By Charles Gary for Police Mag Less than a month into her job as director of public information, Capt. Nancy Demme of the Montgomery County (Md.) Police Department was looking forward to attending a media training program in neighboring Arlington. Demme never got to attend a single session. Instead, a deadly shooting spree began, and—ready […]
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 Liz Janisse, Rachel Rosenblatt for O’Dwyers We’re living in the era of the documentary, a time when [insert favorite streaming service here] has the scoop on cults, tigers, murder mysteries and even threats to corporate reputations. Today, there are more than 50 different streaming services in North America alone, all competing for subscribers and […]
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 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 […]
Whether it’s a staff meeting on Teams, a webinar on Zoom, a private conversation on FaceTime or a short training video you record on WebEx, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. And if it’s an interview with a seasoned reporter, the stakes are even higher. You must be prepared to […]
Dionne Waugh, formerly a reporter and now a public information officer for the Boulder, Colorado Police Department, has deep experience helping police departments communicate with the public during critical incidents. That experience includes a mass shooting in 2021 when 10 people lost their lives. In a recent article by Wayne Parham written for Police Magazine, […]
By Linda Descano and Ellen Mallernee for PRNews Today’s news media environment is a direct reflection of consumers’ preference for a choose-your-adventure style of news consumption. For the most part, consumers choose where, how and from whom they get news. This means they may wind up at very different places. The mix of news people […]