Two venerable institutions were in the news this past week for ethical transgressions from individuals within their respective organizations. At first blush, the incidents didn’t appear to be all that serious, yet both resulted in the organizations taking swift and decisive action. The transgressors were summarily fired. I’m talking of course about the Boys Scouts […]
Reputations: The AP & The Boy Scouts Read More »
Wrong Location OK So I arrived late. Who knew that O’Reilly Media/UBM TechWeb’s Web 2.0 Expo had moved from that behemoth complex along the Hudson River to the heart of Manhattan’s tourist district? (I guess I should have.) I thus missed the first of the four sessions I hoped to attend. It featured Karin Klein,
A Trio of Thought Leaders Read More »
“I feel like I have been robbed of everything, including my identity. I am not seeking fame or notoriety. I just want my life back.” Today’s New York Daily News reports on one Hermon Raju’s search for a crisis communications expert to help her get her life back. Ms. Raju is the 20-something woman who
“Raped by the Internet” Read More »
“Google is not God, it is not the First Amendment, and it’s not the truth,” said Michael Fertik, founder of Reputation Defender, re-named last week Reputation.com. “It’s probably the best machine of the last 10 years, but it’s just a machine.” — CNET (1/20/2011) Reputation.com founder Michael Fertik I recently had an opportunity to meet
Defending Reputation Defender Read More »
Over the years, this blog has examined how ordinary citizens and eventually bona fide newsmakers — from NGOs to CEOs to politicos — have the capacity to create, manage and syndicate original content, in effect giving them mostly unchecked control over their “media” personas. The advent of blogs, sponsored Facebook sites, Twitter feeds and YouTube
Conversation M̶i̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ Declining Read More »
Over the weekend, the inimitable Michael Arrington — he of TechCrunch fame — laid down the gauntlet to reputation minders everywhere via a blog post titled: “Reputation Is Dead: It’s Time To Overlook Our Indiscretions.” The post, which Mr. Arrington tweeted and retweeted assiduously, asserted that the myriad anonymous opinions, spawned by social media, renders
Two pieces broke over the weekend that make me wonder if the modern practice of public relations may finally be getting its just due. Or maybe the PR biz hasn’t changed as much as we’d all like to think. Both stories touch on the old and the new, the yin and the yang, the steadfast
Lloyd & Vince: What’s Changed? Read More »
I’ve long had a theory regarding reputation, and in particular, how one’s public persona is captured, reflected and shaped by the news media over time. It goes like this: the higher one ascends, the greater the capacity for him or her to descend. Conversely, the bigger the fall, the stronger the rebound. (“Everyone loves a
The Media Cloud and Reputation Read More »
I just heard from my buddy Howard Bragman, fresh off his PR duties on the Ed McMahon foreclosure imbroglio. Howard tipped me off to his latest rehabilitative work-in-progress: Al Reynolds. Who, you ask? Wasn’t he the guy that drove OJ on the infamous LA freeway chase? No. Different Al. This is the guy who, like
People often ask me where PR is headed. (Now there’s a million dollar question.) In taking a page from the PR playbook, I try to keep the answer simple and stupid. After all, it’s not the number of syllables, but rather the quality of the connection that separates the good communicators from the not-so-good. The
