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A ransomware attack ravaged the globe May 12 in the form of WannaCry, a program that spread itself through a Windows networking protocol. There was a patch, but that was no help to the countless users who had not updated and installed it. Much of the blame for this has fallen on Microsoft.

A memo that reads,”For your eyes only?” Not in showbiz. On May 10, Chicago media blog RobertFeder.com leaked a harshly worded internal memo sent by talk show host Steve Harvey to all “Steve Harvey Show” employees at the start of this year’s season. The memo airs Harvey’s grievances around a lack of privacy on set and requires employees to make an appointment with Harvey prior to any direct contact. “IF YOU OPEN MY DOOR, EXPECT TO BE REMOVED,” the memo reads, before listing several other studio locations Harvey claims to be regularly “ambush[ed]” by NBC staff.

Owing to social media, consumers have never felt closer to the world of entertainment and entertainers. They color nearly everything we do. So, what is the best way for brands to take advantage of the public’s thirst for show business? While it might seem that hiring Beyoncé or Frank Ocean is the way to go, there are myriad options for brands.

You don’t have to look far to find examples of people and organizations screwing up. So as tempting as it may be to pile onto Uber’s woes or the latest airline mess, Katie Paine uses this edition of Image Patrol to look at the follow-up to crises. What you do is very important, but so is how you respond, ie, the way people and brands say they’re sorry – or don’t.

You’ve probably either sent or received a version of this work email: “Who posted this tweet on the brand account? I think it’s too [personal/political/off-brand/sloppily written/insensitive/blatantly promotional/factually incorrect/ill-timed].” If you’ve never written or seen an email like that, you should congratulate yourself and your team. You’re managing to speak with a consistent brand voice on Twitter.

President Trump’s dismissal of James Comey as director of the F.B.I. May 9 would have been highly controversial no matter how it happened. But how to work within a scenario like that to ameliorate stakeholder dissatisfaction is a major facet of what we as communicators should practice—and it’s a facet that seems to have been neglected by the administration’s communications arm.

Banafsheh Ghassemi’s passion for using technology to promote empathy can be traced to a turbulent childhood. Ghassemi, the winner of the first annual Robin Carey Connector Award, was born in Iran, where her parents were both politically active members of the resistance during the run-up to the Iranian Revolution. As the revolution intensified, her family was forced to seek refuge in England when she was just 11 years old. And that experience has been central in shaping Ghassemi’s focus on human-centered design.

As PR pros know, media exposure can be a double-edged sword. What stories should be picked up and receive coverage and which should be tossed to the scrap heap? And who decides? Certainly we hope “the system” weeds out self-serving publicity hounds, but that doesn’t happen all the time. Unfortunately in our media culture outrageousness sometimes is rewarded. When that happens deserving stories can get crowded out. Here’s our attempt to make sure one good story gets told.

As PR pros know, media exposure can be a double-edged sword. Most of the time the system works: Stories that deserve to be told are told, and people who make outlandish claims only to gain… Continued

When you’re developing a news release, a good quote can make all the difference in giving character and perspective to your announcement. Once you’ve laid out the what, when, where and who, a quote from a spokesperson fills in the why: why your brand is passionate about an issue, why something needed to be done, why something is significant, why the reader should care.