Holtz Communications + Technology

It was inevitable that business would figure out the value in podcasting. The ability to deliver audio that would never make it to the radio airwaves, but that consumers can still listen to intheir cars, was bound to be irresistable to business. It was General Motors that made the first leap into this space with a podcast that Christopher Carfi…

I guess even PR firms have lawyers. I have often gone head-to-head with corporate attorneys who advise their organizations, in time of crisis or public scrutiny, to say nothing. “We’ll deal with it in court,” they say.

Qorvis Communications LLC, a Beltway PR firm, is in court right now, side-by-side with one of its clients, accused of making “false and misleading claims” about sugar substitute…

Transparency is perhaps the most significant business and media issue of the decade. Following the uncovering of ethical lapses by everyone from Enron to Ketchum, the public—not to mention regulatory agencies—are demanding transparency. Even journalists appear willing to have their source material exposed to public scrutiny (see “Can PR Handle Transparency?”) And yet political bloggers on both sides of the fence seem to believe they…

I spent yesterday with a client in Santa Clara, which is something of a haul from my office. I used the time to catch up on some backlogged podcasts, including a January 31 edition of Corante Event Lab. The show involved podcasting challenges. David Berlind, executive editor of ZDNet’s Tech Update, was one of the guests. Most of the show dealt with…

Steve Phenix, author of the Phenix Rising blog, has trotted out the notion of licensing PR practitioners. Distressed by the low regard in which PR is held, Phenix is exploring a number of ways to rehabilitate the profession’s image.

In my nearly 30 years in the business, I’ve seen the licensing idea brought back to life (not unlike a Phoenix) again and again. The…

I’m in a hotel in Portland, Oregon, preparing for a couple sessions with the US Forest Service. I opened the door this morning to pick up my copy of USA Today. The word “podcasting” leapt at me off the front page. There are actually two front-page stories on podcasting in the paper, one in the Money section and one in the Life section.…