Stories by Justin Joffe

Google’s controversial plan to create a censored search engine in China enabling state surveillance has become a tale of two memos. The optics of Google’s willingness to work on a “pro-surveillance” product is particularly untimely as talk of user privacy issues and data regulation continues to dominate the news.

Among the criteria the judges for the Top Places to Work in PR considered: growth opportunities, the quality of communication with senior leaders, benefits and compensation, turnover rate, workplace culture, flexibility of working hours, career development and training, mentoring opportunities, diversity at the managerial level, gender equality and opportunities for volunteerism.

“Lena Dunham Comes to Terms With Herself” has its fair share of lessons for communicators, especially those in media working to build out their personal brand. The piece artfully uses scene, narrative and exposition to demonstrate the blind spots that Dunham, and those caught up in the digital generation’s ‘cult of personality’, can easily miss. Here are a couple.

After a massive cybersecurity incident, Equifax realized that many people didn’t actually understand how a consumer credit reporting agency works, or why they matter in the first place. The brand then realized that the best thing it could do was educate people about personal finance, cybersecurity, and Equifax’s role in our economy. This was not just an effort to repair trust, but to make sure that its brand values were understood.

We caught up with Muck Rack COO Natan Edelsburg ahead of his panel appearance at PR News’ Media Relations Conference, going down Dec. 6 at D.C.’s National Press Club, to hear what communicators can learn to better interact with journalists on social.

Some communicators believe that a brand should always keep its head down during a crisis, focusing on containing any issues internally and speaking to as few members of the media as possible. This is not always the best course of action, though. A sound media relations strategy can not only mitigate your crisis once it becomes external, but also help educate your audience and retain brand trust.

Vaporizer manufacturer JUUL Labs has gotten out in front of looming regulations on the e-cigarette industry by transforming its brand into stewards of legitimate and responsible vape use. Yesterday, the brand announced it would cease sales of its four flavored vape pods in all of the 90,000+ retail stores that currently carry its products, and delete all social media accounts but Twitter.

AI will greatly affect the communications business, whether we understand it or not. Just last week, the Chinese Xinhua News Agency debuted the world’s first AI news anchor. AI clearly has big plans for communicators, but how do communicators plan to use AI?

For all the sometimes contentious back-and-forth between PR pros and journalists, both types of communicator share some similar goals when it comes to getting a story published. Similarly, both roles share a need to master artful pitching, and knowing what an artful pitch looks like. When it comes to media pitching, staying mindful of your audience means that the PR pros getting the highest return on their pitches know what it means to think like a journalist.

PayPal’s director of corporate communications, Amanda Miller, shares how PayPal packages its data to easily leads journalists to a story. “I believe that the relationship between a publicist and a reporter is a partnership, a collaboration,” she says. “We both have a job to do, and it’s my job to give you the information you need to tell the story that I want you to tell, then work with you to help make sure that the facts are accurate.”