When you take part in a news interview without having the information the public would expect you to know, there’s no media training in the world that can help you.
Where’s the Beef, Indeed
Effective media messaging is a lot like a good taco: It can’t just be crisp, it also has to have some real meat to it. It should be no surprise, then, that a company in the business of making tacos has gotten their messaging just right.
When Hospital PR Flatlines
Sometimes an interview earns the distinction of Media Disaster merely by virtue of its having taken place. This entry concerns just such an example.
Yes, Steve Jobs, We Can Hear You Now
In recent months we’ve seen the way a media master can quickly become a disaster (ahem, Tony Hayward). But it is less common to see things happen the other way around. Today Steve Jobs provided us with just such an example.
Touchy Touchy!
I can certainly appreciate a “hands-on” PR approach, but this is ridiculous! This one comes from San Francisco, where a residential hospital was accused of misusing it’s “patient gift fund”. A local TV reporter went in to investigate, and encountered a PR rep whose media relations tactics fell somewhere between bizarre, and downright creepy.
John Edwards Breaks the Golden Rule
I don’t really care that John Edwards had an affair and fathered a love child. But I do care that he lied to me about it.
Meg Whitman Tries to Control Reporters Instead of Her Message
What if you called a press event and everybody came? And then you refused to talk to them. And then you kicked them out of the room.
Tiger’s Tale
Finally, Tiger Speaks! But did it do him any good? Is there anything he could have said or done that would have? The fact is, Woods made so many media mistakes from the moment his personal life began to unravel, that today’s 14 minute statement…
Michael Jackson’s (Spin) Doctor
Important media rule: If you are a doctor whose world famous pop star patient winds up dead, make sure your first public comments have some kind of meaning. That’s a tip Dr. Conrad Murray either never received, or chose to ignore.
Sully Steals the Show
In the wake of Sarah Palin’s rambling and bewildering resignation speech, the outgoing Alaska governor seemed the obvious choice for a new edition of “Media’s Masters and Disasters”. And a disaster it certainly was. But so many pundits have already commented on this apparent act of political suicide, it seemed a redundant waste of your …
