Though celebrities with tarnished reputations are no rarity here in the U.S., the heights from which they can fall are often astounding. According to a CNN.com article, actress-singer LeAnn Rimes, once considered to be as squeaky-clean as they come, has been accused of embarking on an extremely public affair with …
Michael Bryant, former Ontario attorney-general, is just one of the long list of public figures recently finding themselves in need of professional crisis management in order to repair their reputations. You’ll find some comments from me in an article from the Globe Investor which details his first exposure to the …
If the entire Internet went down today, would you be able to survive? While most would be quick to say “yes,” I believe few have truly thought about the impact this would have. In the event of a crash, everything but the very simplest tasks would be impossible – no …
Many people will tell you it doesn’t pay to argue with the press, but you certainly won’t hear that from anyone in the field of crisis management. In part one of his three-part guest article for our Crisis Manager newsletter, crisis communications expert Rene A. Henry examines how the rise …
All of us enjoy the ease of access and convenience that the Internet has brought to business, as well simple daily tasks such as making purchases by credit card, but what would you do if the Internet really crashed? In the latest issue of Crisis Manager, I discuss this very …
Microsoft recently unveiled a brand-new ad for their business productivity software. While the U.S. version was fine, someone at the software behemoth’s Polish subsidiary decided to make a change that spawned a storm of negative criticism throughout the Web and on Twitter. Here’s a description of the switch that angered …
Whole Foods Market’s CEO John Mackey is well known for landing his company in the hot seat. The outspoken Mackey first caught the public’s attention after being outed for using a pseudonym to both promote Whole Foods and blast their competition on the Yahoo! Finance bulletin boards, an incident which …
mal·ware (māl’wâr’)n. Malicious computer software that interferes with normal computer functions or sends personal data about the user to unauthorized parties over the Internet. Although the news media usually focuses on more widespread attacks like the recent Conficker worm, there is a new generation of malware aimed solely at gathering …
As crisis management pros are well aware, the anonymity of the Internet has historically provided cover for anyone with an opinion to post libelous comments with little fear of retribution. This appears to be changing, however, due in part to a landmark case brought against an anonymous blogger by fashion …
A half-hearted attempt by Continental Airlines to compensate passengers held for nearly six hours on a Minnesota airport tarmac has resulted in a serious wave of negative publicity. With reports surfacing about poor conditions on the plane, and the fact that multiple passengers asked to be let off and were …
We’ve all seen press releases and many of us have written them. It’s WAY too easy to get trite and undermine your own credibility in the process, as Robin Water discussed recently in “10 Words I Would Like to See Banned from Press Releases” at her TechCrunch blog. Here, for …
Disgraced quarterback Michael Vick, recently released from an 18-month stint in prison, granted one of his first interviews to CBS’ 60 Minutes. The interviewer pulled no punches and, unlike nearly every disgraced sports figure in recent memory, Vick made no attempts to deflect them. A recent Yahoo! Sports article has …
Today I’d like to discuss a gem of a post from a Talking Points Memo blog that was brought to my attention by faithful Crisis Manager subscriber Patricia Luebke. The post slams Whole Foods’ CEO John Mackey, who’s been caught in the crossfire of yet another scandal – this time …
An interesting, and silly, lawsuit has been filed against Twitter by Texas-based emergency alert provider TechRadium. Their complaint? They say the widespread use of the service by governments and organizations as an emergency notification system violates their patents. The worst part? It appears that none of their patents have even …
Effective crisis management starts long before an incident ever occurs. The world is an unpredictable place, and the best way to mount a rapid, convincing response is to be prepared beforehand. In his piece, published in the most recent Crisis Manager newsletter, PR vet George Hayward gives some important steps …
