Laughter: the Best Medicine

“Start with a joke,” many speakers are advised. And that’s exactly how Saturday Night Live head writers and Weekend Update hosts, Michael Che and Colin Jost began as hosts of Monday night’s 70th Primetime Emmy Awards. Diversity, a major topic for the entertainment industry, in general and award shows, in particular, was gris for their mill.         …

Tech Talks: the Wild Wild West

Should Facebook, Twitter and Google face regulatory oversight from the government? Or does that compromise Americans’ Constitutional Right of Free Speech? Just like the Wild Wild West, new frontiers in social media are constantly being pioneered. In today’s society, these large tech companies are shooting from the hip to provide people worldwide a platform of free speech without the law …

What’s in a Headline? Everything!

Print journalists know from the inverted pyramid that the lead paragraph requires the 5 W’s and H … What, When, Where, Who, Why and How. And  a good headline tells the whole story. Like this: Trump treats politics like a knife fight. Democrats can’t pretend it’s a garden party. An effective headline says it all and this headline does just …

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 …

All the world’s a stage

In his play, As You Like It, Shakespeare wrote: “All the world’s a stage and men and women are merely players. They have their exits and entrances … “ Cue the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Korea. For the medalists, there will be corporate sponsorships much like that of Max Factor’s waterproof makeup for America’s Olympic gold medal synchronized …

The Super Bowl of Commercials

In Super Bowl 2018, advertisers gave us a break, a commercial break, from all the recent political controversy that has been cited as a factor in declining TV ratings for the NFL this season. Even the NFL got into the spirit with “Touchdowns to Come” starring NY Giants quarterback, Eli Manning and his wide receiver, Odell Beckham dirty dancing! Toyota set the emotional bar …

Dove Creates a Soap Opera

The famous Unilever body wash brand, Dove, struggling to emphasize positive body image, managed to offend its female audience not once, but twice this past year. “Dove’s advertisements are some of the worst social media disasters of 2017,”  Jacob Shelton wrote in Ranker.com. “The corporations that made the list performed “big stunts, with the hopes of appealing to people’s sense of either …

How to Avoid #Hashtag Hazards

The hashtag, when used correctly, can reach a broader group of people than those who follow you on Twitter or connect with you on LinkedIn. It facilitates branding and allows companies to create catchy slogans motivating audiences to remember and to respond. However, the hashtag is more complicated than just throwing a few words together. Here are a few basic …