In recent days we have seen two of the giants of the Wireless world – Apple and Verizon – respond differently to problems with their smartphone products, resulting in different reactions from consumers and the mainstream and trade media. Read more
CommCore Blog and News
Jumping to Conclusions:The Importance of Context in a Sound Bite World
In every field there are teaching moments, and boy, do we have one right now in the communications and media arena.
Shirley Sherrod is an African American civil servant who heads up the Department of Agriculture’s rural development office in Georgia. Read more
Does the picture tell the story?
Front page of USA Today this morning, and just about everywhere else in the media: a “before” and “after” photo or video clip of the oil well deep in the Gulf.
Read more The Communications Conundrum Exposed: The Need To Know vs. The Need To Say No
The recent memo from U. S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to his colleagues at the Pentagon on how to interact with the media comes as no surprise in the wake of the forced resignation of General Stanley McChrystal as commander of American and Coalition forces in Afghanistan. Read more
Unauthorized Leaks: If It Might Happen, It Most Likely Will
The U.S. Army has announced it is filing new criminal charges against a private who earlier admitted to leaking classified video of an Apache helicopter air strike in Baghdad in 2007 that killed 12 civilians including two journalists: http://nyti.ms/bihbyg Read more
Rolling Stone and McChrystal: Sucker Punch or Not?
The recent Rolling Stone article that got General Stanley McChrystal sacked as commander of US forces in Afghanistan has also raised an important issue about what it means to go “off the record” with a reporter.
Read more Correcting the record
The Washington Post’s front page article on how US Government officials in Pakistan are trying to counter what they believe are inaccurate and wrongly slanted articles in the Pakistani media http://bit.ly/ddCiNY Read more
What Was He Thinking?
The Loose Lips lesson seems to be at hazard these days, ignored or forgotten by people who should know better, and whose careers have been sunk as a consequence.
A couple of weeks back it was Hearst newspapers White House Correspondent Helen Thomas. Read more
Lessons from the Helen Thomas Blunder
When Helen Thomas resigned as White House correspondent for Hearst newspapers earlier this month after more than 50 years as a front-row fixture at Presidential news conferences, it signaled more than the end of an era. Read more
McDonald’s Drinking Glass Recall: Crisis Response and Opportunity
McDonald’s recent voluntary recall of 12 million tainted “Shrek”-themed drinking glasses for children illustrates a fundamental rule of crisis communications: crises can bring opportunities, particularly when you have a crisis plan in place and act on it decisively. Read more