 Nick Sandmann |
RunSwitch, a Louisville PR firm with close ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is providing media support for Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School student who was in the middle of the social media firestorm triggered by his standoff with a Native American protestor in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
The SM barrage charged Sandmann and his fellow MAGA-hat wearing students with disrespecting Nathan Phillips, 64, who took part in Indigenous People's Day March.
Additional video, however, revealed that members of the Black Hebrew Israelites cult screamed racist and homophobic insults at the Covington students.
Philips, it turned out, fashioned himself as a peacemaker. Borrowing a drum, the Marine Corps vet stepped between the students and BHI members in a bid to form a prayer circle to calm the situation.
RunSwitch distributed a statement from Sandmann in which he said by remaining motionless and calm, he was helping to diffuse tension.
"I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand,” he said in the statement.
President Trump has weighed in on the matter, calling the Kentucky teenagers "symbols of the fake news media in the US and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good—maybe even bring people together," tweeted Trump.
There’s a fine line between newsjacking and taking advantage, aka ambulance chasing. Our job as PR professionals is to tread it carefully.
PR firms need to be mindful of ways their work product may be protected by the attorney-client privilege whenever working with a client’s internal legal team or its external legal counsel.
Manuel Rocha, former US ambassador and intenational business advisor to LLYC, plans to plead guilty to charges that he was a secret agent for Cuba.
CEO mentoring is an often-overlooked aspect of why CEOs are able to make good decisions, and sometimes make bad ones—all of which intersects with the role and duties of a board. 
How organizations can anticipate, prepare and respond to crises in an increasingly complex world where a convergent landscape of global challenges, threats and risks seem to arrive at an unrelenting pace.
Have a comment? Send it to 
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.