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.
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Audubon Society Won’t Change Name, Despite Namesake’s Racism – Last week the Audubon Society announced it will not change the organization’s name, despite the namesake’s troubling history and protests from local chapters. The organization is named after John James Audubon, a naturalist and illustrator who documented and painted birds in the early 1800s. However, Audubon also was a slave owner and is reported to have done other despicable things, even by the standards of the time. Now the organization is losing board members and is having significant fallout in local chapters over its decision to keep the name. USA Today takes a look at a complicated PR problem.
Experts Say Attacks on Free Speech Are Rising Across the U.S. – There appears to be no end in sight regarding the debates surrounding free speech. Censorship is proliferating on both sides of the aisle, with organized protests of drag shows, books being banned and professors getting suspended or fired for using language that upsets students. This issue is big and seems to get larger and more complex every day. PBS digs into the challenges to the First Amendment.
PR Lessons From Professional Football’s Response to Damar Hamlin’s Injury – It’s been a few months since the Buffalo Bill’s Damar Hamlin collapsed and nearly died on the field during a Monday Night Football broadcast. Thankfully, after a few scary days, Hamlin stabilized, and it appears he will make a full recovery. Forbes takes a look at how the NFL communicated in a time of crisis. Hint: they were very well prepared.
What the Dominion Lawsuit Reveals About the Future of Fox News – Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in March 2021, accusing the network of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories about the voting-machine company in the wake of the 2020 election. Dominion claims the network was concerned about its ratings and losing viewers to other conservative news outlets. Regardless of what’s decided in court, the lawsuit gives a glimpse into how Fox News operates, and it’s very interesting. Bill Grueskin, a faculty member of Columbia School of Journalism, investigates.
UPenn Accuses a Professor of Racist Statements, Should She Be Fired? – The University of Pennsylvania has a PR problem, and her name is Amy Wax. Wax, a tenured law professor, has publicly made comments disparaging Blacks and Asians. After long resisting calls from students to fire Wax, the school’s dean has requested a faculty hearing to consider a “major sanction” on the professor. This request has prompted protests from free-speech groups, which cite one of the key tenets of tenure – the right of academics to speak freely, without fear of punishment, whether in public or in the classroom. The New York Times takes a look at what could be a landmark decision.
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What We’re Reading:
The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut
Feed Your Head:
Take a Virtual Tour of the ‘Doomsday’ Seed Vault
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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.