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| Sarah Huckabee Sanders |
Sarah Huckabee Sanders aced the audition and "officially' will become a Fox News contributor on Sept. 6.
As White House press secretary, Sanders was a Fox contributor in all but name. And once she killed the daily press briefing, Sanders planted herself on Fox taking questions from anchors and singing praises of Donald Trump.
The only new wrinkle: she will be paid next month by Fox and not by the White House.
Sanders will make her debut appearance on "Fox and Friends," which is "must-see" TV for the president.
Her recruitment may put Fox back into the good graces of the president. Trump flew into a tizzy and even questioned Fox's loyalty after it deviated from its normal "fake news" beat to report that Democratic presidential wannabes Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris are whipping him in polls.
"There's something going on at Fox," said the president on Aug. 18. He complained that his worst polls have always been on Fox and that the network "is a lot different than it used to be."
Brett Baier, Fox host, defended the reporting, saying the coverage is "fair, balanced and unafraid." We will see how Brett's bluster turns out.
My hunch is that Sanders will help Fox get back into the president's good graces.
After all, there's a presidential election coming up and Fox has big ratings to pursue. There's also a new kid in town: Sinclair Broadcast Group poses a new challenge to Fox from the right.
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| Rafael Reif |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology apologizes for providing PR cover for Jeffrey Epstein by accepting about $800K from foundations of the disgraced and now dead financier.
University president Rafael Reif posted the following Aug. 22 on MIT's website:
"To Jeffrey Epstein's victims, on behalf of the MIT administration, I offer a profound and humble apology. With hindsight, we recognize with shame and distress that we allowed MIT to contribute to the elevation of his reputation, which in turn served to distract from his horrifying acts. No apology can undo that."
That's a good start for MIT. It promises to donate $800K to a charity that benefits victims of Epstein and other victims of sexual abuse.
MIT hardly stands alone in providing reputational cover to the detestable Epstein. What institution will be next to admit to burnishing the image of the sexual abuser.
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| Jamie Dimon |
The PR community praised Business Roundtable's decision to say increasing stockholder value should not be the only objective of companies.
There is some pushback from those who wonder how do you put a value on or prioritize the sometime conflicting interests of various stakeholders?
Shareholders may cheer a CEO's decision to close a money-losing plant, but what about the interests of workers, suppliers and the local community? Class action lawyers are going to have a field day.
One thing is for sure: corporate PR people will be busy revising corporate mission statements to adapt to BR's revised statement of purpose.
New York Mets have been PR gold for majority owner Steve Cohen, who has snared one of NYC's gambling casino licenses... "Dozy Don" should escape the gilded confines off the Oval Office, which has become an old-age home for the 79-year-old president... Shocking revelation: Extreme weather poses threat to the perceived value of a home, says real estate maven.
Omnicom CEO John Wren isn’t exactly spreading cheer this holiday season as he works to cull another 4,000 people from the payroll in the wake of the Interpublic takeover... Donald Trump would have denied scamming his one-time personal lawyer and PR front man Roy Cohn, who taught him well....Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth enlists "Franklin the Turtle" in his tough-guy campaign to vaporize alleged drug boats.
The debate over when the AI bubble will burst diverts attention from the game-changing technology that it may become some day... Pete Hegseth takes aim at Scouting America. Can't he find something useful to do?... The Cracker Barrel saga winds down as shareholders oust board member who oversaw its marketing disaster... New York Times makes an "awful" editorial decision.
Why MSNBC’s recent MS NOW rebrand won’t help the cable news channel’s flagging viewer numbers if it doesn’t take the opportunity to change its content model and mission.
Donald Trump’s smarmy session with the psychotic master of Saudi Arabia destroyed any sliver of dignity that had remained in his gilded Oval Office... If Trump is telling the truth about Mohammed bin Salman not knowing about the murder of Khashoggi, he should release the transcript of his call with the crown prince... Foul-weather friend Home Depot decries lack of storms... Texas gov Greg Abbott stages pubicity stunt with threat to shut down No. 1 Muslim advocacy group in the Lone Star State.
