One thing crisis PR professionals deal with constantly is the intense distortion that happens as a complex story blows up into a huge media phenomenon. More coverage doesn’t mean better coverage. Rather, it’s usually reductionist coverage. Like taking a movie and breaking it back down into a treatment. This NYT mini-documentary does a wonderful job looking … More How the McDonalds Coffee Spill Story Grew Bigger and Smaller at the Same Time

There are two political issues that for the last 10 years I’ve been predicting would reach a sudden tipping point. The first is gay marriage and within the last couple years we’ve seen it go from a controversial issue to, now, 17 or 18 states making it legal. The second is legalization of marijuana. It’s … More House Republicans Suddenly Shifting Gears on Medical Marijuana

A week and a half ago I wrote a post advising Shelley Sterling to do the smart thing financially and push for the immediate sale of the Clippers. As I noted then, doing this allows Sterling to control the terms of the sale and maintain a competitive bidding process that should extract maximum value from the … More Shelley Sterling and the Clippers Part II

The fast unravelling of Donald Sterling has been a fascinating train wreck to watch but there’s really not a lot to say about it other than, in a similar situation, just do the opposite of everything he did. He seriously didn’t do a single thing right. The NBA wants Sterling’s head on a pike and … More Shelly Sterling Needs to Say “I’ll Sell!” right away.

Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy has been in a standoff with the US Government for more than a decade that recently came to a head. Bundy, who has been running his cattle illegally on public lands without paying the grazing fees, currently owes the Federal Government about $1.2 million in back fees. That’s a lot … More How to Snatch Defeat out of the Mouth of Victory.