All Blog Comments

John Maroon - WikiLeaks: trying to have it both ways - PRWeek US

John Maroon — Sat, 4 Dec 2010 15:37:36 +0000

Outstanding column...WikiLeaks is dangerous, reckless and criminal. My hope is that we find a way to prosecute Assange.

Davis Young - Transparency is the new communications mantra - PRWeek US

Davis Young — Thu, 2 Dec 2010 22:53:59 +0000

Yes, there are indeed matters that are legitimately confidential. Details of personnel issues. Premature or selective disclosure of financial or other material information such as a pending acquisition. Marketing plans. That's not the issue for me. Rather, it's companies that are not authentic in the way they provide information, companies that are more interested in meeting a legal disclosure requirement than they are in really communicating. At the end of the day, companies exist based on goodwill from their stakeholders and the broad public. If they would start to be a bit more genuine in how they communicate, they might find they are faced with less of the regulations they dread. Davis Young Meeker-Young LLC

Ron Levy - Greenpeace alleges corporate espionage in lawsuit EDITING - PRWeek US

Ron Levy — Wed, 1 Dec 2010 19:42:51 +0000

Since this news item can call to mind the question of what a PR firm wanted to find out about Greenpeace, it seems only fair to raise the question of what Greenpeace wanted to keep secret. Also why. Is there something, or several things, Greenpeace doesn't want the public to know about Greenpeace, and hires lawyers to prevent the public from finding out?

NFHughes - Healthcare Roundtable: Careful diagnosis - PRWeek US

NFHughes — Wed, 1 Dec 2010 14:21:06 +0000

This discussion exemplifies the complexity of health care public relations in today's society. At the center of it all is the need to be transparent. This will be one of the watch words in April at the PRSA Health Academy Conference because managing transparency cuts across all health care sectors - http://www.prsa.org/Conferences/HealthAcademy/ind...

Ron Levy - American Express promotes small businesses - PRWeek US

Ron Levy — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:41:56 +0000

This is an odd place to disclose an affair of the heart but I'll tell you: I love American Express. Also Margie Booth who is better looking than that centurion guy on American Express cards. AmEx helped me expertly all over the world as an individual and when I headed my company, and now Amex and Booth are helping PR. It's by demonstrating that "do unto others as ye would have others do unto you" is not just a proverb but sound PR advice. By promoting small business, Amex is encouraging small businesses to promote Amex and that is a LOT of promotion. It"s like J&J helping nurses and DuPont helping farmers. Greater love hath few men or women than love for those who help them. I do love AmEx.

Ron Levy - Transparency is the new communications mantra - PRWeek US

Ron Levy — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:00:54 +0000

we have no oligation to be nudists physically nor informationally. On the contrary, we have a right to conceal our private parts and private facts. "You have a right to remain silent," the police warn even criminals who have been caught in the act, and you have no less right to remain silent if you are not a criminal but represent a corporation. The idea that we should tell everything we know and tell it right away is ridiculous, so I have submitted to Steve Barrett an article ridiculing it. There is a case to be made against excessive transparency and in favor of factual modesty. Those who want to be reporters should perhaps work for media, not in PR.

Davis Young - Transparency is the new communications mantra - PRWeek US

Davis Young — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:08:52 +0000

This blog supports the same basic point a series of speakers just made at a four-part series we produced at Kent State University. Simply put, there are no secrets anymore. Just deal with your issue as quickly and completely as you are able. Davis Young Meeker-Young LLC

Realistic PR Veteran - Survey: 91% say they\'ve used or know of do-it-yourself news services - PRWeek US

Realistic PR Veteran — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:36:53 +0000

You can't pay what you don't have. If the money isn't in the account, you can't write checks. The PR error here was saying "no pay for the last four days of Thanksgiving week" instead of "pay for the last four days will be delayed by necessity until money is in the account so the checks will be good." The PR problem here is that the employees will all start looking for other employment, so the employer and the clients will not get much performance from the employees. Even worse, clients commonly must pay their bills before results are in, so how many new accounts will buy the service knowing that it may not be in business long enough to supply results? And how many old accounts, with bills still npaid, will pay ow before results are in? It would have been better to tell the employees "we're sorry for the delay but we'll pay you when we get it and we'll try to throw in something extra to make it up to you."

Yvonne - Using the "40 Under 40" in the classroom - PRWeek US

Yvonne — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 20:49:00 +0000

I strongly agree that developing a specialty is very important and necessary for every PR practitioner. Just like our professors, each of whom is renowned for the contribution and achievement in a specific area. Students should make a decision in the early stage of our career that in which area our passion and potential lies. Even though we take classes for every respect of our industry, if we can improve our knowledge of and skill for only one of them to a great degree we still can be successful. All around the world, the division of work is getting more and more complicated. This means specialty is becoming a trend. The earlier we made our choice, the better it is for our career development.

Former Law Student - Survey: 91% say they\'ve used or know of do-it-yourself news services - PRWeek US

Former Law Student — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 21:12:41 +0000

Employers who don't pay employees for a legal holiday may need not a bailout but bail! Any company can run short of money but the customary move is to pay suppliers a few days late (suppliers are used to this if it doesn't hapen too often), not to avoid paying employees at all for a few days. Or promise to pay the employees a few days late. Lawyers can be a terrible pain in the neck and elsewhere but sometimes it pays to consult them before deciding not to pay employees. The neck one saves may be ones own..

Thankful PR Employee - Survey: 91% say they\'ve used or know of do-it-yourself news services - PRWeek US

Thankful PR Employee — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 20:52:56 +0000

A PR truth for companies is that sometimes what you do unto others you also do unto yourself. When a company anounces on Monday that employees won't be paid for Tuesday thru Friday, how will employees who live week to week buy food? The company is hit by reduced trust from employees and. clients and for what? Can a company actually save enough on four day's pay (even if it's legal not to pay employees for Thanksgiving) to be worth reduced trust from employees and clients? Will employees not now look for another employer and will clients not look for a more trustworthy firm? Is a four-day layoff good PR or it it ridiculous from a PR viewpoint?

Absent by Necessity - Survey: 91% say they\'ve used or know of do-it-yourself news services - PRWeek US

Absent by Necessity — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:12:40 +0000

One of our blessings for which we can be grateful is time off, and many of the NAPS employees won't lose a cent because many are in sales and receive substantial commissions. When a good companylike this has a layoff because of economic necessity, the result may be to make the company stronger and better able to continue employing those who are asked to return. For employees who are out because of downsizing, it's tough in this hiliday season but it's a risk at all companies.

Ron Levy - PR needs to hire for the future, not get stuck in the past - PRWeek US

Ron Levy — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:20:05 +0000

What is IN line is PERFORMANCE so PR increasingly means Performance Rewards. Big hitters get a big number on the compensation line, and non-hitters get the unemployment line. Penn's Wharton School, my alma mater, teaches that succesful free enterprise means not "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" which was the Communist party line, but "from each according to his ability, to each according to his performance." Darwin's "survival of the fittest" was not just a clever line but is management's bottom line oriented mandate on who shall live, who shall not, who shall prosper and who shall fall by the wayside.

david hargreaves - Report: only small percentage use social media to complain - PRWeek US

david hargreaves — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:10:03 +0000

thanks for running the piece Jason. It is interesting that the worst industry was technology and the best industry was the automotive when it comes to positive fan pages. If readers want to see a video with a lot of the findings in it can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/beyond

Judith - Act like a journalist to boost your PR - PRWeek US

Judith — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:24:53 +0000

I disagree. Journalism should deal with facts only. If you want to show something that looks like a journalistic material, this is when you define the objectives and hire an advertising agency, which will create the material and plan all the enchantment. PR sells dreams just like advertising.

joe kapersky - PR needs to hire for the future, not get stuck in the past - PRWeek US

joe kapersky — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:29:31 +0000

wow. your comments are so out of line.

Sabramedia - Notes on the news business in a digital wasteland - PRWeek US

Sabramedia — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:17:49 +0000

Jason, thank you for your fair assessment of the paywall business model. Although it's a tough concept for many to grasp, we think it's part of the solution to rescue and reinvent the traditional newspaper. @sabramedia

Thankful PR Employee - Survey: 91% say they\'ve used or know of do-it-yourself news services - PRWeek US

Thankful PR Employee — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:52:45 +0000

OMX is doing better than some older suppliers of PR services. One vendor yesterday e-mailed its emplployees that because the company has had unexpectedly high expenses, employees will for the last four days of this week be on an unpaid vacation! In the spirit of Thaksgiving, let us be thankful four our blessings.

Ron Levy - PR needs to hire for the future, not get stuck in the past - PRWeek US

Ron Levy — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:26:20 +0000

Who's left, like the marvelous girls we want to marry, are the superb PR performers we want to employ. Derek Jeter lives! So do PR execs who perform just as well and produce thrilling results. But losers need to get lost. Fire the self-imagined Great Lover before he makes your company a not-so-great defendant. Fire the ingratiating rat who with seeming reluctance squeals to management; you could be next. Fire the over-eager hunter who right after bagging one great job starts looking for another. Fire the gatherer who swipes not just Scotch Tape and a few pens for the kids but airplane tickets which is a lot more than kidding around. And get someone else to fire the capable PR executive, possibly charming and witty, who is your rival for the next job up.

Ron Levy - Rolls-Royce\'s silence has both pros and cons - PRWeek US

Ron Levy — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:12:18 +0000

"Silent Knight" rhymes with "all is bright" but is not a briht public pose nore an admirable status. "You .have a right to remain silent," police tell the accused on TV, but in real life remaining siltent after major media questions can make you look as if you don't have a good answer. Even a cautious answer may not be good enough because passengers and airlines may be understandably reluctant to fly with used engines that have been repaired. Great PR firms, experienced with crises, might counsel announcing the spending of over $500 million on "eight great product improvements" (not repairs) to make the engine "by far the safest engine on earth--the Rolls Royce of airplane engines."