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China Borrows from Trump Playbook, Fanning the Flames of Xenophobia

President Trump referred to COVID-19 as a “foreign virus” during his Oval Office speech last month. Soon after, that phrase gave way to the “China virus” triggering a spike of racism directed at Chinese Americans. Of course, Trump enjoys race baiting. It’s good TV. Most Americans don’t realize – or perhaps don’t care – that …more

Storytelling hammers the final nail in the coffin of Guy Fieri’s eatery

By Grace Hoffman, Editorial Assistant   It’s rare to read a restaurant review that is brutal, compelling and downright strange! Pete Wells dug in and made it happen … but how? The variety of tactics and his unwillingness to “go easy” on Guy Fieri’s restaurant is what makes this review rich material illustrating how storytelling …more

What Happens When a PR Agency Chooses the “Wrong” Client?

The agency ends up in the New York Times with a bad look. That’s what happened to Edelman last week. The NYT devoted 29 1/8th inches — I counted using the hardcopy version — to Edelman landing a private prisons company called The GEO Group and then deciding to not move forward with the client. …more

A Stately Trump?, Journalist Office Hours, and a TikTok Mug

The Grab Bag post returns for a second 2019 installment. Again, the story lines in these posts can’t quite shape stand-alone posts. Yet, I hate to see a shard of a story go to waste. .   TIME Cover Photo Depicts a Stately President Trump Take a gander at the cover of TIME Magazine August …more

Storytelling Wisdom from Bestselling Author

I interviewed author Ella Frances Sanders in 2015 after her book “Lost in Translation” had caused quite a sensation and landed on the NY Times bestselling list for four months. I remember thinking how improbable that a single blog post, “11 Untranslatable Words from Other Cultures” could morph into a bestseller. Thanks to over 2 …more

PR Undervalues the Anecdote, One of the Best Springboards into Storytelling

Journalists get anecdotes. PR not so much. A few years back, we analyzed three months’ worth of tech stories in The Economist breaking down the content type by category. It turned out that 17 percent of the articles were anecdotal. . We consistently find that the anecdotal content in business publications ranges from 15 to …more

And the Winner for the Worst Communications Award in 2018 Goes to …

The Saudi Arabian government. Let’s give the Crown Prince a round of applause for the entry, “The gang that can’t talk straight.” Before going further, the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was an act against humanity. I am by no means making light of it. As I followed the …more

Did Social Media Humanize McKinsey Too Much?

I think we can all agree that a consultancy does not want to see this headline on the cover of The New York Times. “Turning Tyranny Into a Client”     That’s the headline that greeted the good folks at McKinsey over Sunday brunch. As discussed last week, the clients of a professional services firm …more

Deconstructing a New York Times Article on Amazon for Storytelling Lessons

Journalists, particularly those at Tier-1 media properties, are the best non-fiction storytellers on the planet. They toil in a Darwinian world in which clicks correlate to economic health. If they don’t produce content that triggers clicks, they’re going to eventually hear words to the effect, “You’re not a fit here.” With this in mind, it’s …more