Stories by Seth Arenstein

With 11 million documents under scrutiny by the world’s journalists, it seems a safe bet that more shoes will drop, perhaps implicating brands doing business in Russia, Iceland or Argentina. The question for brand communicators is what to do now? We have some answers.

Doing corporate responsibility well is not as easy as it appears. Facebook has learned that lesson more than once with its Safety Check feature, which hit another snag in Pakistan last weekend when the inquiring message that was supposed to be sent to those in and around Lahore, Pakistan, went to Facebook users as far away as the U.S.

Nearly half of the communicators surveyed in a poll conducted earlier this month said their organizations lack a crisis communication playbook.

An actor by trade, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who died Sunday at 94, always seemed to be a first lady from central casting. She was much more than that, though. She also functioned as a presidential PR pro.

The Oscars’ response to protests and boycotts was direct and featured Chris Rock’s humor.

One of the best-known PR lessons for brands is that it’s a good idea to have a crisis plan in place since no organization is immune to a crisis situation, as PR pros have argued repeatedly in these pages. But what can and should brands do when they find themselves in the crosshairs of someone else’s crisis or in a crisis not directly related to them?

There were other stories last weekend, but all we talk about is Kanye and Taylor. How can brands cut through that clutter?

On some level, you can forgive Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton for his behavior during the post-Super Bowl 50 press conference two Sundays ago.

Ignore influencers at your peril. LA World Airports’ Mary Grady provides tips for finding and working with the right influencers for your brand.

Facebook’s new Live feature gives PR pros another way for spreading a brand’s message and, unlike Periscope, these videos can last.