“That Which We Call a Rose…” As we did in our previous issue with Louis C.K. (PRN, November 14, 2017) and not long before that with Kevin Spacey, we’ll analyze journalist and talk show host Charlie Rose’s statement after he was accused of sexual misconduct. In Rose’s case the charges came from 8 women, some named, others anonymous. The women, all of whom worked for Rose or were interested in employment at PBS’ Charlie Rose, spoke in an article in washingtonpost.com Nov. 20. Rose’s eponymous show has run on PBS stations since 1991. More recently Bloomberg LP also has distributed the show. As we said last week, though there is much to say about Rose’s situation and the many other cases being brought to light in this moment, we’ll restrict ourselves to the PR lessons from his statement, which he released to the Post and later posted on Twitter. Rose’s statement receives a failing grade. He begins, “In my 45 years in journalism, I have prided myself on being an advocate for the careers of the women with whom I have worked.” He’s writing in the first person. Excellent. On the down side, he’s clouding the situation by attempting to score points for his progressive stance on employing women. Those who’ve read the post.com article realize this opening sentence is wildly inappropriate. More than that, if you’re going to apologize, do so. He continues, “Nevertheless, in the past few days, claims have been made about my behavior toward some former female colleagues.” The use of the word “nevertheless” kills his second sentence because it’s a subtle suggestion that he isn’t too bad a guy really. After all, remember what we established in the first sentence? Charlie is an advocate for women. Whew. Rose continues, “It is essential that these women know I hear them and that I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior.” Lose the “hear them” and go directly to how the statement should have begun, ie. “I deeply apologize…” The next bit is good, he admits responsibility: “I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that…” The next phrase, “though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate,” sounds like Rose’s lawyer talking. Again, avoid the weeds, just apologize. The next sentence is a killer: “I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.” Rose is one of the most perceptive people in media. Certainly he understands no means no, crying means no. It’s all in the post.com story. Again, a simple PR lesson: If you’re going to apologize, do it. – Despite dropping Charlie Rose and its host, PBS now must conduct a thorough investigation of how Rose could be allowed to prey on women for so many years. It also must demonstrate that sexual misconduct will no longer be tolerated in its shop.
Growth: With just 15% of global employees saying they’re “engaged” at their jobs in a new Gallup poll, Ruder Finn is launching a global internal communication practice focused on the internal customer experience (ICX). The new practice is aimed at maximizing employee journeys through analytics-driven experiences, it says. Despite so much available data on employees, “organizations still often look at engagement and experience through very narrow parameters: email open rates, video views, Intranet visits etc,” Jem Gregory, a co-leader of the new ICX practice, tells us. “ICX is much broader…we combine data and opinion from external sources (Glassdoor, company social channels, etc.) as well as internal (Intranet, internal collaboration tools, focus groups) to analyze key areas such as sentiment, hot button issues and topics of interest.” -- Weber Shandwick unveiled a unit to provide strategic communications counsel to organizations as they build out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. Tai Wingfield joins Weber as SVP to lead the practice. Wingfield comes from the Center for Talent Innovation, a diversity think tank. -- Millwright Holdings, LLC acquired PR agency Warner Communications of Boston.
People: APCO Worldwide named Harlan Teller executive director. He’ll advise clients on reputation management. Prior to APCO, Teller consulted for McDonald’s, Allstate, Duracell and others while holding senior positions at Hill + Knowlton and Burson Marsteller. – Wedbush Securities promoted Natalie Svider to SVP and marketing director. She’ll also continue in PR. Prior to her promotion, Svider was VP of PR. – Cisco exec Jennifer Massaro joined Nutanix as director of global PR.
Table Talk: Turkey led all foods in social media mentions in the past week (147K), according to Talkwalker. The side dish battle winner is stuffing (90K mentions), followed by potato/sweet potato (23K). Are you surprised pumpkin pie (12K) comprised 62% of posts mentioning desserts?