etc. – working the political Engine!” […]
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications The Q&A session is a staple of leadership, whether those questions come at you in employee meetings, community forums or in an interview with a journalist. It can be challenging in any setting. But doing a Q&A amid a crisis or serious issue your company or organization is facing ratchets up […]
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] Our blog posts typically deal with heavy-going crisis fare. I’m lightening up just this once because of an audacious filmmaker’s response to a Sunday evening tsunami of social media angst washing over the third episode in this, the final season of Game of Thrones. Did you see it? Probably not. […]
Q: How do you convince leadership that creating a crisis communications plan is a good idea? A: We get it. People don’t want to think about their businesses or organizations being thrown into a crisis because there’s been a data breach, or an allegation of sexual harassment, or an inappropriate social media post. And who […]
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 and subsequent focus on the Boeing 737Max airliner brought with it the usual analysis and reaction from crisis communications consultants. Some of our crisis communications peers provided insight into how Boeing was dealing with its crisis. And some reaction, unfortunately, we found lacking in […]
By Bruce Hennes, CEO, Hennes Communications On September 11, 2001, the world changed. The terrorist attack on the U.S. altered American politics and propelled us into a foreign war, changing government surveillance, our travel habits and even the architecture of our buildings. On a micro-level, it also changed Hennes Communications. For the previous 12 years, […]
From Homeland Security Today Gate 15’s David Pounder asked Homeland Security Today Managing Editor Bridget Johnson to help paint a threat assessment for the year ahead for the benefit of critical infrastructure entities and Information Sharing and Analysis Centers and Organizations. We share that Q&A here for the benefit of all HSToday partners and readers. In […]
Q: How can my organization use legal privilege to protect sensitive information when we’re dealing with a communications firm and discussing with them a controversial issue or a crisis? A: [From Stephanie York, Hennes Communications:] You can never ensure that sensitive communications will fall under the attorney work product doctrine – ultimately, a judge must […]
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications The reaction is typical. Watch what happens when a business, organization or news outlet removes a user’s post from a Facebook page, website or comment string. “Censorship!” “You’re violating my free speech rights!” “You’re trashing the First Amendment!” Well, no. None of that has happened. The laws around social media use […]