Category: Uncategorized

Citing pressure from its members, the Niemen Foundation at Harvard cancelled the scheduled media training session for Chinese officals who had hoped to brush up on the U.S. media in preparation for their playing host to the 2008 Olympic Games. It’s incredulous to me that media training, message development, etc. is still viewed insideously by…… Continue reading It’s All Chinese To Me

WMA I recently met the in-house PR guy for the William Morris Agency, Chris Petrikin. He is by my estimation a solid communications professional who has served both on the media and clients sides of the dance. Chris now appears to be caught in the middle of a very public spat between his bosses who have…… Continue reading William Morris’s PR Woes

I will try my best not to politicize this space, even though personal bias seems to be encouraged in this medium called the blogosphere. Yet, one can’t help but have noticed how the wayward plane in Washington dominated the headlines yesterday and today, severely diluting the “news” of Macauley’s testimony. (Those in the PR profession…… Continue reading The Wheels of Fortune

.Enough with the weddings. Let’s cut to today’s unsettling testimony of child actor Macauley Culkin at the Michael Jackson molestation trial. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT THE STAR OF “HOME ALONE” TO SAY? That the gloved one took off his gloves while the two coddled in Neverland? Of course he wouldn’t admit that he “inhaled” –…… Continue reading Bedtime Stories

Oh That Dress! Choosing the right partner in Hollywood is as important as choosing the right agent. The bigger the name, the bigger the boost to one’s career. Tom Cruise’s new (virginal) squeeze Katie Holmes (who, you ask?) will no doubt be coming soon to a theatre near you. However, the bigger the names, the greater…… Continue reading The Art of the Public/Private Wedding

While Paula sought salvation for her troubles via a carefully scripted appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” and subsequently as a guest host on “ET,” the Runaway Bride, who can pick and choose any program on which to make her national TV debut, seems to be going for the sympathy vote. Today she checked into a…… Continue reading Paula and the Runaway Bride

So big whoop! Why is media-training for the Chinese authorities, hosts to the 2008 Olympic Games, considered such a scandal worthy of a news feature in The New York Times and an editorial in The Boston Globe? Perhaps it has something to do with the “spin class’s” designers and their affiliation with the esteemed Nieman…… Continue reading Spin Class

Contrary to popular belief, PR professionals actually prefer journalists who exercise balance in their reporting versus those who don’t. How many times have we been faced with an investigative reporter or TV news producer’s request for an interview, knowing full well that the reporter’s story premise is a foregone conclusion (in spite of controvening facts)?…… Continue reading Strengthening Mainstream Media’s Hand

So Paula’s PR advisors finally came up with (or were invited and agreed to) a tactical and seemingly strategic solution to Paula’s media woes: have her make fun of her own predicament by appearing on “Saturday Night Live.” How does this irreverant approach jibe with her still defiant public statement? One bi-product of course is…… Continue reading Paula & SNL

Paula Abdul is in a real pickle. You know it when her Beverly Hills publicist, Karynne Tencer, doesn’t return repeated phone calls from Jacques Steinberg, The New York Times’s lead TV industry writer. Perhaps The New York Times doesn’t hold much water on the left coast?Clearly, the weeks of speculation over ABC-TV’s “Primetime” expose would…… Continue reading The Paula & Corey Affair