Fake news — or more precisely, the weaponizing of news for partisan gain or pure profit — has polluted our public discourse and eroded our faith in media.

Might there be a silver lining, albeit a small one, to emerge from this mess? Consider this: Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase, one of the biggest ad spenders in the financial services industry, was pasting its message on more than...

A few stats to start the conversation:

There are fewer Fortune 500 CEOs who are women (4.1 percent) than who are named David (4.5 percent) or John (5.3 percent) — two single male names outnumber an entire gender. (NY Times) Only 5 out of all Fortune 500 companies have African American CEOs. (CDC, Diversity Inc.) For every 10 percent increase in the rate of racial and ethnic diversity on...

The leading global research and advocacy think tank directed by Professor Stacy L. Smith at USC Annenberg today announced the launch of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Building on the success of the groundbreaking Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative, a driving force in the effort for more diversity both...

Since the inception of the corporate communications role, we communicators have been careful to draw a distinction between our work and that of marketers. While they spoke of customers, we addressed audiences. They extolled product benefits. We burnished corporate reputations. They supported operations. We served the C-suite.

But these distinctions make no sense in the digital age. The...

Public relations has always been a combination of art and science. Historically, PR was seen as more of a highly-evolved art: a combination of experience, instinct and analog interactions and relationship equity, along with a side order of social science. In today’s digital age, PR is leaning more toward science, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and big data to quantify,...

Over the past 18 months, the interplay between communications and government has taken on a heightened importance. A rapidly evolving communications landscape is altering how countries both govern and connect with their constituents around the world, with far-reaching effects for corporate communicators.

Direct-to-citizen platforms like Twitter have fuelled populist ire, from the...

In the beginning

When Facebook launched in 2004 it quickly became the go-to destination for people to connect with their friends (even if they had yet to meet them in person). Armed with a college email address or a highly sought after invite, it wasn’t long before most of the people you knew had a Facebook profile. Three years later, brands were invited to the party with the launch...