Category: Uncategorized

Most people know John Krakauer as the author of “Into Thin Air,” the book he wrote about the ill-fated Everest expedition (I had a chance to meet Krakauer in person at a book signing in northern New Jersey after “Into Thin Air” was published). I’ve made it a point to read just about anything he writes…he writes in a seasoned journalistic style and really brings you into the story.

One of the most haunting stories he covered was captured in his book “Into the Wild.” Now, word comes out that Sean Penn is turning it into a feature film. Penn is to acting what Krakauer is to writing: an example of an artist consistently at the top of his game (Katrina humanitarian photo-ops aside).

I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Krakauer’s story, as interpreted and directed by Penn, will see its name on the Academy’s ballots next year. I can’t predict which categories it will be nominated for (and it may not even win), but I do believe that it is the type of story that could give Penn the material for one of his best works.

Ron Torossian responds somewhat quickly to yesterday’s gaff-pearance in Gawker. Rather than take the opportunity to explain the rationale behind his crass marching orders to his staff, Torossian instead responds with his own personal celebrity missive.

Paul Holmes over at The Holmes Report nails it in a post today on the difference between unadulterated spin and relationship-building. You’ll have a hard time finding a better example/definition than the one Paul offers up.

I’ve worked with some of the top PR people in the business. People who lead communications functions for multibillion dollar global corporations. The reason they are at the top of the profession is because they have class.

Which brings me to Ronn Torossian, leader of the high-flying pitch palace, 5W. By all accounts, his agency’s recent string of success should push him higher up the PR influence scales. However, an e-mail he sent out to his troops yesterday timed to the death of Coretta Scott King should push Torossian deep into the depths of pariah-ville:

From: Ronn Torossian
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 1:52 PM
To: Email-Everyone
Subject: CORETTA SCOTT KING

Died today – we shld have plenty of clients we can pitch on the King legacy, etc.

Ronn D. Torossian
President & CEO
5W Public Relations

The fine folks at Gawker got the scoop on the story. It will be interesting to watch how — and if — Torossian handles this personal and professional crisis in his recently launched blog.

I’ve worked with some of the top PR people in the business. People who lead communications functions for multibillion dollar global corporations. The reason they are at the top of the profession is because they have class.

Which brings me to Ronn Torossian, leader of the high-flying pitch palace, 5W. By all accounts, his agency’s recent string of success should push him higher up the PR influence scales. However, an e-mail he sent out to his troops yesterday timed to the death of Coretta Scott King should push Torossian deep into the depths of pariah-ville:

From: Ronn Torossian
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 1:52 PM
To: Email-Everyone
Subject: CORETTA SCOTT KING

Died today – we shld have plenty of clients we can pitch on the King legacy, etc.

Ronn D. Torossian
President & CEO
5W Public Relations

The fine folks at Gawker got the scoop on the story. It will be interesting to watch how — and if — Torossian handles this personal and professional crisis in his recently launched blog.

Without saying so directly, David Bianculli, a TV critic at New York’s The Daily News, adds to the spiraling shrinkage in credibility of network news. Bianculli armchair quarterback’s the decision by ABC to have World News Tonight news anchor David Woodruff report live from Iraq (Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were seriously injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq this week). In doing so, Bianculli apparently believes that network news anchors should be glorified script readers and not the journalists they are promoted to be, that the person/face is more important to the story than the actual story. I give Woodruff and Vogt credit for being journalists and not the actors Bianculli would rather them be.

There have been so many corporate scandals over the past couple of years that it’s hard to keep up with all of them. One that continues to make headlines is the case against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, who was acquitted last year of his involvement in a $2.7 billion accounting fraud. Today, word is coming out that he paid a local journalist $11,000 to write flattering stories about him. Apparently, Scrushy funneled the $11k through a local PR firm, The Lewis Group. This is another black eye for both the PR and journalism professions. Andy Lark is also calling this out on his blog (which gets a ton more traffic than mine, so it might make sense to follow any comment threads there) and expresses the frustration that many of us in the PR industry have with unethical, amateur professionals and agencies.

The good folks over at Slashdot are running a post on a Wall Street Journal story that highlights a push for more sharing of data in the development of pharamceuticals. Not that my site stats back me up, but this is the second time in about a month that posts on this blog have preceded articles or television commercials.

The Media Guerilla, Mike Manuel from Voce Communications, expands on Shel Israel’s advice for early-stage startups that are considering hiring a PR firm. It’s a post worth a read, as it speaks more to the changing nature of communications than it does to decisions facing startups.

Renuka Rayasam at the Austin-American Statesman is reporting today that Whole Foods Market is switching to all wind power in the U.S..

I don’t know enough about the economics of the wind-powered energy industry to determine the economic benefits of Whole Foods’ decision, but my 14 years of PR experience tell me that this is a great PR decision (and I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that the company’s PR team was at the table when the debate about the merits of moving to a wind-powered infrastructure were discussed).

I don’t follow the supermarket wars as a matter of my day-to-day news reading (apparently there is a huge battle going on). But I do have a few cooking/luxury blogs loaded in my RSS reader. Whole Foods seems to get consistent buzz as the good guy (read: good customer and community citizen) in a lot of the posts. Whether that’s for the natural products they carry, their purchasing ethics, or something else, I don’t know. I just know that from a PR perspective, Whole Foods seems to be doing a lot right lately.

Their competition should start paying closer attention if they aren’t already — before they get the wind knocked out of their sales.