Tag Archives: News

Six PR Lessons Learned from Maddow Tax Return & ‘Leak’, Trump-Media Wars

Rachel Maddow’s much-hyped tweet about her Trump tax return ‘scoop’ is just the latest skirmish in an ongoing PR war from which she has emerged badly wounded

The apparent “leak” of President Trump’s 2005 tax return, first reported by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC after she set off a social media frenzy by tweeting about the “scoop”, is just the latest example of the head-spinning PR wars being fought daily between the media, the Trump Administration and the countless behind-the-scenes power players all trying to control the country’s political discourse as well as its future.

While there is no proof of who leaked the tax return by leaving it in the mailbox of investigative financial journalist David Cay Johnston, my bet is on President Trump or someone very close to him who did it under his direction. It certainly fits Trump’s pattern of posting outrageous and provocative tweets, or shifting the timing of presidential announcements, executive orders or Supreme Court nominations to change the headlines and attempt to replace critical news coverage with some positive spin.

Trump also has a history of leaking material about himself when he thinks it’s in his interest and reportedly used to pose as his own spokesman in phone interviews to disseminate flattering information about himself. When I interviewed Trump about “The Apprentice” while working as a journalist at The Hollywood Reporter, he certainly sang his own praises, those of the show and the product placement fees paid by advertisers despite sliding ratings at the time.

Trump, through his obsession with the media, attempts to control what they report, and unrelenting attacks on their credibility, has demonstrated perhaps more than any other president in modern U.S. history how critical PR and managing your public image truly is to achieving success. And this, even in an era when the traditional media have lost an enormous amount of influence and control over the news and information that gets disseminated around the globe to social media, bloggers, countless digital media sites, hackers and unscrupulous producers of actual “fake news” for profit or propaganda purposes.

I’ve heard it said, especially by Trump supporters, that all press is good press, and while negative press did indeed help Trump get elected, it’s clear from his unrelenting efforts to control and discredit the media that positive press is far superior. As a former journalist for Reuters, AP and The Hollywood Reporter and Founder and CEO of AWAKEN PR, I have a deep understanding of both the media’s perspective and our clients’ need to manage their public images with positive publicity.

Having witnessed how the media was manipulated during the campaign and to a lesser extent the Trump presidency (though journalists have gotten much better at challenging and fact-checking Trump and rising to the urgent calling of serving as the fourth estate to protect U.S. democracy), the lessons for the media, the public and every individual, company or organization seeking success are clear.

1) The media, usually due to the nature of the “beast” – the instantaneous deadlines, pressure to produce ratings, clicks and stories that sell from their profit-seeking corporate bosses, and to scoop the competition which now could be almost anyone on the globe with Internet access — are too easily used as pawns by way more powerful people leaking information or trying to spin the story in one direction or another. In a perfect world, journalists would have the time to investigate and verify every piece of information conveyed to them, which they then report to the public. Just imagine if they had taken the time to investigate and dig deeper into the polling numbers they were reporting during the campaign; if they had questioned how pollsters were coming up with the numbers that consistently showed Hillary Clinton in the lead, or had taken the time to investigate Trump’s claims of hidden support in swing states and even traditionally blue states.

2) It seems quite clear that whoever leaked Trump’s alleged 2005 tax return did so to make Trump look good. All the potential conflicts of interest and details we really needed to see were missing from the two pages of the 1040 that Maddow revealed on her show Tuesday night. And apparently due to the pressure to produce ratings and promote her own brand, Maddow seriously over-exaggerated her “scoop” by tweeting, “BREAKING: We’ve got Trump tax returns. Tonight, 9pm ET. MSNBC. (Seriously).”

Even though she subsequently tweeted that the tax return was a 1040 from 2005, Maddow became a mockery all over social media, including among fellow journalists, and the butt of late-night TV jokes, damaging her own credibility as a serious journalist. Even the highly-respected super-intelligent Maddow became a pawn in the PR wars being waged daily by and with the Trump Administration. Even she needed some PR counsel.

3) Going on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and ignoring the social media outcry over her own misleading PR spin was not a smart move nor did it do much to restore her reputation. I would have liked to see her acknowledge the hype and apologize for it. Everyone makes mistakes but rather than owning up to it, Maddow’s decision to continue promoting the PR spin that she had achieved some enormous scoop with those two pages of a 12-year-old 1040 was quite self-serving and short-sighted. Explaining the pressures, circumstances and even caught-up-in-the-moment excitement that led to that tweet would have been the smarter way to go.

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In an interview with the AP Thursday, Maddow continued to deny any journalistic faux pas, saying that if people felt let down by her tax return story it was more because of the weight of expectation than anything she did.

While Maddow did achieve that much-coveted ratings coup — more than 4 million viewers watcher her show Tuesday night, making it the biggest audience in her show’s nine years on the air and the second most-watched regular show ever on MSNBC — the damage to her previously stellar journalistic reputation was done. Clearly, Maddow has become the latest casualty in the daily battles of media manipulation, and she needs to admit the defeat to begin restoring her reputation.

4) With a White House led by a president who lies habitually confirming the authenticity of the tax return while calling it “totally illegal to steal and publish”, and Trump at the same time labeling the tax return as “fake news” on Twitter, it’s not even possible to know for certain if this 1040 is really Trump’s. It does seem quite likely that it is, however, especially because it certainly makes him look like he paid his fair share of taxes. That may very well be the reason he or someone close to him orchestrated the release of that one particular year and just those two particular pages of his 1040.

5) It is clear that everyone needs PR including the media themselves to build and manage their public image. In fact, the press needs PR like never before with their credibility at all-time lows and Trump constantly on the attack to discredit them and quash any criticism of his Administration. His Democracy-damaging diatribes against the media, who are working feverishly under constant threats and enormous pressure to serve the public interest, echo those of the world’s worst tyrants and have emboldened dictators around the world.

6) I acknowledge that this blog too is PR because as I said every single business, brand, nonprofit, organization, government agency and individual seeking to promote a positive public image that will translate into success, whether in governing, sales, brand building or social change, needs PR! It is invaluable to have a public relations agency like AWAKEN PR that understands the media, how they think and the pressures and constraints under which they operate. It makes us that much more effective in building and protecting your public image and your brand! Our journalism background also makes us highly qualified and extremely passionate about serving clients dedicated to bringing about positive change in the world through their businesses, organizations, nonprofits, startups, art and entertainment projects and other individual talents. For more information or a free consult, visit awakenpr.com or contact us here.

Six PR Strategies to Turn Oscars Fail into Oscar Gold for PwC

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Sorting out the unprecedented Best Picture faux pas at the Oscars 

While this blog is about PR rather than Journalism4Change, I am posting it here because at AWAKEN PR, we utilize these types of PR strategies to help organizations, businesses and individuals effect positive social change.

The humiliating but very human failure of two PwC accountants viewed live by millions of people around the world at the Oscars dealt an enormous blow to PwC’s brand and now it’s time for the accounting and professional services firm to do whatever it can to repair its public image.

Taking full responsibility for the unprecedented snafu and apologizing to ‘Moonlight,’ ‘La La Land,’ Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture was a smart first step. But barring any legal concerns, PwC should be taking more proactive measures to seize the moment, and narrative, and rescue its public image by turning those Oscar “lemons into lemonade.” Instead it seems to be keeping a low profile and hoping the public will forget the massive blunder that has become the fodder for non-stop punch lines in conversations, on social media and late night comedy shows.

In today’s world where human failure is frequently forgiven especially when it’s accompanied by apologies and sincere remorse (think Adele screw-ups at both the 2016 and 2017 Grammy Awards, or minus the apologies and remorse in a class by himself, Donald Trump being forgiven or getting away with so many ethical violations, outright lies and disparaging remarks against the vast majority of Americans that our heads are spinning), PwC can and should take a number of steps to transform the brand-bruising blunder into a brand-building opportunity. Here are six possibilities for PR spin:

1. PwC should use social media and their website to offer up testimonials from their vast array of Fortune 500 clients who can attest to their generally stellar record of accuracy and integrity.

2. PwC should offer the major media interviews with PwC Global chairman Bob Moritz and U.S. Chairman Tim Ryan in which they should sincerely apologize for the blunder again, talk about the steps they’re taking to ensure no such recurrence at the Oscars, and speak generally about procedures they have in place to ensure integrity and accuracy in the much more mundane accounting and consulting work they do for their multinational clients.

3. In major media interviews, op-eds and/or blogs on their website that will get picked up by countless news organizations and drive traffic to their site, Moritz and Ryan should speak about why PwC is standing behind their two partners who screwed up on Oscar night – Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz – even if they will no longer be involved in the Oscars ceremony.

In online searches of the good that PwC does, I discovered a very impressive corporate culture and a PwC foundation that funds many great causes but first and foremost among them lists supporting the people of PwC in times of need in their lives, as well as celebrating with them in times of their remembrance and achievement. Speaking about this PwC culture of loyalty to and concern for its employees can certainly begin to change the narrative to a much more positive one for PwC. The PwC Foundation also supports charities at which its employees volunteer at least 25 hours with donations of $2,500 per person per year and since 2001 has donated $6.7 million to “support the people of PwC,” according to the PwC Foundation site, pwccharitablefoundation.org.

4. Again, on its website, in blogs and in interviews, Moritz and Ryan can speak about the most dramatic examples of employees or partners whose lives have been positively impacted by the PwC Foundation during tough times in their lives, as well as the other great educational, social entrepreneurship, veteran and humanitarian causes the PwC Foundation supports with donations totaling nearly $50 million.

5. In a world in which we are ALL guilty of being distracted by our cell phones, social media, and posting selfies to bolster our own followings and personal brand images, and in which most of us would likely be just as star-struck and tweet-prone at the Oscars, the public is likely to be forgiving and understanding if Culligan steps up and takes responsibility in a self-deprecating manner. I can see him being interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert, and many other late night show comedians, and mocking himself with humor while sincerely apologizing to all those who were hurt by his faux pas.

He could say something like, “I really screwed up. I was star-struck and tweeting a photo of Emma Stone. I thought I could manage this multitasking thing effectively enough but clearly Emma looked so beautiful and I was so star-struck my brain wiring short-circuited. Then when I realized the screw-up I froze. I mean this is LIVE television we’re talking about.” Of course, Culligan could be much funnier than that. But who couldn’t understand messing up like that, if they were in Culligan’s shoes? It could happen to anyone. We’re all human and make mistakes.

6. As part of a late night or major news media interview, Culligan, Moritz or Ryan could squeeze even more lemonade out of those Oscar night lemons by announcing the funding of research studies or nonprofit initiatives that are educating the public about the dangers of driving while using cell phones; or that are researching the damage of cell phone and social media usage to work productivity, or even the ability to stay focused in general, or other repercussions such as addiction, loss of sleep, or the decline in the reading and writing abilities of young people raised in the digital age. Or they could fund initiatives to educate the public about the importance of staying focused on work rather than social media and texting during work hours. They could even create a PSA campaign of their own to bring attention to these issues.

Many of these steps I’ve outlined could not only repair PwC’s brand image, but take advantage of all the negative publicity surrounding the Oscars and turn it into more positive publicity than ever before, boosting its bottom-line profits like never before. After all, Donald Trump turned all his negative publicity into an unprecedented election victory upset to become president of the United States. It’s time to be PR-savvy PwC and spin PwC’s biggest public gaffe ever into its biggest advantage ever. And the time to do it is NOW!