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When Erik Prince, the reclusive owner of Blackwater, gives a speech he usually bans journalists and forbids videotaping. However, The Nation ’s Jeremy Scahill obtained an audio recording of a Prince speech at the University of Michigan in January. Yikes . “In the speech … Prince expressed disdain for the Geneva Convention and described Blackwater’s secretive operations at four Forward Operating Bases he controls in Afghanistan,” Scahill wrote. “He characterized the work of s…

Remember that picture of the passengers standing on the wings of U.S. Airways flight 1549 as it slowly sunk in the Hudson River? A guy named Janis Krums snapped it. PR Daily contributor Susan Young spoke with Krums about social media and how it’s affecting citizen journalism. She pulled  five lessons from the conservation.

Neigh!! There’s nothing better than hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth. Sally Whittle, of U.K.-based Blogger.ed , asked her vibrant community of bloggers how they like to be engaged on Twitter.  Read on for some great and real advice. — Adam Vincenzini

No, it’s not that “F.” Marketing Profs Chief Content Manager Ann Handley shares a few nice “F” words that companies are using to drive their social media efforts. What’s good about Handley’s list is that it does not include the usual cast of characters like Zappos and JetBlue. Don’t be shocked, but other businesses have fresh social media marketing ideas that you may not have heard about. Take a look at what sets them apart — “F”words and …

You hear it all the time. Social media exposes your computer and your company’s computer networks to all kinds of hackers, viruses, and other dangerous malware.  This article details just what the risks are from social networks and other websites by providing a color-coded system, similar to the terror watch system. Which ones are code-red? (Hint: Legitimate sites that have been hacked are more dangerous than social networks.) — Claire Celsi

A  TechCrunch blog post by Michael Arrington — that was picked up by The Washington Post — called out Video Professor, a company that provides computer training, for what Arrington claims is misleading marketing copy about its charges. Arrington called it a “scam.” The PR team at Video Professor was understandably upset and in a letter to The Post complained that Arrington did not let the company respond to the charge. The Post ’s response was basically, Take it up…

Over at PRBreakfastClub there’s a hot debate about the merits of industry events. Communicator Arik Hanson attended a recent conference that left him cold and got him thinking about the topic. “Over the last year, I’ve been to a number of digital PR and marketing events,” he wrote. “It seems like we may be preaching and talking about the same issues and topics now that we were six months ago.” Not so fast, said PR pro Amanda Sena. These conferences “provide a mor…

As the society/visual arts writer at the Houston Chronicle , Douglas Britt (pictured) is a very busy man. Very, very  busy. To speed things along, and improve the Chronicle ’s arts coverage, Britt e-mailed a 15-point “PR 101” guide (his words) to “every gallerist/cultural group in Houston” on how they can get coverage in the Chronicle . Britt comes off a little abrasive (“And PLEASE STOP TELLING ME how busy I am (I know), how prolific I am (I know), what…

How’s this for a communications response? As you may know, a vocal minority is complaining about NBC’s coverage of the Vancouver Olympics, particularly its tape delays of various events. Ron Judd, a columnist for The Seattle Times , said he’s deluged with comments from angry viewers. Unfortunately for Judd and his readers, NBC Universal Vice President of Communications Christopher McCloskey refused to speak with him on the record. However, McCloskey did talk to Th e Boston Globe ab…

Google revealed its secret project this week, a new version of its search codenamed “Caffeine.” It’s still in the testing phase. Many search engine optimization (SEO) experts believe Google might change its search algorithm, which may alter the way your company handles SEO.

On opening day of deer hunting season in Minnesota, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a possible presidential contender in 2012, shot and wounded a small buck, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune . Hunters commenting online claim the governor failed to find the shot deer to learn if it was dead or alive, which is common practice among deer hunters. Pawlenty left Minnesota the afternoon of the hunt to fly to Iowa for an event. His hunting party claim they searched for the deer and, after failing to find it, determ…

Want to get a story in The Boston Globe or on its website, Boston.com ? Scott Kirsner, a Globe columnist, wants to help. In a blog post yesterday, he explained what kinds of stories he wants from PR pros, and he asks PR pros how the changing media landscape has altered the way they pitch to the media.

“Woot.com, an e-commerce company which sells ‘one item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59 p.m. Central time,’ has been acquired by Amazon.com,” PRNewser reported on Wednesday. The company announced the acquisition with a  press release that started: “Holy crap! Woot has signed an agreement with Amazon — yes, the Amazon — to become an independent subsidiary of the ecommerce colossus.” PRNewser called the “best acquisition press release ev…

Here’s an example of a company handling a PR problem well. You’ve probably heard that thousands of parents have said Pampers Dry Max diapers cause rashes and even chemical burns on babies. P&G, which owns Pampers, has denied these accusations. To counter the negative publicity, P&G stepped up its ad spend and invited mommy bloggers to its corporate headquarters to ask questions and see evidence that the diapers are safe. At least one mommy blogger walked away from the meeting satisfied, …

Will Ferrell tops the list for the second time, and, coincidentally, he also claimed this weekend’s top movie at the box office with DreamWorks Megamind , though this list from Forbes doesn’t include animated films. Check out all the other overpaid actors .