FIR Interviews

What should communicators be doing now with a recession likely around the corner? Gini Dietrich shares seven tips to handle it in stride. 

Continue Reading →

The post Spin Sucks 201: Preparing for the Inevitable appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

What is the role of communicators in times of crisis? Gini Dietrich discusses the importance of ES&G, especially in the wake of a pandemic, political unrest, and the current war. 

Continue Reading →

The post Spin Sucks 186: As the Situation Escalates appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Three Whiskey conducted extensive research into online anti-vaccination sentiment, identifying distinct groups, all of whom are critical of vaccination campaigns. Based on this research, the agency posted recommendations for public health institutions to consider when introducing vaccination campaigns. This approach is repeatable in other campaigns in which a group digs in its heels in opposition to the recommended course of action, vocally opposing the initiative. In this FIR Interview, Neville and Shel talk with Ben about the research and its application to marketing planning and execution.

About Our Conversation Partner

Ben Myall is U.S. CEO and co-founder of the marketing agency, Three Whiskey. He passes his substantial experience on to clients, ensuring they have the right digital strategy in place to achieve their business objectives. Ben co-founded the agency in 2015 and served as the agency’s managing partner before assuming the U.S. role, based in Dallas, Texas, in 2019.

Read the Three Whisky blog post about its research.

The post FIR Interview: Three Whiskey’s Ben Myall on Anticipating Resistance appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Anyone working in communications has learned that storytelling is a vital element of influence. (An old Indian proverb proclaims, “Tell me a fact and I will learn, tell me the truth and I will believe, but tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”) There is a wealth of literature and research that supports the value of a narrative approach to reinforcing or changing behaviors and for building support for an initiative or point of view.

Does it always work? In one case, in one study, it did not. In fact, using a narrative strategy in the argument presented in this study actually led some in the audience to move even further away from the desired position than they already were.

In this FIR Interview, Shel Holtz speaks with Dr. Liana Winett and Dr. Jeff Niederdeppe, co-authors of “When ‘Tried and True’ Advocacy Strategies Backfire.” There are clear lessons from this study for public relations and public advocacy professionals.

About our Conversation Partners

Jeff Niederdeppe is a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at Cornell University. He is Director of Cornell’s Health Communication Research Initiative (HCRI) and Co-Directs the Cornell Center for Health Equity (CCHEq). His research examines the mechanisms and effects of mass media campaigns, strategic messages, and news coverage in shaping health behavior and social policy. He is committed to producing, supporting, and disseminating innovative and rigorous research to support efforts to achieve health equity. He has published over 175 peer-reviewed articles in communication, public health, health policy, and medicine journals, and his work has been funded in recent years by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

He received the CALS Research and Extension Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Science and Public Policy in 2019, the Early Career Award in 2016 from the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section of the American Public Health Association, and the Lewis Donohew Outstanding Scholar in Health Communication Award in 2014 from the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication. He serves on the editorial boards for eight journals in communication and public health. More information

Liana Winett is Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Community Engagement in the Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health. Dr. Winett is interested in how we, as communities and as a society, discuss the many complex and controversial social issues that affect the public’s health. In particular, she explores how we can support broad participation in these important debates while also in a shifting communication landscape that often seems to resist deep consideration of complexity or controversy.

Dr. Winett teaches graduate-level courses in media advocacy and mass communication. She earned a doctorate in Public Health from UC Berkeley where she focused on the roles of message framing and media advocacy in advancing public health and policy. She also earned a Master of Public Health with an emphasis in Behavioral Science and Health Education from UCLA. Prior to joining PSU, Dr. Winett was Research Coordinator for the Berkeley Media Studies Group, where she developed and honed skills in distilling the ways that arguments can best be framed for broad public dialogue. More information

The post FIR Interview: When Narrative Strategies Fail appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Ae talk about the PR Writer’s Code of Conduct and ethical communications. An evergreen topic.

The post Inside PR 553: Ethically, Legally, Responsibly appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

On this week's episode of the Spin Sucks podcast, Gini Dietrich discusses the the unfair wage gap in the communications industry, how it disproportionately affects non-white men and women, and the responsibility of white colleagues to help fix it.
Continue Reading →

The post Spin Sucks 163: Mind the Pay Gap appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar is the founder and CEO of Ideas Beyond Borders, a non-profit organization based in New York. We recently connected on Twitter and Faisal was telling me about a project to rebuild the library of the University of Mosul in Iraq that had been destroyed by the Islamic State or ISIS during the war in Iraq.

It’s been almost four years since ISIS was expelled from the city of Mosul, but life is still far from normal at the University of Mosul, where students pass bombed-out departments on the way to class that have yet to be replaced.

The central library—once among the largest in the Middle East with over a million books in English and Arabic—has become a symbol of the devastation suffered by the whole city, its charred columns and scorched shelves a stark reminder of the education blackout imposed under the occupation by ISIS.

I spoke to Faisal on July 15th and recorded our conversation. He described the project to bring back the books and computers that began in 2017. Book by book, the library is being rebuilt: by 2021, IBB has donated more than 4,000 books and 20 computers and printers to the University.

We also talked about the project to translate English-language Wikipedia articles into Arabic for the Arabic Wikipedia that we covered in FIR 188 in October 2019, a project at the heart of IBB’s work to address misinformation and “to make the inaccessible, accessible.”

And Faisal speaks of the mission of Ideas Beyond Borders, to champion a positive alternative to the extremism, authoritarianism, censorship, and violence that plagues the Middle East.

Watch the interview here or on the FIR YouTube channel, and you can read a full transcript below. Learn more at ideasbeyondborders.org (Arabic website: Bayt Al Hikma, or ‘House of Wisdom’).

Via rev.com

Neville Hobson: I have on Zoom, from New York actually, Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, who’s the founder of Ideas Beyond Borders. Pleasure to meet you virtually, Faisal, welcome to our podcast.

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar: Thanks for having me.

Neville Hobson: Yeah, it’s my pleasure. We’re going to talk about the Mosul University Library project. It is most interesting what I’ve read about this particular project and how you addressed the destruction of this immense library by ISIS in that time. Could we start our conversation by, just introduce yourself and tell us about Ideas Beyond Borders and how you got it started?

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar: The mission of the organization is making inaccessible information accessible. Unfortunately, there’s very little content available on the internet in Arabic, and what’s more unfortunate is that there’s very little factual content available in Arabic. Most of the ecosystem for information is either state-sponsored, government-owned media or militia-owned media. Most of the exposure and most of the information that people have access to is really charged with a lot of conspiracy theories. A lot of politics. A lot of sectarian narratives, and obviously not all countries are the same, but with many countries that are affected by war like Iraq, like Syria, et cetera, that is really the common theme.

That’s my life story. I grew up under Saddam Hussein as a child and a teenager. One thing that I didn’t know was Iraq invaded Kuwait. It was in 2005. I saw a documentary by National Geographic, and it was about the story of the first Gulf War, and I went to my dad, and I was like, “What? Iraq invaded Kuwait?” He’s like, “Yes, we did, but if I told you, and you told everybody else, then we would be all in trouble.” The way we were taught in school, which was state-owned, all of it was controlled by the Ministry of Education, is that they told us that Israel and the United States invaded Iraq with the help of Britain, et cetera, and 33 countries, and we won that war, and it’s called the mother of all battles.

So this is really the ecosystem of information that used to be in Iraq, and then we moved from two state controlled television, two media channels, to a thousand that are all controlled by different political parties, so we moved in a way, I could say, from 1984 to a brave new world, from state-controlled truth to post-truth world, in which every city and every province has a very different version of reality. The ultimate goal of IBB is actually to get people to critically think and also have different perspective and be exposed to information that otherwise they wouldn’t have accessible easily.

Neville Hobson: That’s interesting. I don’t think many people would realize the scope or scale of what you just said actually until they hear what you have said. I think I’m reminded of a project you were involved with that we talked about on this podcast in 2019, which was the translation of English language content on Wikipedia into Arabic for Arabic Wikipedia. If I recall, I read a story about this in The Guardian newspaper that reported on it, as many media did, that addressing misinformation was a key part of this.

Now, thinking about what you’ve been involved with recently with replacing the destruction of the university library with new content, was this something that was a major part of what you were trying to address as well, the misinformation and providing verifiable, factual information in its stead? Would that be part of that too?

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar: Definitely. We partnered with, in fact the head of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, wrote an article saying that Arabic Wikipedia is one of the least represented and one with the least amount of information compared by the amount of speakers, even though it’s heavily visited, but most of the content has been politicized. Most of it touches on Islamic history and things like that, but nothing much about science, nothing much about literature, philosophy, et cetera.

I’ve contacted them, and we have assembled a team of roughly 120 people that by now translated 21,000 articles, so we add about 500 to a thousand articles a month these days, and with the University of Mosul, actually a significant amount of the translators that work with us on the Wikipedia program, come from Mosul and live in that area. One of the things that they demanded after the destruction of their library and destruction of the university as a whole is that they like books.

They are in the process of constructing the library in terms of physically, but they liked the books, scientific books, academic books, et cetera, and for ages they have been really demanding as much help from international organizations and development agencies, but they were not able to logistically do them and considering we have a very strong presence in these areas and mainly in Mosul, we were able to do it. We just finalized the project. We donated to them roughly about 4,000 books and 20 computers. Also, we built them small little libraries in which people can give books and take books, so in that way we encourage the habit of reading and getting to know more about the world.

Neville Hobson: That’s terrific. That must provide a lot of hope to people who look at the remnants of what happened in that war in Iraq, the burned out buildings and destruction, this provides a lot of hope I would say.

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar: Definitely. That is one of the really… On the emotional part is that one of the main messages and emails that I get from students is that they feel hurt, and they feel that other parts of the world don’t care about them. That’s really what ISIS has unfortunately done to many of these areas, is that they isolated the people from being connected to the world. One of the main things they did, they shut down the internet. They didn’t allow people from Mosul to contact people from other provinces, leave aside other countries.

Now they are in their effort to really be connected to the globe and that is one of the efforts they tried to achieve that because many of the people feel very isolated, and they think that the world doesn’t care about them. That is where we came in, and then other organizations are trying to change that and really provide a lot of hope to people. I’m very optimistic really with the… I think, ISIS in a way, if there was something positive about it and there’s nothing positive about it, but if there’s one thing is that it was really a wake-up call for a lot of people to reject extremism, to be open to different perspectives and reject the sectarian narrative.

There’s a lot of energy with the youth in Mosul, even a lot of the adults who really have lived under authoritarianism. They’re sick and tired of it, and they want something else. That’s I think a message that really the world needs to hear.

Neville Hobson: Yeah, I think it’s a pretty powerful message. Finally, tell our listeners if anyone’s interested in learning more about Ideas Beyond Borders, generally, but specifically about this, where would they go to get it online?

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar: Our website, IdeasBeyondBorders.org and the blog. Our website in Arabic is BaytAlHikma2.org, so that is the House of Wisdom that used to be the center of translation, and now we’re doing the digital version. So that’s where people can access a lot of our content, translated books, videos, et cetera. That’s where our distribution network is, and we have about 4.8 million followers across the Middle East and North Africa and in English go to IdeasBeyondBorders.org.

Neville Hobson: Fantastic. Faisal, thank you very much for your time today, and good luck with everything you’re trying to achieve in Iraq and elsewhere.

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

Neville Hobson: Yeah, my pleasure.

The post FIR Interview: Faisal Saeed Al Mutar and Bringing Books Back to the University of Mosul appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Eric Schwartzman, an early contributor to the “For Immediate Release” podcast, has written a new book, “The Digital Pivot,” and discussed it with Shel and Neville. In the book, Eric explains what successful digital marketers do differently. We also discussed the benefits of podcasting, which are covered in Eric’s book as well.

From the Amazon description of the book:

We are living through a time of unprecedented migration, from analog to digital business practices. Find out what it takes to stake your own claim online, so you can participate in the ever-growing digital economy, and get your share of the profits.

Through real-world stories and numerous examples of digital marketing pivots told in easy-to-follow, nontechnical language, you’ll learn the secrets of what it really takes to be competitive online, so you can increase revenue, decrease costs, and control your future.

Drawing on his experience leading online marketing programs for clients such as Toyota, UCLA, Marine Corps, US Dept. of State, LA Opera, and dozens of small and midsize companies, Eric walks you step-by-step through the process of pivoting to digital marketing.

This all-in-one, practical playbook covers everything you need to know to about the people, processes, and technology that power a successful digital business

About our Conversation Partner

Eric Schwartzman is a digital marketing consultant, entrepreneur, and author of The Digital Pivot: Secrets of Online Marketing and Social Marketing to the Business Customer. His Digital Pivot Program helps clients grow their businesses two to five times in six to twelve months by implementing his 4-Step Digital Pivot Framework.

Eric has led digital marketing initiatives for Boeing, Britney Spears, Cirque du Soleil, Johnson & Johnson, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the Olympics Games, the US Dept. of State, and dozens of small and midsize companies. He ran promotions at a global PR agency, founded a content management SaaS platform provider with clients such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Linkedin, NVIDIA, and Verizon, and oversaw the center for digital innovation at a $1B company where he led pivots from homegrown to enterprise software and developed an online marketplace.

Eric is an award-winning podcast producer and host of The Earned Media Podcast and the B2B Lead Gen Podcast. His library of on-demand digital marketing training courses has more than a quarter-million enrollees worldwide.

Eric has been featured in Adweek, Business Insider, Forbes, Hollywood Reporter, PR Week, Variety, and VentureBeat. He lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife Celia, son William, and his dog Ace. Eric enjoys tennis, performing arts, gallery exhibitions, and BBQ.

Connect with Eric on Twitter.

The post FIR Interview: Eric Schwartzman on His New Book, “The Digital Pivot” appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

David Murray’s new book, “An Effort to Understand,” is a collection of essays drawn from many years of posts to his blog, Writing Boots. Addressing the challenges of communicating with one another in a polarized society, the book is structured first to define communication, then move from the personal to the organizational. Like the society on which the book is focused, not everyone will agree with everything in the book, but Murray offers sage wisdom about how to engage in conversations about these matters.

In this interview, FIR co-host Shel Holtz talks with Murray about the book, including his assertion that it is not communication if you know the outcome and that communication should not be civil.

Some of those watching the live stream of the interview asked questions and shared observations, to which David responded during the conversation.

About our Conversation Partner

David Murray heads the global Professional Speechwriters Association and comments daily on communication issues on his popular blog Writing Boots. Murray is also editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day, one of the world’s longest continuously published magazines. An award-winning journalist, Murray is the author of Raised By Mad Men, a memoir about his advertising parents, and co-author of the New York Times bestseller Tell My Sons: A Father’s Last Letters.

His latest book is An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half. This book is available through Amazon and other booksellers.

Connect with Murray on Twitter.

The post FIR Interview: “An Effort to Understand” Author David Murray appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Andrea Weckerle first appeared in an FIR Interview a decade ago after she had founded CiviliNation, a non-profit that is “taking a stand against online harassment, character assassination, misinformation, and violence.” That’s a tall order given the state of civil discourse these days. In this FIR Interview, Andrea is joined by CiviliNation’s new president, veteran technology journalist Jolie O’Dell. The conversation covers the organization’s approach to addressing the issues that underlie outrage culture, doxxing, and other behaviors that undermine the potential of online conversation.

FIR co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz spoke with Jolie and Andrea on Monday, March 8.

About our conversation partners

Jolie O’Dell is a journalist and nonprofit leader. As a news writer and editor, she contributed to tech-focused publications such as ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, and VentureBeat, with bylines appearing in national print outlets periodically. She also frequently appeared on local and national news and podcasts as a tech industry analyst. In addition to her media duties, she was also heavily involved in event planning and newsroom management. O’Dell is the author of four books with a fifth coming in 2023. She lives in Virginia with her dog, Lt. Barclay.

Andrea Weckerle is the founder of CiviliNation and the author of Civility in the Digital Age: How Companies and People Can Triumph over Haters, Trolls, Bullies, and Other Jerks. She earned her Juris Doctor at the University of Richmond School of Law, where she served on the Senior Staff of the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology. She also holds a Master of Arts (MAIS) degree with a focus on Public Relations/Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. Prior to founding CiviliNation, she ran her own boutique communications consultancy and also worked with national agencies, where her experience included legal and corporate communications, online communications, and social media.

The post FIR Interview: CiviliNation President Jolie O’Dell and VP/Founder Andrea Weckerle appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.