Truth Be Told: Presidential attorney Jay Sekulow appeared on Sunday news shows last month and said emphatically President Trump played no part in a statement sent to the NY Times regarding Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with Russians and PR man Rob Goldstone (PR News, Aug. 1, 2017). The statement was in conjunction with Trump Jr. releasing his email regarding the meeting. As you likely know, last week a Washington Post story claimed the president dictated the statement. Following the Post story, the White House admitted the president contributed to the statement. As communicators tell us often, internal communications can be challenging (see story, page 1). For argument’s sake, we’ll assume Sekulow was briefed badly before appearing on the news shows. With his damaged reputation, the issue for the White House communications team now is whether/how to use him. Sekulow spoke to the media Aug. 4, telling Fox News the president has no intention of firing special counsel Robert Mueller. Is that true?
Googled: Internal communications figures in the above item and our lead stories (see page 1). It also plays a role in the weekend story about a 10-page memo from James Damore, a Google employee who blasted the company’s diversity effort. When word of the Damore screed went public, new diversity VP Danielle Brown and other Google execs quickly discounted its contents. Damore was fired Aug. 7. Google CEO Sundar Pichai cut short his vacation to attend to the situation.
Fakebook News: As Mad Men’s Don Draper said, “If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.” By extension, if you don’t like what’s being reported on the news, create your own newscast. Debuting July 30, Real News,with anchor Lara Trump, wife of presidential son Eric Trump, provides stories President Trump presumably wants reported. “I bet you haven’t heard about all the accomplishments the president had this week because there’s so much fake news out there,” she said during the initial videocast, available on the president’s Facebook page. Former CNNer Kayleigh McEnany took the anchor’s chair for the Aug. 6 videocast.
Well Done: Props to cable network Sundance TV for being upfront and clever about reminding journalists to disclose gifts (PRN, April 24, 2017). Late last month Sundance TV gave Television Critics Association (TCA) members bottles of wine during TCA’s annual summer confab. Affixed to a carrying case for the bottles was a tag touting the network’s fall slate. The tag’s bottom read: “If you post or blog about any of our great TV shows, please make sure to disclose that you received a gift from us.”
Uber Headache:It’s obvious the last thing Uber needs is more ugly PR as it looks to boost its image and hire a CEO to replace Travis Kalanick. Unfortunately, The Wall St Journalreports Aug. 4 Uber executives in Singapore last year leased 1,000 used Honda Vezels to its drivers despite knowing the cars contained a defective device that could result in overheating and eventually fire. Honda recalled the cars in April 2016, yet Uber let drivers continue to use the unsafe autos. How could Uber have continued to operate cars that Honda recalled? The Journal says Uber didn’t buy the cars from Honda, but from less-expensive gray market importers, who are less vigilant about things such as recalls. After one of the leased cars caught fire, Uber deactivated the device responsible for the fire in each of the cars. As it told CNBC, “As soon as we learned of a Honda Vezel…catching fire, we took swift action…but we...could have done more—and we have...we’ve introduced robust protocols and hired three dedicated experts…whose sole job is to ensure we are fully responsive to safety recalls.”
Speed Trap: While mobile’s ascendance isn’t breaking news, Facebook’s move last week to speed up News Feed on mobile is yet more evidence that brands with mobile-unfriendly sites and slow-loading pages need to join the 21st century. Facebook engineers Jiayi Wen and Shengbo Guo say 40% of web visitors will abandon a site after waiting three seconds for it to load. Their post covering 10 ways to improve mobile site performance is a good read. Among their suggestions: Minimize landing page redirects, plugins and link shorteners; compress files; utilize multi-region hosting; and remove render-blocking Javascript. Their full post is at: http://tinyurl.com/y7knwpvl
EVP, Marketing,
ABC Entertainment
People: Congrats to PR News friend D’Arcy Rudnay, CCO, EVP, Comcast, on being named a Woman of the Year by Women in Cable Telecommunications (picture, p. 1). – Marriott International named Sarah Walker Kerr, VP, communications Middle East and Africa. Previously she was regional director of PR, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. – ABC Entertainment promoted Rebecca Daughertyto EVP, marketing from VP, dramas, movies and specials. She’ll overse marketing of ABC’s primetime, daytime and late-night lineups, as well as shows on ABC and third-party platforms including CBS, Freeform, Showtime, Netflix and Hulu. – Rasky Partners promoted Jessica DiMartino to VP, marketing. Michael Morris was named VP/general counsel and cybersecurity practice lead. -- Presidential adviser Stephen Miller seems the favorite to be White House communications director.