Author Archives: gbaron

White House in crisis: any lessons here?

Posted on May 16, 2013 by gbaron

A few years back a former press aide in the White House told me every day in the communication office was a crisis. But these days, the crisis management activity has to be a bit higher than normal. While I … Continue reading →

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Will Twitter outlast New York Times?

Posted on May 14, 2013 by gbaron

Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder said in a recent press conference that Twitter would outlast the New York Times. Gil Rudawsky of GroundFloor Media reported on this and asked the question in a recent blog post. I’d hate to make that … Continue reading →

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Five Simple Steps to Crisis Preparation

Posted on May 2, 2013 by gbaron

I was asked by a local business publication to do a column on crisis management. Since the audience is quite broad from mom and pop operations to some pretty sizeable industrial and healthcare organizations, the assignment helped me think through … Continue reading →

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Aftermath of Boston bombing and news: a call for silence

Posted on April 24, 2013 by gbaron

It was a week to remember–the bombings, the ricin letters, the horrific tragedy in West, Texas. I reflected on one important aspect of public information coming out of the Boston bombings on Crisis Comm on emergencymagmt.com and won’t repeat myself here. … Continue reading →

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Royal Bank of Canada facing social media uproar, boycott–outsourced jobs at issue

Posted on April 10, 2013 by gbaron

I put this one in the category of engagement fail. Another in the long line of social media crises caused by what used to be normal business decisions gaining a firestorm of protest online. Any business decision today is subject … Continue reading →

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Are two fatalities not enough to communicate about?

Posted on April 9, 2013 by gbaron

I noted on the American Petroleum Institute’s daily news email that a major oil company had suffered a West Texas wellhead blowout that killed two contractors and injured two others. In the crisis plans I prepare (for quite a number … Continue reading →

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Joint Information Center–Arkansas pipeline spill adds to uncertainty about government response communications

Posted on April 4, 2013 by gbaron

Most government communicators who need to respond to emergencies need to understand the Joint Information Center (JIC)concept. Private companies,  particularly those likely to collaborate with government response organizations should (but often don’t) know about the JIC (pronounced JICK). As an … Continue reading →

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Fedex takes swipes at social media marketing–the SM backlash begins

Posted on March 26, 2013 by gbaron

Judging from the content of all the email newsletters and PR publishers, social media is the only thing worth talking about. It’s much the same in marketing these days. All the “how tos” are focused on how to increase your … Continue reading →

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Privacy and the Internet, an honest assessment, but is it good or bad?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by gbaron

Bruce Schneier in this CNN opinion piece makes it very clear: privacy is gone. He uses three examples of people who all the reason in the world and the technical savvy (including our former CIA director) to maintain privacy and … Continue reading →

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More Carnival trouble, and a modest proposal for the cruise industry

Posted on March 14, 2013 by gbaron

Carnival Cruise is in trouble again. This time having to fly passengers home from the Caribbean because the ship can’t sail from port. More stories of human waste in the hallways of a luxury liner. I was asked for my … Continue reading →

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