“Can’t fool all the people all the time. But with the internet, you can get close.” Since time immemorial, there have been those who polished the reputations of others. Plato did it…
Tag: Mitigating damage during a crisis
Is Anyone Really Surprised?
Best result in Crisis PR? No story. Next best: Making it less painful. Recently, a group of people was sitting around a table for an informal chat. The topic du jour: Is…
No Facts? No Problem. Just Speculate.
Journalists call them “thumb-suckers.” Short on facts for a story? No problem. Rumors and speculation are fine. You don’t even need to be accurate. If events ultimately turn out differently, blame the…
The Fantasy of Rationality
Symbols trump facts every time. Since we emerged from the intellectually impoverished Dark Ages, philosophers and economists have been trying to make people fit into neat boxes prescribed by universal and predictable…
It’s Not How Much You Say. It’s How Well.
If you do your job well, no one sees all the work behind the words. One hundred and fifty years ago in the midst of our nation’s Civil War, prominent politician, diplomat,…
No Mercy (from the Media)
The best solution is when everybody goes home happy. “Give us a break.” Even the first time I heard it, I couldn’t believe it. I was still a journalist — the head…
Holiday Edition: Perception & Reality
If you perceive it’s true, it is (to you). Perception defines reality, not the other way around. Think about it. A dozen people experience the same event, and you get a dozen…
Holding Hands
Crisis + you = emotional basket case? Meet a crisis PR guy’s alter ego: therapist. When someone’s reputation is under attack, they dissolve quickly into an emotional basket case. This is…
There are no such things as magical unicorns…or PR do-overs
Too bad these don’t exist in real life…In PR, there are no do overs. Journalists are a lot of things. Forgiving isn’t one of them. (I know, because I was one.) If…