Newly released files shed new light on Chomsky and Epstein relationship; The Guardian, February 3, 2026

 Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Guardian; Newly released files shed new light on Chomsky and Epstein relationship

"The close friendship that Noam Chomsky maintained with Jeffrey Epstein continued being detailed extensively among millions of investigative records pertaining to the late convicted sex offender recently released by the US justice department, including Chomsky “fantasizing about the Caribbean island”.

In Friday’s tranche of the so-called Epstein files, which built upon earlier disclosures of their close social ties, there is no indication that the famed academic and linguist was referring to his friend’s private Caribbean island where children were sexually abused. But the personal familiarity between the two men in that exchange is palpable, as it is in numerous other emails between Chomsky and Epstein aimed at planning more mundane social gatherings...

Perhaps most strikingly, in late February 2019, Epstein represented to an associate that he had gotten advice from Chomsky over how to navigate “the horrible way you are being treated in the press and public”. That was 11 years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor – and months before he would reportedly die by suicide while in federal custody awaiting sex-trafficking charges.

“The best way to proceed is to ignore it,” Chomsky wrote, according to text signed under his first name that Epstein sent to a lawyer and publicist. “That’s particularly true now with the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women, which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder.”

Neither Chomsky nor his second wife and spokesperson, Valeria Chomsky, immediately responded to inquiries about the Epstein-related emails in question – including whether they disputed the authenticity of the 2019 advice attributed to the scholar."

Baltimore County reinstates 14 part-time librarians after abrupt mass firings; CBS News, November 15, 2025

Janay Reece, CBS News ; Baltimore County reinstates 14 part-time librarians after abrupt mass firings

"More than a dozen part-time librarians from Baltimore County who were laid off on Wednesday were reinstated Friday evening, according to the Baltimore County Public Library.

Baltimore County Public Library made the announcement just two days after laying off 14 part-time librarians...

"It was unsettling and humiliating..."

Curreri's decades-long career came to a halt Wednesday after learning she and more than a dozen others were being laid off.

"The HR representative told my manager that he should get me a bag, and we went to my desk and I packed everything up," said Curreri. "The representative did tell me I was not to speak to anyone in the library about what happened, because the CEO was going to be sending something out to let all staff know what was going on...It was really hard to walk out without being able to tell people what just happened, and to say goodbye.""

Mark Zuckerberg Is Done With Politics; The New York Times, September 24, 2024

 Theodore Schleifer and Mike Isaac, The New York Times; Mark Zuckerberg Is Done With Politics

"Instead of publicly engaging with Washington, Mr. Zuckerberg is repairing relationships with politicians behind the scenes. After the “Zuckerbucks” criticism, Mr. Zuckerberg hired Brian Baker, a prominent Republican strategist, to improve his positioning with right-wing media and Republican officials. In the lead-up to November’s election, Mr. Baker has emphasized to Mr. Trump and his top aides that Mr. Zuckerberg has no plans to make similar donations, a person familiar with the discussions said.

Mr. Zuckerberg has yet to forge a relationship with Vice President Kamala Harris. But over the summer, Mr. Zuckerberg had his first conversations with Mr. Trump since he left office, according to people familiar with the conversations."

Rishi Sunak says sorry for leaving D-day events early to record TV interview; The Guardian, June 7, 2024

Aletha Adu, Eleni Coureaand Jim Waterson , The Guardian; Rishi Sunak says sorry for leaving D-day events early to record TV interview

"The shadow defence secretary, John Healey, has sent a letter to his cabinet colleague Grant Shapps asking when the decision for Sunak to skip the commemorations was made. He also queried whether the French government was correct in saying they were told a week ago that the prime minister would not attend the D-day 80th commemoration.

He added: “The prime minister’s decision not to attend the events in Normandy yesterday – apparently in favour of recording a TV interview – raised worrying questions about both his judgment and his priorities.”"

Ronn Torossian Admits To "Ethical Lapses" Amid News Site Controversy; PRovokeMedia, February 23, 2022

 Diana Marszalek, PRovokeMedia ; Ronn Torossian Admits To "Ethical Lapses" Amid News Site Controversy

"After finally admitting to owning Everything-PR, 5WPR founder and CEO Ronn Torossian apologized for his lack of transparency on the issue, acknowledging making “missteps including ethical lapses and errors in judgment” during the 20-year history of his firm...

Torossian’s apology comes following Crain’s New York Business’s report last week that he does indeed own Everything-PR, despite years of denial, and used the site to boost his own firm while slamming other agencies...

“In addition to being a cowardly and blatant violation of PRSA's Code of Ethics, Ronn’s actions are a stain on our profession and undermine our role as guardians of facts and integrity for those we serve. We strongly condemn his and his firm’s direct role in perpetrating disinformation while pretending to be a legitimate industry news site," said PRSA-NY's board said in a statement."

Disney CEO apologizes after elementary school is fined for Lion King showing; The Verge, February 6, 2020

Julia Alexander , The Verge; Disney CEO apologizes after elementary school is fined for Lion King showing

"Movie Licensing USA, a licensing firm that works with Disney and a number of other companies, sent an email to Emerson Elementary, letting it know the firm was alerted to the PTA’s screening, and the school was facing a $250 fine as a result for showing a movie for which it didn’t have the licensing rights. The email, which was obtained by CNN, noted that “any time a movie is shown outside of the home, legal permission is needed to show it, as it is considered a Public Performance.”...

There are a number of unanswered questions. How did Movie Licensing USA even find out about the event? Who alerted the company to a small fundraising event, which led the firm to take action? Disney is notorious for its copyright takedown strategy, but it’s usually over parts of its movies ending up on YouTube or other hosting sites or merchandise using characters from its properties — not a fundraising event where a movie purchased by a local father was shown. 

At least Iger is trying to rectify the situation. But it doesn’t answer any of the questions listed above. The Verge has reached out to Disney and Movie Licensing USA for more information."

How to Talk to People, According to Terry Gross: The NPR host offers eight spicy tips for having better conversations.; The New York Times, November 17, 2018

Jolie Kerr, The New York Times; How to Talk to People, According to Terry Gross:

The NPR host offers eight spicy tips for having better conversations.

"In a subsequent chat, our roles reversed, Ms. Gross offered her thoughts on how to have a good conversation.

“Tell me about yourself,”
a.k.a the only icebreaker
you’ll ever need

Those are the only four words you need to navigate a potentially awkward conversation, whether on a blind date or at a cocktail party. Ms. Gross avoids asking more pointed questions (for example, “What do you do for work?”) that presume information to be true."

Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis; The New York Times, November 14, 2018

Sheera Frenkel, Nicholas Confessore, Cecilia Kang, Matthew Rosenberg and Jack Nicas, The New York Times; Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis

"Like other technology executives, Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg cast their company as a force for social good. Facebook’s lofty aims were emblazoned even on securities filings: “Our mission is to make the world more open and connected.”

But as Facebook grew, so did the hate speech, bullying and other toxic content on the platform. When researchers and activists in Myanmar, India, Germany and elsewhere warned that Facebook had become an instrument of government propaganda and ethnic cleansing, the company largely ignored them. Facebook had positioned itself as a platform, not a publisher. Taking responsibility for what users posted, or acting to censor it, was expensive and complicated. Many Facebook executives worried that any such efforts would backfire."

Newseum Says It Made a Mistake and Pulls ‘Fake News’ Shirts; The New York Times, August 3, 2018

Sopan Deb, The New York Times; Newseum Says It Made a Mistake and Pulls ‘Fake News’ Shirts

[Kip Currier: Photos of some items I bought at The Newseum when I was there for a Social Innovation Summit a couple of years ago:]

"The Newseum in Washington, which caused a stir Friday after reports that it was selling a T-shirt reading “You Are Very Fake News,” announced Saturday that it was pulling the shirts from its gift shop and online store.

“We made a mistake and we apologize,” the museum, which is dedicated to press freedom, said in a statement on its website. “A free press is an essential part of our democracy and journalists are not the enemy of the people.”

Sainsbury's chief sings 'We're in the Money' after Asda merger; The Guardian, April 30, 2018

The Guardian; Sainsbury's chief sings 'We're in the Money' after Asda merger

"The chief executive of Sainsbury’s has been filmed singing “We’re in the Money”on the same day he announced a blockbuster merger with Asda.

Waiting to be interviewed by ITV, Mike Coupe started warbling one of the best-known songs from the musical 42nd Street. In the clip released by the broadcaster, he is shown singing: “We’re in the money, the sky is sunny. Let’s lend it, spend it, send it rolling along.”"

Senate fails its Zuckerberg test; CNN, April 11, 2018

Dylan Byers, CNN; Senate fails its Zuckerberg test

"Congress doesn't understand Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg emerged unscathed from Tuesday's Senate committee hearing, and he did so in large part because most of the senators who asked him questions had no clue how Facebook worked, what the solutions to its problems are, or even what they were trying to achieve by calling its CEO to testify, other than getting some good soundbites in.

What the first day of the Zuckerberg hearings made clear is that many American lawmakers are illiterate when it comes to 21st century technology."

Mr. Zuckerberg goes to Washington — so let’s stop acting like he can’t handle it. He can.; Recode, April 9, 2018

Kara Swisher, Recode; Mr. Zuckerberg goes to Washington — so let’s stop acting like he can’t handle it. He can.

"So, my guess — even if he is attacked badly by an attention-seeking politician, as Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang was when he was called a “moral pygmy” in 2007 — is that he can handle it. More to the point, he has to because, and I will try to say this slowly for those who do not get it: It. Is. His. Job. As. CEO. Of. Facebook.

It’s a job he has also clearly fallen down on from a management point of view, allowing the platform he built to be misused and abused by bad actors by his lack of policing the system he put in place. Mark screwed up here, that much is clear, and he now needs to both atone and fix it.

The so-so-sorry part is what he and other Facebook execs have been rolling out over the last week, after an initial bizarre period of silence that made the company look feckless. But those first apologies contained — including in an interview with me and Kurt Wagner last week on Recode — an odd mention that he did not want to sit at his desk in California and make rules for the community of Facebook, even though he made Facebook.

It was akin to Dr. Frankenstein saying “my bad” for making the monster and then insisting that he was really not the one responsible for the mess that resulted."

Full transcript: Apple CEO Tim Cook with Recode’s Kara Swisher and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes; Recode, April 6, 2018

Meghann Farnsworth, Recode; Full transcript: Apple CEO Tim Cook with Recode’s Kara Swisher and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes

"Recode’s Kara Swisher and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook in Chicago, IL. The interview was taped on Tuesday, March 27, and aired on Friday, April 6, 2018. Read the full transcript below.

The full video is not available online but you can listen to the full, uncut interview on Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher. The audio is embedded below, or you can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Overcast or wherever you listen to podcasts."

Congress wants to 'inflict pain’ on Mark Zuckerberg. Is he ready for it?; Guardian, April 10, 2018

Olivia Solon, Guardian; Congress wants to 'inflict pain’ on Mark Zuckerberg. Is he ready for it?

"Taking the stand will be a major test for Zuckerberg’s communication skills. Unlike when he deals with the media, his public relations team won’t be there to cherry-pick questions from friendly parties. And Congress wants its pound of flesh.

“Congress is theatre. More than what they are going to want to learn [about the data lapses], they are going to want to inflict pain. They are going to want to be seen as being responsive to public disgruntlement with how Facebook handled the issue,” said Ari Ratner, founder of communications consultancy Inside Revolution and former Obama administration official...

Zuckerberg will want to come across as authentic and apologetic, and will, according to his testimony published on Monday, highlight the sweeping changes that the company has announced already to its privacy tools and to the way third parties can access data on the platform as well as a verification process for political advertisers and page administrators. He will probably also want to talk about Facebook’s global compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a broad set of privacy protections being introduced in the European Union in May."

Without data-targeted ads, Facebook would look like a pay service, Sandberg says; NBC, April 5, 2018

Alex Johnson and Erik Ortiz, NBC; Without data-targeted ads, Facebook would look like a pay service, Sandberg says

"The data of users is the lifeblood of Facebook, and if people want to opt out of all of the platform's data-driven advertising, they would have to pay for it, Sheryl Sandberg, the company's chief operating officer, told NBC News in an interview that aired Friday.

In an interview with "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, Sandberg again acknowledged that the company mishandled the breach that allowed Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis firm that worked with Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, to harvest information from as many as 87 million Facebook users."

Who stole 314 items from the Carnegie Library rare books room?; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 19, 2018

Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Who stole 314 items from the Carnegie Library rare books room?

[Kip Currier: A very troubling story that will serve as a springboard for my 3/20/18 lecture/discussion of public relations crisis management in my Managing and Leading Information Services course. A few weeks ago, I gave a lecture I've been doing the past 10 years+ on "Managing Legal Issues in Libraries and Information Centers" that includes a geographically diverse "Rogues' Gallery" (props to DC Comics' The Flash comic book for the memorable appellation!) of persons identified over the past decade, who have been alleged to have committed library-related infractions and have been convicted of library-related crimes. The individual (or individuals) who perpetrated this brazen theft of rare books from the venerable Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Main Library and breach of public trust can be added to the Rogues' Gallery if/when apprehended and adjudicated.]

"Mr. Vinson believes that the thief may have been a library employee or employees because only a handful of people knew the security procedures.

“The books were immensely valuable. But they were also across a wide variety of fields,” he said.” Only a few people have that knowledge — a general antiquarian bookseller, a librarian or a curator would know the value. It has inside written all over it.”"

Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges; New York Times, March 30, 2017

Daisuke Wakabayashi and Mike Isaac, New York Times; 

Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges

"“The more we get into this, it might look like a public relations disaster for Uber,” said Michael Carrier, a law professor at Rutgers University. “The mere fact that you’re pleading the Fifth doesn’t look good.”"

Uber Needs To Do Better When It Comes To Diversity; Huffington Post, March 28, 2017

Ryan Grenoble, Huffington Post; 

Uber Needs To Do Better When It Comes To Diversity

"After years of keeping its diversity data hidden away, Uber released its first diversity report Tuesday, under the direction of its new Chief Human Resources Officer Liane Hornsey.

The report revealed that Uber employees are mostly white and mostly male, especially at the more senior levels of the company. A full 78 percent of Uber’s workers at the director level or above are men, and 76.7 percent of the company leadership is white.

Tuesday’s disclosure is part of a concerted PR effort to right the ship at the company after a series of scandals. Uber has faced allegations of rampant sexual harassment from former employees; a high-profile lawsuit that contends Uber stole trade secrets from a Google-founded competitor; numerous high-profile departures; and a video showing CEO Travis Kalanick telling off a driver.

“​This report is a first step in showing that diversity and inclusion is a priority at Uber,” Kalanick said in a statement. “I know that we have been too slow in publishing our numbers — and that the best way to demonstrate our commitment to change is through transparency.”"

BrewDog backs down over Lone Wolf pub trademark dispute; Guardian, March 27, 2017

Rob Davies, Guardian; 

BrewDog backs down over Lone Wolf pub trademark dispute

"Branding expert Graham Hales, chief marketing officer at the Chemistry Group, said BrewDog had made the right decision by backing down. “Lawyers have their jobs to do and any brand needs to protect its trademark,” he said. “That being said, the sense of David versus Goliath in a business context is something people will comment on."

Mastering Marketing; Library Journal, March 9, 2017

Laurie Russo, Library Journal; 

Mastering Marketing 

"Levy explained that traditional PR is dependent on traditional media. A company, or an institution like a library, makes a story pitch to a magazine or newspaper, but, ultimately, the publication’s editors decide whether a story will run. Social media has changed this dynamic, enabling companies to engage with their customers directly. But maintaining engagement requires quality content.

“If you can build your own audience on social media, that’s great,” she said. “But in order to get your audience to consume your content and want to share it, it has to be of substance, it has to be meaningful, it has to [have] editorial quality.” Libraries need to define which demographic is their top marketing priority and what content would be most relevant to that audience, Levy said, and then can use a “story brief” worksheet and outline to create effective content. She also shared techniques for presenting content to customers and amplifying a brand message across channels, emphasizing the importance of including details in stories to make them memorable, and encouraging attendees not to be afraid of showing some personality on a library’s social media accounts. Having a unique voice provides “an opportunity to amplify your brand across channels. When you have a bifurcated and very disparate sense of media—there’s no longer one local paper that people read: there’s online papers, there’s social media, there’s a mom’s Facebook group—there are all kinds of places for you to reach your patrons. If you can come up with a distinctive voice and be bold enough to put a twist on your library, you can make a mark in the community and have your community think about your library in a refreshing way.”"