2023 Newspaper Headlines Provided Inexpensive PR Lessons That Are Not In Expensive Text Books

For a number of years, I’ve been advising PR pros to read the daily newspapers because headlines often provide public relations lessons that are not taught in communication schools classes. 

Last year was no exception. Below are several lessons that PR pros should remember:

“Co-Workers, Please Call Me MY Real Name,” was the headline of a Feb. 16 Wall Street Journal column. The article told of a sportscaster who wants to be called by his full name, instead of by his abridged first name.

My Take: Journalists friends have told me that many PR people who contact them act as if they have a friendly relationship and call or write them using the journalist’s first name, annoying some who give short shrift to those calls and letters. One feature writer for a major news outlet told me that when she receives a letter from a person she does not know addressed to her first name she immediately discards it; also if the name is misspelled. The informality of calling persons by their first names, who are not friends, has become more prevalent in all sectors of society and not all people like it. Young PR practitioners should realize that contacting a journalist is a business decision and the proper way to communicate with a journalist is by using Mr. or Ms. unless you are on a first name basis. When reporters contact me for information, they always begin their written or telephone requests by saying, “Dear Mr. Solomon.” Only reporters that I have a long-time friendly association with call me “Arthur.” And I never call a reporter by their first name unless they tell me to do so. Neither should you.

All through mid-February, news outlets featured stories about how Fox News’ prime time broadcasters gave credence to Trump supporters’ false claims that the 2020 presidential election was manipulated to ensure a Biden victory, even though the hosts didn’t believe the allegations. Example headlines: “Fox Stars Voiced Voter Fraud Doubts,” from the Feb. 17 New York Times (NYT). From the Feb. 18-19 Wall Street Journal 

(WSJ): “Fox News Knew It Aired False Claims, Dominion Says.” The headlines summarized stories detailing that Fox prime time hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham were joined by other Fox colleagues in acknowledging that they doubted the “facts” that they allowed to be disseminated on their programs.

Email text messages between the Fox talent and senior executives that were made public as part of a lawsuit by Dominion against Fox revealed the texts.

My Take: Students of history know that during World War 2 there was a famous slogan on posters saying, “Loose Lips Might Sink Ships,” meaning that people with knowledge of information that may help the enemy should be careful about what they say. The lawsuit brought by Dominion against Fox and its prime time hosts proves that idiom is still relevant today. Here’s what I tell clients: Discussing confidential information should never be done in a setting with other people nearby. Take a walk around the block and discuss it outside of the office. Also, never email or text sensitive information. If it’s about important enough subjects, it’s likely to become public during a law suit or when investigative journalists look into the matter.

Ours is not a vocation for people who seek job security. Termination of even proficient account handlers is not unusual when a major client disappears or when the bottom line is not as great as management wanted. That’s because the easiest way to reduce expenses is by firing high-salaried employees. Marginal employees should consider themselves at risk for dismissal from the moment they are hired, regardless of the bottom line of their employer. 

The February 21 edition of the NYT published an article that could apply to your situation. It was headlined, “Are Layoffs Imminent? Here’s how to Prepare.”

My Take: The article gives important advice on steps that an employee should take in order to prepare for a possible termination. They include keeping up to date on the financial condition of your company; never putting anything personal on your work computer; putting money aside for use during a period of unemployment; understanding your legal options, and planning for the moment. The article goes into detail about these subjects. It was written by Brian X. Chen, Emma Goldberg and Ron Lieber with reporting help from Tara Siegel Bernard and is a must read. I would add six more rules, based on my many years in public relations: 1) From the first day of your employment, prepare for a possible termination by keeping a 

daily log of your activities, including conversations with supervisors. 2) Be skeptical of praise from your managers; accept it gracefully, but don’t think it ensures you of lengthy employment. 3) If a client praises your work, ask if it could be put in a memo and sent to you and top management. 4) Never take seriously what Human Resources people tell you about your employment status or how much management appreciates you. Remember, they work for management, not you. 5) Never take a complaint to the H.R. department. Remember, they work for management, not you. 6) Every company has “office spies” that report to management. Keep your frustrations over your work conditions to friends who are not your office colleagues.

On Feb. 23, the WSJ headlined an article, “Why CEOs Should Think Differently – and Experiment.” The article had nothing to do with our business, but the headline certainly applies to it.

My Take: Over the years, yes, many, many times over the years, journalist pals of mine (from the days I was one of them before joining the public relations business) told me that it’s rare that a pitch from Agency 1 is different from Agencies 2 and 3. The client names in the pitches might be different, they said, but the story lines usually are the same. Because I noticed the same thing during my journalist’s days, I always intended to think outside the box as a PR pro, often being told by senior management, and sometime clients, “If what you propose doesn’t work out, it’s your neck.” As the successful results of ignoring PR rules dating back to the Sahelanthropus, I quickly gained the backing of clients and top management and soon managed or played key roles on nationals and international flagship accounts. Clients particularly liked my new thinking and, while they didn’t approve of everything I suggested, always told top management of how much they appreciated receiving suggestions that deviated from PR 101 tutorials.  

An Associated Press headline on the March 11 AP Morning Wire was titled, “Records in Fox defamation case show pressures on reporters.” It detailed how Fox prime time hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and 

Laura Ingraham disparaged their own station’s hard news journalists for reporting the truth.

My Take: Cynical, but true, about PR agency life: There are many brass rings but few gold rings, so everyone is after the same gold. Thus, back biting colleagues is not unusual, and management often does nothing to discourage it. Also, asking for a colleague’s job is often considered the type of aggressive nature that management likes when promoting someone. My advice: Be cordial to all your colleagues. But that doesn’t mean to trust them. The individual you trust the most might be the company spy and is after the same promotion you are.

“You’re Already Moving Toward Your Next Career,” was the headline on an essay by Joanne Lipman adapted from her new book, “Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work.” The essay said that a recent Gallup poll reveled that job unhappiness is at an all-time high.

My Take: In our business, unhappiness at work has been ubiquitous for many reasons – job instability, low wages and office politics, which often results in unqualified practitioners to be promoted over more qualified individuals, not to mention that most public relations accounts assignments are boring. Working on accounts trying to convince journalists that a # 10 pencil is better than a # 9 is the lot of most PR people. No wonder they get bored after a few years of seeing less qualified individuals get assigned to glam accounts.(I’ve been fortunate in my life’s work. Prior to being a free lance consultant, I only worked for three different PR agencies – a political one, which was my first PR job, before being recommended for a top position at Arthur Cantor/Advance Public Relations, at that time one of the largest national PR entertainment agencies, specializing in producing Broadway and off-Broadway shows and promoting shows of other producers, and being the publicity agency of choice for many of TV’s most honored programs. I remained there for 10 years before being recruited for an almost 25 years stint at Burson-Marsteller. The reason for my long tenures was because I discarded most of the tenets of PR that were developed in the Neanderthal’s era and put my neck on the line by doing things my way, which produced the results that clients loved and that B-M management tolerated because it went against the then accepted PR rules, many of which are still in vogue today. (Until my final hour at B-M, I was considered a maverick but it didn’t prevent me from being assigned to flagship accounts.)

My advice to PR people who are unhappy in their situation: Explore other job options, but keep your search to yourself and remember that all major agencies, no matter what their promotional material says, are mostly similar. So don’t jump at the first job opportunity you get because the grass is not always greener at Agency B than it is at Agency C. Also, while you’re young, without having the responsibility of supporting a family, consider looking into anther line of work.

“Promoting Work Rivalry” was a headline in the March 16 Wall Street Journal. The gist of the article was that some execs and entities feel that internal competition and ranking employees will spur workers to try to outdo each other.

My Take: Everyone who works for an agency is after the same gold ring. This was acknowledged for decades when agency management rewarded the aggressive individuals with promotions over less aggressive ones, even though their work was similar. Then management philosophy changed: Workers were classified as team players or outliers. And those deemed not to be team players were frowned upon. In my opinion, the team player philosophy is a management tool to keep aggressive individuals from pushing for promotions and salary increases. My advice is to act like a team player up to a point: But never let your contributions be buried in team results. If you believe that you’re not getting the credit you deserve you must let top management know so. Top management often does not know the competency of workers; they rely on reports from supervisors, which can be influenced by office politics and friendships. Make certain that you let top management know of your contributions. Because if you don’t, someone else will take credit them.

Two articles in the April 17 edition of the Wall Street Journal caught my attention.

“Does Your Resume Pass 6-Second Test?” was the first. It described the scant amount of time a resume receives and gives suggestions what it should and should not contain.

My Take: Forget all the customary do-it-by-the-book advice given by people whose livelihood is convincing job seekers that they know best. Instead, think-outside-the-box and bypass those gate keepers. What I suggest is writing a personal letter to the CEOs and presidents of your target companies telling them why their company is the one you would like to work for and why you think you can help the entity. Attach to the letter your resume. Doing so will accomplish two things: It will be read by a live person in the executive’s office, who is not concerned about the 6-second test, and most likely will be passed along to another individual, instead of it being rejected without being read. It might not result in your being hired, but at least you won’t be rejected because of some computer-generated search for certain words or by individuals who think they have a magic formula for determining who should be hired.

During my long career in public relations perhaps the most ubiquitous complaints I heard was, “My supervisor never lets top management know of my good work and ideas.” Other complaints included, “My supervisor gives promotions and salary increases based on loyalty and friendships, not on the quality of work.”

The lack of receiving proper credit was the subject of the second article, titled “Why Does Your Boss Reject All of Your Good Ideas?”

It said, “People devalued ideas generated from within but embraced ideas they thought came from outside,” because “one of the biggest reasons leaders may devalue the ideas of insiders is that these insiders (and their ideas) represent more of a threat. Their ideas are so good that upper management may want to fire me and promote them into my job!” The article advised people faced with this problem to play down that you created a good idea and present it as a way to help the company.

My Take: In our business, because of the team concept, management will never know who did what and others might take credit for your work. You must find a way to prevent that from happening, even if it means going over your immediate supervisor’s head and writing memos about your input to top management. Ours is an aggressive business. Chances are that your supervisor also did not obey the chain of command.

“Fox News Ousts Carlson, A Voice Of The Far Right,” read a headline on the front page of the April 25 NYT. Also on the front page of that day’s WSJ, a headline said, “Carlson Ousted at Fox News After Dominion Disclosures.”

My Take: During my years in our business, I’ve known many individuals who assumed that they were untouchables against management discipline or terminations because they managed money-making flagship accounts or account groups. But when management had to increase profits these supposedly untouchables were let go because of the high salaries they were making. The lessons: Being a star does not guarantee job protection when things turn sour. So treat everyone nicely. The individual you threaten today might rise to a high management position at another agency whose help you’ll want in the future. And always remember: Despite your title, you’re nothing but an employee number in management’s eyes.

A headline in the July 3 New York Times read, “P.R. Campaign Ends in a Backlash Online.” In what was an obvious PR stunt, the article was about Shein, the ultra-fashion retailer accused of using slave labor. 

Shein sent influencers to tour factories in China, hoping that the influencers would post positive stories about the working conditions at factories that made its clothes, which the influencers did. However, the influencers received on-line criticism for eyewashing the slave labor accusations.

My Take: If you represent an entity with a bad reputation, you should always be prepared for negative coverage. The savvy account team should have pre-approved responses to the accusations that can be massaged to answer reporter’s questions. A good way to be prepared is by having a retired investigative reporter craft the questions.

A huge article in the July 31 Wall Streets Journal’s C-Suite Strategies section was titled, “Our Biggest Career Mistakes—And What We Learn From Them.” The article was based on interviews with individuals who admitted that they made career mistakes. Two of the categories covered were “Call attention to yourself” and “Ít isn’t personal” can apply to our business.

My Take: “Call attention to yourself.” In our business, doing a good job does not guarantee promotions, because many people at your agency might also quietly be doing good jobs. You must find a way of letting top management t know of your contributions to the success of accounts, because if you don’t let management know of your good work others will take credit for it (as I was told by the manager of a none New York Burson-Marsteller office who appreciated the “very good work” I did on his office’s accounts).

Important to remember: Don’t rely on people who you report to let top management know of your work, because singing the praises of people they manage might threaten their jobs. Do it your self.”

It Isn’t personal.” Management’s top priority isn’t you. It’s not even to the agency. It’s to themselves. When business declines your good work will not save you long from receiving the pink slip. In fact, your good work record might work against you, because of the salary increases you have received over the years. Important to remember: When things turn sour at an agency, you’re nothing but an employee number. Agency brass will always do what best for themselves. You should always do what best for yourself.

A page one article in the September 7 Wall Streets Journal read”Wells Fargo Struggles to Revamp.” The article detailed how the bank is still struggling to recover from its PR crisis that began in 2016.

My Take: As I have often written, once a company is involved in a self-induced PR crisis, it remains in its DNA forever. PR practitioners who work on such an account must always be aware that the crisis can be revived by the media at any time and should have several different plans of action that can immediately be used. 

“TikTok Staff Fear Cuts Are Coming,” was the headline of an October 30 Wall Street Journal article. The article reported that managers were asked to give employees lower performance review ratings that could result in reduced bonuses and firings.

My Take: I always said that employee reviews are a management tool that can be used against employees. My advice: Never be too hard on yourself when filling out the “my shortcomings and how I can approve sections.” And if management says that you have to re-do the review form because you weren’t sufficiently hard on yourself, always keep a copy of the initial review. You never know when you might need it.

“Workers Want More Pay, Not Prestige” was the headline of a November 2 Wall Street Journal article that told how working at a prestigious firm or being given a title is being discounted by many employees in lieu of receiving more money at a lesser prestigious entity.

My Take: Giving out meaningless titles, instead of salary increases, has been a long strategy in our business. I also have seen employees measure their offices to make certain that it was larger than their office before they were titled. As for myself, I always told management the size of my office isn’t important. I’m interested in the size of my paycheck. So should you. 

A column in the December 24 New York Times titled “Micromanaging Means Major Headaches” was devoted mainly to situations in which employees believed that management was unfair to them. One of the situations reached the point where an employee was considering leaving before securing a new job.

My Take: In our business unhappy employees are as plentiful as sand on a beach. My suggestion to an unhappy employee is to bear it out for at least several months longer then a year and then secretly seek out new employment. Doing so in less than a year can label you as a job hopper, which can hurt your chances of securing a new job.

Only space limitation prevents other PR lessons from headlines from being cited. But, perhaps, the most important lesson from the printed page is not from a newspaper, but from The Prince, a book written in 1513 by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli.  In the book he wrote, “The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.”   Employees should remember that when promises are made to them.

The year 2023 is history. But I can assure you that the year 2024 will provide many PR lessons from headlines from happenings that have nothing to do with our business but nevertheless can apply to it.