What a crazy year 2025 has been when it comes to PR debacles, missteps and crisis management (or mismanagement). In our year-end wrap up, John and Warren each bring their list of what they saw as some of the top stories of the year and break them down from the perspectives of media relations, reputation management, crisis response and more. Thanks to everyone for listening this past year and we look forward to bringing you more Reputation Town pods in 2026!

In this episode, we break down some of the recent headlines in the PR world, including the BBC apologizing to President Trump for deceptive editing, Sidney Sweeney's high-profile GQ interview as a master class in media training, Katie Porter being not so nice to staff behind the scenes, Prince Andrew getting stripped of his royal title, the TTC cancelling its Halloween fest and Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer was perhaps a bit too transparent for the government's taste. 

This week, we chat about several stories in which the politicians should have paid better attention in media training class (including Mark Carney and Gary Anandasangaree). We also check in on how Jimmy Kimmel's ratings have fared since his controversial pause and unpause last week, an AI actress who's ruffling feathers in the top levels of Hollywood, the controversy around the Riyadh comedy festival, Col. Sanders' great-great nephew allegedly leaks the coveted KFC recipe after being dissed by the company and more. We also discuss some of the troubling developments in the UK, including the suppression of free speech and the government's proposed introduction of a Digital ID, which is being widely rejected by the public there. 

This week, John and Warren talk about the controversial suspension of Jimmy Kimmel from his late-night show and the implications re: free speech, the ongoing backlash against people celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk online, next steps for Cracker Barrel as an activist investor is calling for the CEO's firing, Canada's PM does a housing announcement in front of a fake partially-built house constructed for the press conference and then dismantled and Banksy's new piece in the UK. 

This week, John and Warren talk about Cracker Barrel's $700 million U-turn, Mitch Marner blasts fans on his way out of town, Canadian GDP shrinks, Crown Royal bottling plant moves to USA at the expense of 160 Canadian jobs, the media's skewed coverage of the story of the Lindsay, Ontario man who fought off an intruder who entered his home in the middle of the night, armed with a crossbow and the failed bench press that has hurt the NYC mayoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani. 

In this episode, John and Warren discuss the latest in the Canada/US trade war (Elbows Down!), the reputational impacts of the Air Canada strike and the way it was handled by the company, the controversy around Cracker Barrel's rebrand, Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ad, a few mins about the Coldplay concert cheating scandal (sorry, we missed a few weeks of pods!), the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's show, the state of the UK and how it's being covered in the media and a man in Lindsay, Ontario has been charged by police for defending himself with a knife after a man broke into his home in the middle of the night, allegedly with a crossbow -- a discussion of self defence laws in Canada and the public's growing frustration with what many see as antiquated and inadequate laws when it comes to protecting your home, your family and your belongings in Canada. Thanks for listening!

In this episode, John and Warren discuss some recent stories in the PR and issues management realm, including the growing backlash against Sportsnet's 30% price hike on its hockey programming, an RCMP spokesperson who appeared to say that Canadians exhibiting traditional values might be becoming extremists, Boston Consulting Group's controversy regarding a Gaza related project, Rogers allegedly used 1,000 human customer service employees to train a new AI tool and then proceeded to fire all those employees (and require them to sign NDAs in order to get their severance) and we revisit Jaguar's woke rebrand, which doesn't seem to be going well, with April sales down 97.5% compared with the year earlier. 

This week, John and Warren talk about Jake Tapper's new book and the accusations that he was part of the journalistic coverup he's highlighting, MLSE's handling of yet another disappointing year for the Toronto Maple Leafs, YouTube creator Luke Nichols (Outdoor Boys) quits the platform at the peak of his fame to focus on his family, murky water in Stoney Creek during labour disruption and is Tom Cruise the last real action movie hero?

We hit on a bunch of stories this week, including Coinbase flipping the script on hackers trying to extort the company, the viral customer service video from Frontier Airlines, NHL owner Doug Cifu reprimanded by the league for getting into a Twitter battle with a fan, Walmart says it will have to increase prices because of tariffs, Toronto City councillors give themselves a hefty pay raise, Tim Horton's sliding quality, Bernie Sanders justifies flying private and a Nova Scotia police news conference about two missing children starts on an interesting note. 

This week, we break down some of the more recent PR stories in the headlines, including the communications from the Vatican around the new Pope, the curiously low viewership numbers for Michelle Obama's new podcast, Ron MacLean appears to be on a reputation management tour, what happens if you're a celebrity who's named during the Diddy trial, Pierre Poilievre drops the ball in stunning fashion and a former Facebook/Meta insider has a best-selling book talking about some of the company's shady practices.