By Carl Carter, APR I’m going to be totally up front here: The mainstream media don’t write fake news. They don’t make up stories. They don’t do stories based on a single phone interview – at least, not about anything that matters. When I say mainstream, I mean the Washington Post and The New York […]
Why smoke is more dangerous than fire: Public opinion is the harshest court of all
By Carl Carter, APR Forget the headlines about meetings with Russians for a moment. Let’s set aside the question of whether any of the stuff about conflicts of interest have any merit. Instead, I’m going to argue that in terms of its danger to a politician, a corporation or any other institution, looking guilty is […]
No, the mainstream media aren’t lying. And you need them more than you think.
By Carl Carter, APR For years, I have lived and preached that the one non-negotiable principle for those of us engaged on communications must be to tell the truth. Because once you begin telling lies, people will find out and quit believing you. We have a lot of terms for this. The old stodgy one […]
Who’s paying the people you’re listening to? If they won’t tell you, ditch ’em now.
By Carl Carter, APR Last night, I listened to Bob Weir’s new album, and it got to thinking how many of the old rock stars have circled back to their early roots. Weir, who became famous as a founding member of The Grateful Dead, opens with a version of Shenandoah and has western and rockabilly […]
If your PR professional doesn’t do these four things, you need a new one
By Carl Carter, APR In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of unbelievable stuff happening. By which I mean, stuff you really can’t believe — and shouldn’t. You could be forgiven for thinking that all communications professionals are cold cynics who will tell every lie they can get away with, take money under the […]