Photo Courtesy of Facebook.com Why would the heir to a tobacco company fortune, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, turn his back on cigarette smoking? “Because I watched my father die from cigarettes,” comments Patrick …
Nike Just Did It
Nike reveals that Colin Kaepernick, American football quarterback and activist, will lead their 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign. Colin Kaepernick has been widely known for initiating the trend of kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. It caused him to surrender his role as starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and become a free agent. However, …
Pulling Strings!
Consistency is one of READY FOR MEDIA’s C’s of Communication. Consistent communication is crucial to both internal and external communications. Jingjing Hu, a music student at DePaul University School of Music, booked a round trip to Miami for a music festival in which she was performing. Her husband, Jay Tang, wrote on Facebook, “I purchased two round trip tickets for …
The Battle for Credibility
Presidential Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders further jeopardized her credibility with the news media by responding defensively when caught in a lie. Instead of acknowledging the mistake, and apologizing, Ms. Sanders chose to attack the reporters along with their credibility. “Frankly, I think my credibility is probably higher than the media’s … I think that if you spent a little bit more …
Shooting from the Hip
Defined as “reacting suddenly or without careful consideration of one’s words or actions,” is the most recent fault of too many tweeters who experience very serious consequences. Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne), for example, recently published a racist tweet toward former Obama aide, Valerie Jarrett, resulting in ABC’s cancellation of Ms. Barr’s No. 1-rated TV show, her reruns scrapped and her dismissal from the talent …
When is a customer not a customer?
Do you have to be a paying customer to receive customer service? Recently, two African American men were escorted out of a Starbucks in Philadelphia. They asked for the restroom and occupied a table in the store, although, they hadn’t made a purchase. Calling the police on them seemed extreme. Many questioned whether kicking these men out was simply company protocol or racial injustice. …
The “f” Word
The “f” word is in big trouble. And it’s classic! The once social media darling, Facebook, is now facing a crisis of unexpected proportions, complete with testimony before Congress: both the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees and the House Energy and Commerce Committee! All, seemingly, without a plan. A crisis plan. Facing a weekend crash course in crisis communication skills coaching, CEO Mark …
No Failure to Communicate
“What we got here is failure … to communicate.” was the iconic line from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman. A petty criminal sentenced to two years on a Florida prison farm, Luke was a rebel with an unbreakable will. Even in the face of repeated stints in the prison’s dreaded solitary confinement cell, “the box,” his bravado …
Talk About a Stick-y Situation
The icy relations between North and South Korea thawed a bit in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Despite Kim Jong-un’s call for “independent unification” free from the interference of other countries, in particular the U.S., the Korean women’s hockey coach was 29-year-old Minnesota-native Sarah Murray. Facing a situation that she never expected, Ms. Murray was forced to merge her original …
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
There’s an old saying in journalism, the camera doesn’t lie, nor does it blink. But until recently, the camera has always been in the hands professionals. Not in the hands of citizens documenting police or airline brutality. Now everyone with a cell phone, and that’s pretty much everyone, is a documentarian, taking cameras and matters into his or her own hands. And …