The Leslie Roberts scandal and regulation of PR

It cannot be debated that the PR profession has seen an extraordinary ascendancy since the rise in popularity of digital communication and social media. However, there are many leftover ideas from the mass communications era of PR that ended with the social media revolution. The Leslie Roberts situation is an example of this. The old …

Building the case for PR: Helping startups succeed

Let's continue with the analysis that I began in yesterday's post on law's status as a respected profession and the fact that public relations is generally held in lesser esteem. The question a few people posed to me in emails is: "What can we do to garner more status and prestige for PR?" For me, …

Addressing PR’s problematic reputation

In a recent speech, PR luminary Harold Burson said that Richard Nixon, during the Watergate scandal, contributed to the negative perception of PR when he referred to "PR flacks" and used PR as an equivalent term to spin or manipulating public opinion: "We will have to PR that..." Since then, public relations has been vilified in …

“Smart houses” as an opportunity for PR

The Internet of Things (IoT) is there: machines are starting to speak intelligently to other machines and automate small parts of our lives. Soon a greater portion of our lives will affected by the machines we use everyday, as they track our actions and adapt their functions to our habits and preferences. We are only …

Applications OPEN for the McMaster-Syracuse MCM program 2015-16

As program director, I am pleased to announce that applications to our extraordinary Master of Communications Management program are now open! The MCM program offered in partnership between McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business and Dept of Communication Studies and Multimedia and the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. The MCM program combines four …

Define your motivations to defeat fear and bring happiness

Many of spend much of our time dashing about, feeling busy. We cycle through feelings of relief for having "caught up" and then are plunged back into the anxiety of feeling "behind." The question to ask is the following: why are we in this negative cycle driven by fear? Fear is a terrible motivator. It …

Harold Burson thinks the widening wealth gap is bad for business

  Harold Burson, founder of Burson-Marsteller, the world's largest PR firm, thinks that the huge and widening gap between rich and poor bad for business. I agree. I had a wonderful time yesterday at the #ComMgtat20 reunion of the alumni of the M.S. in Communications Management program offered by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public …

Authenticity versus consistency in PR

"Authenticity" has become a buzzword in public relations especially in talk about social media. I think this may be an error. I think the best we can do is consistency. Authenticity is a tricky concept. The dictionary defines authenticity as adhering to tradition or sticking to the facts, but that isn't how most people understand the …

How can PR be part of senior management?

You hear a lot about public relations pros wanting a seat at the senior management table or in the c-suite. The question is: what does this mean, other than being a vague validation of the importance of the field? I had lunch at the Modern with a brilliant, independent-minded communications and management consultant in New York …