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The Flack

The Flack™ for Friday, May 3, 2024

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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University of Florida Comes Down Hard On Protesters: ‘Not A Day Care’ – Universities across the country continue to struggle with pro-Palestinian protests on their campuses. Campuses and classes have been disrupted, countless arrests have been made and graduations are under threat. But the University of Florida managed the situation differently than most, and it could be an example for other schools in the same situation. Newsweek takes a look at how they’ve handled the crisis.

NPR Chief Defends Coverage, Accuses Critics of ‘Bad Faith Distortion’ of Her Views – National Public Radio (NPR) has been in crisis mode ever since longtime NPR Editor Uri Berliner spoke out about how the organization has lost the trust of the country by not considering conservative positions on various issues. Now Katherine Maher, the organization’s CEO, is firing back. And their communications department is going to be busy for a while. The Wall Street Journal digs in.

The Last Stock Photographers Await Their Fate Under Generative AI – Artificial intelligence may kill us all, but stock photographers may be going first. You may not think about stock photography often, but you see it every day, and the industry employs thousands. But that all may be about to change. The Wall Street Journal looks at how AI might make stock photography disappear.

From a Tiny Island in Maine, He Serves Up Fresh Media Gossip – Rusty Foster was a successful programmer living in San Francisco in the late ‘90s when he decided to move to Peaks Island, Maine. If you’ve never heard of Peaks Island, it’s likely because it is a rocky, one-square-mile island reachable only by ferry. While living on the island, Foster started Today in Tabs in 2013, and it has since grown to become one of the most influential outlets covering media news. Today he has every media outlet in New York and Los Angeles hanging on his every word. The New York Times has the story.

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Feed Your Head:

US Poised to Ease Restrictions on Marijuana in Historic Shift

The Scholar of Comedy — Jerry Seinfeld

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: 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.