The IRS is having a hard time defending itself before the public — and well it should. The claim that a hard drive with two years of e-mails had somehow been destroyed is beyond credibility. As commentators and technical experts have pointed out in recent weeks, it could only have been enormous incompetence or outright […]
Posted on June 30th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 407 Comments »
Here is an experiment underway to see if a newspaper can be revived. Here is one where the new owner tried and failed. it is too early to say the Washington Post will succeed but if it doesn’t, it might end up like the Orange County Register. There are no guarantees in modern media. Survivors […]
Posted on June 27th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 188 Comments »
One of the hardest communications tasks is to support a product that didn’t make it the first time in the marketplace — for example, this one. Once considered the salvation of Barnes & Noble, the company is now spinning off Nook into its own business and letting fate take its course. Chances are Nook won’t […]
Posted on June 26th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 177 Comments »
The old saw in PR that one should never attack another who uses ink by the barrel doesn’t always hold true. There are times when it makes sense to respond to the media forcefully, especially when one can do it in style, such as this instance. Wal-Mart’s director of corporate communications marked up a highly […]
Posted on June 24th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 184 Comments »
What is a board supposed to do when its CEO is suspected of moral turpitude? Fire the CEO, of course. The reputation of a company exists beyond the character of any one of its individuals. Terminating employment, however, can result in ugly outcomes — like this one. The CEO called the action a “power grab” […]
Posted on June 23rd, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 206 Comments »
It was once thought that a country would always pay its debts. It would do so because it did not want to get shut out of international credit markets. We know now that isn’t true, and some debtor countries resist what they call “extortion” by creditors who want to get repaid. The perpetrator is claiming to […]
Posted on June 18th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 191 Comments »
Wikipedia is tightening its rules for editing entries into the encyclopedia — as if they weren’t rigorous already. Now anyone who is paid to edit an entry must disclose that fact. This is to discourage phantom hacks from adding material that buffs the image of a person or organization. Full disclosure. I’m one of those hacks. I’ve […]
Posted on June 17th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 200 Comments »
Yet another US company is seeking to change its tax status by moving its headquarters out of the country. This time it is Medtronic, the medical device maker. It wants to shift its corporate headquarters to Ireland where its potential acquisition is domiciled and taxes are much less. There isn’t much the US government can […]
Posted on June 16th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 196 Comments »
Everyone wants Congress to forge a consensus and move forward, but it remains divided. As this poll shows, the country is as split as Washington DC. Division in Congress is a reflection of diverging views of citizens. This presages a long-term split. It also raises the question of the kind of communicator needed to find […]
Posted on June 13th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 190 Comments »
What do you do when your business sets off massive protests? This is the PR black hole in which the transportation provider, Uber, finds itself. It does little good to make peace with London cabbies. They have one goal and one only — get rid of the company on city streets. There can be […]
Posted on June 12th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 168 Comments »
