Nearly lost among the hoopla of the Supreme Court health care decision yesterday was the news that JP Morgan’s trading loss had doubled, possibly tripled. Apparently, unwinding the bad trades is taking longer than expected. So now, CEO Jamie Dimon has more explaining to do to shareholders and possibly, Congress again. It is humbling for […]
Posted on June 29th, 2012 by admin
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Here is an example of culture confounding law enforcement — Title IX and women’s athletics. The hard truth is that a few athletic programs in universities get attention and funding and others don’t. Football followed by basketball are the main focus, and they are predominantly male. Women’s sports programs are not as well funded even […]
Posted on June 28th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 185 Comments »
It’s always nice when one can get a group of senators siding with one’s industry. Cranberry growers of the US now have a caucus in Congress that is dedicated to the ongoing health of the berry business. Look for cranberry juice to be exempted from restrictions on sugary drinks. Also look for the cranberry industry to bolster its […]
Posted on June 27th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 175 Comments »
This opinion piece is eye-opening. It points to the concentration of technology manufacturing in Asia and the danger to the supply chain of having it there. What if, for example, China fell into political turmoil and manufacturing ceased suddenly. Companies like Apple would shut down. From a communications perspective, there isn’t much one can […]
Posted on June 26th, 2012 by admin
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One lesson PR practitioners learn early is that a small mistake can transform into a large error and a headache for a company. Here is a case in which less than a barrel of a caustic chemical will cost a refinery hundreds of millions of dollars of repair work as well as months of lost […]
Posted on June 25th, 2012 by admin
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News that Time-Warner cable has patented a function to disable fast forwarding on digital video recorders makes for an interesting PR challenge. Time-Warner invented the technology for advertisers so viewers won’t skip over ads. However, that is precisely what viewers want to do. Who wins? Viewers won’t, but the cable company has put itself in […]
Posted on June 22nd, 2012 by admin
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The physics community is abuzz over expectations that the Higgs Boson has been discovered. Rumors and speculation are flooding the internet. Those responsible for analysis of collider data are counseling caution but that isn’t stopping tongues from wagging. The scientific community might like to think of itself as bound by reason but researchers are as […]
Posted on June 21st, 2012 by admin
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This news might depress PR practitioners who know they do good work. According to judges at Cannes, advertising agencies are doing better PR work than PR agencies. No PR agency won one of 20 Gold Lions for PR. One could pooh-pooh the judging or feel depressed, but it is interesting that arbiters are finding advertising […]
Posted on June 20th, 2012 by admin
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Is this an anachronism? The first graduating class of an advertising high school is ready to greet the world just at a time when social media and public relations have come to the fore. One wonders whether there should be a PR and New Media high school instead. Of course, that would raise the question […]
Posted on June 19th, 2012 by admin
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Syria is proving the fecklessness of words. The United Nations is warning the Syrian government that is committing crimes against humanity. The US says President Bashar al-Assad should go. One country after another condemns the slaughter in the country. But, no one is doing anything. Words go only so far, and with dictators they never go […]
Posted on June 18th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 190 Comments »
