An Insider’s Look at What PR/Communication Students are Being Taught

ETSU Media and Communication dept. website page.

09.04.2026 – Studying public relations (PR) in college has changed drastically over the years. For me, it’s been nearly 40 years since I earned my undergrad in communications, with an emphasis in public relations. Today, if you want to get a degree in public relations, you’ll be expected to learn a lot more than creating a strategic communications plan

What They Don’t Teach You in the Corner Office

Executive in a business office.

08.28.2026 – Fay Vincent ran Columbia Pictures. He was an EVP at Coca-Cola and the eighth commissioner of Major League Baseball. The man has been in more corner offices than most of us will ever see from the parking lot. When he sat down years ago to write and publish 10 things he wished someone had told him at 40, before he started plowing those executive fields, it got my attention.

The WNBA is In a PR Pickle

08.12.2026 – Oh, WNBA. Bless your hearts. Your league is in one heck of a juicy PR pickle right now. Instead of being known as the NBA equivalent for women (WNBA does stand for Women’s National Basketball Association), where women have the opportunity to showcase their basketball talents on the professional level, lately your reputation and branding is about something completely different.

Get Out of That Rut — and Into Better Meetings

08.06.2026 – Summer is ending soon (sorry to break the bad news). Did all the vacations and time off from work re-energize you? Or do you feel in a bit of a rut? Maybe this week’s message will be therapeutic for you.

Cursed Be AI for Giving Em-Dashes Bad PR

07.29.2026 – Are you one of those who automatically think AI wrote something if you see an em-dash? Well, you need to stop this knee-jerk reaction. Now. Let me demonstrate why. I’m sitting in front of my iMac at this very moment — and I can 100% assure you that the em-dash I just inserted was done live by me at this very moment.

Delta Dealt My Granddaughter and Me a “Soar(less)” Deal 

07.22.2026 – When I saw a newspaper headline about Taco Bell customers purportedly getting “explosive diarrhea” from eating at this chain, I thought it would make for an excellent blog post about how it’s really bad PR for your restaurant to be mentioned in the same sentence with those words (regardless of whether or not it’s true). It would have also included my commentary on how Taco Bell’s official company statement from its PR crisis communications team did little to defuse this crisis (it was very self-serving and hit 0% on the “we’re sorry” meter). But Leticia strongly encouraged me to find something else to write about this week. So, scratch any mention of that topic this week.

10 Mind-Boggling Demands On Your Attention

07.15.2026 – “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Nobel laureate Herbert Simon uttered that prophetic line in 1971. That should be tattooed on every communicator’s forearm.