By David Bauder, writing for the Associated Press… A media frenzy was born on Feb. 27, when the hashtag #WhereIsKate exploded online with speculation about the whereabouts of Britain’s Princess of Wales. It opened a rabbit hole of amateur detective work, memes, bizarre theories and jokes — mixed with genuine concern about Kate’s health — […]
Simon Reynolds at Cision writes… We live in a fast-moving media landscape, where rumors and misinformation can surface and spread quickly across social media channels. This, coupled with consumers being more skeptical than ever, means brands face challenges in maintaining their reputation and managing public perception. PR and communications teams know that they must play a […]
by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications A woman armed with an attitude and a smartphone is aggressively patrolling the halls of a county administration building taking video every step of the way. She refuses to identify herself to the county workers she confronts in public spaces in the building, yet she disrupts their workday barking incessant […]
From Sara Ödmarka at the Department of Communication, Quality Management and Information Systems, Mid Sweden University,Sundsvall, Sweden and Jonas Nicola at the Center for Sociological Research, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium “When I asked people ‘Are you journalists?’ they would say no. But if I asked them ‘Is what is what you do journalistic?’ they say […]
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school is the owner of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Network. It also operates PolitiFact. In journalism circles, Poynter is considered to be a trusted source. So when Poynter publishes a headline like this it’s a […]
By Rowan Philip for NiemanLab In October 2023, an AI-synthesized impersonation of the voice of an opposition leader helped swing the election in Slovakia to a pro-Russia candidate. Another AI audio fake was layered onto a real video clip of a candidate in Pakistan, supposedly calling on voters to boycott the general election in February 2024. Ahead of […]
By Eric Rose for PRNews This recent headline would make any crisis communicator cringe: “Amazon’s plans to advance its interests in California laid bare in leaked memo.” The story, which unfolded through a leaked internal memo, shed light on Amazon’s growth strategy in the Southern California region and its 2024 internal community outreach plans. As the […]
From our friend and colleague in Australia, Tony Jaques… Who should speak in a crisis? That deceptively simple question can help determine whether an organisation’s reputation is enhanced or irreparably damaged when things go wrong. And behind that question are two common errors in crisis management. The first error is the idea that “speaking with one voice” […]
By Chris Gidez for PRNews Imagine a Jeopardy category titled, “Tired Corporate PR Phrases.” For example, “delivering solid results,” “leverage our strong position,” “people are our greatest asset,” and—perhaps the most infamous corporate cliché of all—”Safety is our top priority.” These phrases have become so over-used as to be worthless. But we continue to see them in […]
By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications Whether in-person or virtual, the kids are still in school. For the moment, however, this will be a class for the adults – and class is now in session on how to handle a social media crisis. On a Labor Day Sunday some time ago, the leadership team at a school […]