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Nearly all surveys show journalists value their time. So, why do companies ask them to navigate unfriendly newsrooms for basic information and contacts?

COVID-19 has made the start of 2022 bittersweet. Our author urges PR pros to consider some small upbeat trends in the midst of the pandemic.

We asked chief communicators about their 2022 priorities, lessons from the pandemic they’ll use moving forward, hiring practices and more.

One of the first things to do when sunsetting a product is to take the company’s relationship with its consumers into account. 

This interview with Jennifer Gallo, a newly minted EVP, client engagement and business development, Evoke KYNE, was conducted in late December as the country was beginning to deal with the Omicron variant. She prescribes flexibility for fellow communicators, as they struggle with return-to-work messages. In addition, she urges prompt messaging and transparency. She also shares tips about ‘translating’ complicated health and science information for non-scientists.

Thanks to advertisers and the media’s focus on engagement as a key metric, crises have surfaced and been amplified at a far higher level in 2021 than they were in 2020. Because they bump up engagement numbers, the plague of misinformation, disinformation, rumors and lies skyrocketed to the top of everyone’s news feed and we all got angrier at everything. And, since anger drives engagement and engagement bolsters advertising revenue, the cycle will just get worse in 2022. But there are lessons we can take with us into the new year from all the messes that CEOs made, and PR pros were asked to clean up.

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians’ and player Antonio Brown’s narratives clashed following a fiery exit by the wide receiver. Meanwhile, the first viral Instagram and Twitter posts of the year indicated brand and influencer willingness to push the envelope in 2022.

In popular language, limbo is an indeterminate place where one awaits a decision. It’s pleasant enough but devoid of bliss or pain. I don’t fully understand the religious form of limbo, but I’m very familiar with the PR version: It’s where measurement deniers go after a year-end performance evaluation that’s ambiguous, unfulfilling and offers no guidance. And yet, most communicators choose limbo over measurement.

Internal communication has become a critical part of how companies think about crisis. As we know, some of the best ways to limit damage from a crisis are planning and preparing. Thinking through potential crisis situations, creating a response plan and practicing regularly can help an organization reduce fallout from a crisis or reputation disaster, if not avoid it from happening in the first place.

In this month’s edition, we focus on RTO,  Bookcase Credibility, Zoombie and CBP.