Episode #29: A Humiliating (and Costly) Zoom Call for a Prominent Journalist, Why ESG and CSR are Critical to PR, the Joy of RSS feeds, and Canada's Contribution to the Alt-Right

Talking Shop Podcast

It's not everyday that a case like this lands on our lap: a prominent journalist exposed himself on a company Zoom call, apparently unaware that his colleagues could see what he was doing. It's embarrassing, to be sure, but what's the legal case against the New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin? He claims it was an accident, so is he still liable for sexual misconduct? What about the PR fallout for Toobin, The New Yorker, and CNN, where he also works as a pundit? It's a fascinating case and we look at it from every angle.

Then Cam looks at the top five trends expected to drive corporate communications in 2021, with ESG at the top of the list. ESG and CSR aren't new concepts, but their importance is continuing to grow and become a much larger part of a company's corporate story. Large corporations have been involved in CSR for a while, but what can small or medium-sized businesses do? We explore the answers.

Also: RSS and why it's critical to tracking news and social conversations, how Canada could be the biggest "swing state" in the upcoming US presidential election, and the Greater Vancouver-born alt-right starlet that has galvanized the white supremacist movement in the US and Europe.

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Links and Show Notes

• New Yorker suspends Jeffrey Toobin for masturbating on Zoom call - VICE
• Don't show your dick on work Zoom - Rolling Stone
• 5 powerful PR trends for 2021 - Public Relations Today
• Feedly RSS Reader - Feedly
• Toxic social media leading to renaissance in RSS readers - CamMacMurchy.com

Check This Out

• American voters living in Canada increasingly being counted in presidential race - Toronto Star
• Why the alt-right's most famous woman disappeared - The Atlantic
• White Noise Documentary - The Atlantic
• The alt-right's sad decline documented in White Noise - CamMacMurchy.com

Hosts

Ewan Christie is an employment lawyer and partner at Duntrune LLP in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Cam MacMurchy is a corporate communications executive with a multinational technology company listed in Hong Kong and curator of the Digital Bits PR and Communications newsletter. He also contributes to Apple news website 9to5Mac and shares his thoughts on PR, media, travel, and technology on his website.