The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.
We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.
************************
Trevor Bauer’s Impasse With MLB Creates a Continuous Nightmare for Dodgers – Major League Baseball and the Los Angeles Dodgers have a PR problem – his name is Trevor Bauer. In 2021, the Dodgers signed Bauer to a three-year, $102 million contract. In July 2021, MLB placed Bauer on paid administrative leave due to a sexual-assault allegation against the pitcher. Earlier this year the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office declined to pursue charges, but MLB is not restricted under its policy of punishing only criminal behavior. And Bauer is adamant he has done nothing wrong. In an age of political correctness, The Los Angeles Times digs into the Dodgers’ worst nightmare.
Design Your Organization to Withstand Future Disasters – Most large organizations spend time planning for potential crises. They often create crisis operations and communications plans, exercises, pre-written scenarios and statements, but most fail to take a step back and ask a simple question: How are we designed? In the Harvard Business Review, Juliette Kayyem, faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, looks at three areas organizations should address.
Death of NYT’s Sports Agate Page Latest Sign The Times Are A-Changing – Earlier this month The New York Times published its Sports Section agate page for the last time. If you’re not familiar, the agate page is easily the most dense, information-packed part of the entire newspaper. It’s where sports junkies, gamblers and some kids would go for box scores, NHL schedules, boxing weigh-in information, horse-racing results and other sports minutiae. There is so much information, it’s printed in a tiny typeface called agate. Tim Rowland of Herald-Mail Media takes a look at the end of an era.
Why The Culture Was Healthier When Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers Were Around – For many years The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson didn’t rule late-night comedy – it was late-night comedy, and almost no one missed his opening monologues. Carson would chide politicians on both sides of the aisle – from Ronald Reagan to California Governor Jerry Brown – but never to the point of partisanship. Part of Carson’s genius was that he never let the audience know where he stood politically, and that gave him leeway to take on all, and it allowed everyone to enjoy the show. That’s no longer the case in late-night comedy. Bishop Robert Baron takes a look at how comedy has devolved into tribalism.
The Last of The Afternoon Newspapers – In 1982 afternoon papers outnumbered morning publications nearly 4 to 1 in the United States. By 2000 there were more morning papers than afternoon papers, but there were still more than 600 of the latter. Today, there are two: The Livingston Enterprise and its sister paper, the Miles City Star. Both are located in Livingston, Montana, setting for the TV Western, “Yellowstone.” The Wall Street Journal talks to the owner of the last two afternoon newspapers who explains why their publications aren’t going away.
************************
Feed Your Head:
The Best Starting Wordle Word Has Been Revealed
************************
flack
: one who provides publicity
flack
: to act as a press agent or promoter for something
The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.