Mediaboss Marketing

Representative image"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself".

These words of wisdom by Henry Ford resonate with what Public Relations truly stands for. We are a collective breed of dreamers and hustlers. We dream of making it big by co-opting brands, clients, and audiences. Everything in our world happens together. Together with our teams, together with our external stakeholders, and together with the environment around us. The operational word here is 'together'. And it feels amazing to be at the centre of this orbit.

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What comes naturally to us is Grit. This somehow came naturally to me. Grit helps us survive and thrive, Grit helps us be honest and call out the bluff even if that means rattling some cages, it helps us accept that we made an error of judgment by exalting an idea when it didnt deserve to and it helps us be creative, reinvent the whole damn cycle because it is the need of the hour.

Giving up is a luxury we simply cannot afford. I do remember doing Covid 19 how certain industries were grappling with existential crisis and what a mammoth responsibility we had on our shoulders to refresh and recalibrate the narrative for brands. Not only to make them relevant in the changing times but also to make the consumer realise the need gap the brands address. Donning the hat of a creative strategist and a consultant, I learnt the value and necessity of personalised, targeted communication during those months and years.

And this, I believe by far, is the biggest testimonial to the fact that while the narratives, tools and optics for us as an industry may have evolved, our core values have remained the same passion over experience, attitude over knowledge, the hunger to constantly learn. These anchor the choices I have made for myself as a professional.

Some lessons have been learnt the hard way but have been a great driving force. My job is to make clients and brands look good, but I have to find ways to make them feel good too. The moral code is immensely crucial. Amidst all the chaos, it was always about finding that sweet spot, pivoting to newer avenues and along the way, I was lucky enough to forge those lasting relationships as the moral code was intact as a mentee, a colleague, a mentor, a leader and a client.

Thank God, for the existence of PR as a profession. For us, who are stoked by curiosity, creativity, imagination and dynamism, PR is pure rush. Whether an insider or an outsider, you ll find your corner. Just be at it.

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The author believes, from the days when PR was just a tool to drive visibility for marketing campaigns to now, when the message dotting roadsides to digital platforms to investor relations dockets are all owned by PR, we have come a very long way. But still, what PR actually does continues to be an enigma for many.

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The widening ambit of PR - ETBrandEquity

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Half of U.S. Republicans think a federal court was motivated by politics when it ordered the suspension of government approval for a widely used abortion pill, a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Wednesday found.

Fifty-one percent of self-identified Republicans in the poll said they agreed that the ruling last week - which would essentially make sales of the abortion pill mifepristone illegal - was politically motivated. Only 28% of Republicans disagreed, and the rest said they weren't sure.

A federal appeals court late on Wednesday put the ruling partly on hold, allowing mifepristone to remain available for now but with significant restrictions, while the case proceeds.

Fifty-six percent of overall respondents, including 67% of Democrats, said the decision was politically motivated.

The poll's results point to deepening doubts about the impartiality of the U.S. justice system, and to potential trouble for Republicans in coming elections, including next year's presidential contest.

Many Republicans have campaigned on promises to ban abortion or severely restrict access to it, but a substantial slice of Republican voters support some form of abortion rights.

During his four years in office, Republican former President Donald Trump nominated many federal judges associated with anti-abortion views, including three Supreme Court justices and U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, the judge who suspended approval of mifepristone.

The U.S. Supreme Court, which now leans conservative 6-3, last year struck down women's constitutional right to abortion in a landmark case that is widely seen as a key factor in Republicans' underperforming expectations in last year's congressional elections.

Fifty-one percent of Republicans in the poll, and 73% of Democrats, opposed state-level restrictions on access to abortion pills. Forty-three percent of Republicans said they were less likely to vote for a politician who supports limiting access to abortion.

Doubts in the impartiality of the U.S. legal system have simmered in recent years. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found about half of Americans, including one-third of Democrats, believe a New York investigation into whether Trump paid hush money to a porn star is politically motivated.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 995 adults nationwide, including 433 self-described Democrats and 379 Republicans. The poll had a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of about 4-6 percentage points in either direction.

Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Half of Republicans say politics drove US abortion-pill court ruling, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows - Reuters

Mother Pence, an AI-generated portrait of Mike Pence in drag (all images courtesy RuPublicans)

As Republicans in Florida, Tennessee, and beyond continue to push harmful rhetoric and legislation that oppresses and targets drag queens and performances, one Instagram account is striking back in true queen fashion: with high style and satire. Launched one week ago, @RuPublicans uses the AI image generation tool Midjourney to generate imaginary portraits of GOP higher-ups in high drag. Leave it to drag to make Republicans less of a drag!

Were huge fans of drag, RuPublicans co-creators Craig and Stephen (who preferred to use their first names only) told Hyperallergic. It has brought so much joy to our lives. Bearing witness to the GOPs anti-drag rhetoric and actions made us want to do something. So for the last 2 weeks, weve been creating AI-generated images just as over the top and ridiculous as the false narratives around drag.

The results are fabulous. Who needs Ted Cruz when we can have Cruzella Deville, a fur-draped queen whose fashion sense is as murderous as her politics? Steve Bannon is famously disheveled, but Bombshell Bannon serves a double helping of lewk along with a steady stream of misinformation. And we can all agree pink is Mike Pences color. The portraits are accompanied by delightful descriptions. Say hello to the GOPs downfall darling, Rudy Garland, serving cuckoo couture, reads the caption for an image of Rudy Giuliani in a cheetah-print coat. She used to run the Big Apple, but now shes the juiciest peach on the streets, wandering the Upper East Side looking for her next gig (NOT the Four Seasons, honey). You thought the only thing she could leak was hair dye? Girl, watch her spill the tea!

The comments on the posts are equally hilarious. One AI portrait of Ron DeSantis Rhonda Shanty sitting in a bookstore wearing a puffy-sleeved gown brought hundreds of comments. Pictured with the only books left in Florida, said one user, referencing the Republican governors crackdown on critical race theory and learning in general.

Though the accounts co-creators are not themselves drag performers, they describe themselves as two queens (husbands) who appreciate the art and what it has done for so many.

They also highlight the ways in which the speculative power of artificial intelligence whose potential for harm has been the subject of headlines lately can be harnessed for activism, and humor.

The world doesnt need more hate these days, the pair said. It needs more beauty and laughter. If it takes AI generated wigs and glitter to elevate awareness of this important issue, were here to do it.

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AI Portraits of Republicans in Drag to Get You Through the Week - Hyperallergic

Despite Gov. Bill Lee calling for the state legislature to take action on guns, Republican lawmakers seem hesitant to make any moves.

State Republican leaders stood with Lee as he announced his plan to increase school security following the Covenant School shooting. At his press conference on Tuesday, he stood alone as he called for action on gun reform, and statements from Republican legislators following the announcement indicate hesitancy.

I am committed to protecting Tennesseans constitutional rights, including the right to due process, said Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) in a statement Tuesday. I have always been and continue to be opposed to so-called red-flag laws because they deprive citizens of their rights without due process.

Despite Johnsons opposition to anything called a red-flag law, his statement does not completely shut off the possibility of any gun legislation. He goes on to say he is in favor of making sure criminals and thoseexperiencing a severe mental health crisis do not have access to guns, saying, I am not willing to express support for or opposition to a bill that I have not seen.

His sentiment was mirrored by Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) in the House, who took to Twitter with a video statement Wednesday in which he said the Republicans in the House are not going to support a red-flag law, period. Zachary did acknowledge that conversations are underway to figure out what can be done to make sure someone who poses a direct, credible, imminent threat does not have access to a gun effectively the goal of red-flag laws.

Despite resistance from some Republicans, others seem to be more on board with getting gun legislation through this session. Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin) tells the Scene that on Monday he plans to sign onto a late-filed bill by Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) that would implement extreme risk protection orders, which would authorize law enforcement or relatives to petition for someone deemed a threat to themselves or others to have their guns taken away.

Ive heard from so many Williamson County traditional Republicans who said overwhelmingly, we really need to do something about this gun violence, says Whitson. The Williamson County representative has traditionally been more open to gun regulation than some of his Republican colleagues, saying he does not support constitutional carry and co-sponsoring another bill this session that would have required people to have guns secured in their cars. That bill was taken off notice by its sponsor, Rep. Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville).

A red-flag law typically allows a court to order that someone's guns be taken away from them based on the testimony from family or law enforcement saying they may be a danger to themselves or others. These laws take slightly different forms in terms of enforcement across the country, but essentially accomplish the same thing: keeping guns out of the hands of people who may be a threat. Critics of red-flag laws argue that they infringe on Second Amendment rights, with House SpeakerCameron Sexton (R-Crossville) telling reporters earlier this month that he had yet to see a red-flag law around the country that he would support.

Students, parents and allies rally for gun reform at the state Capitol

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) came out in support of some form of red-flag legislation after the Covenant shooting, but he made it clear that other members of the Senate Republican Caucus might not feel the same way.

The Tennessee Firearms Association, a gun lobbying group, was quick to speak out against Lees proposal. On Tuesday, the groups executive director John Harris released a statement calling the governors calls for red-flag type laws unconstitutional, although Lee did not expressly say red-flag during his presser, instead calling for order-of-protection laws.

Do not let it go unnoticed that while Governor Lee takes the opportunity of the Covenant school murders to make calls for gun control, he has not once called for immediately arming teachers (as he promised in 2018), for immediately enacting REAL constitutional carry, or for immediately repealing numerous gun free zones, reads the statement.

Despite the Republican supermajoritys resistance to any gun restrictions, Democrats have continued to make attempts at some common-sense gun laws. A bill from Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) would have introduced red-flag laws following an amendment, but it has not moved yet. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) said after the shooting that his committee would not take up any gun laws for the rest of the session. A late-filed bill from Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) would ban assault weapons but would need to be unanimously approved by a panel made up of the speaker of the Senate, the Senate majority leader and the Senate minority leader.

Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) came out in support of the governor, saying he is right to make this a priority before session ends. We are ready to work with the governor and the supermajority to get something done.

The clock is ticking for any action on guns, as some reports suggest the legislature could seek to end its business for the year as soon as next week.

Update, 1:35 p.m.: Shortly after this story was published, Freeman's extreme risk protection bill failed in the House Delayed Bills Committee.

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State Republicans Resist Lee's Call for Action on Guns - Nashville Scene

The reality, Norris wrote, is:

Since the early 1980s, on issue after issue from abortion; secular values; civil rights; racial, homosexual and gender equality; gun control; cosmopolitanism; and environmentalism the pool of social conservatives adopting traditional views on these moral and social identity issues has been shrinking in size within the U.S. national electorate, from majority to minority status. They are running down an up escalator.

With their backs to the wall, Norris argued, conservatives have capitalized on

institutional features of U.S. elections that allow Republicans to seek to dismantle checks on executive power including the extreme decentralization of electoral administration to partisan officials with minimal federal regulation, partisan gerrymandering of districts, overrepresentation of rural states in the U.S. Senate and Electoral College, partisan appointments in the judiciary, primary elections rallying the faithful in the base but excluding the less mobilized moderate independents, the role of money from rich donors in elections and campaigns and so on and so forth. The Trump presidency exacerbated these developments, but their roots are far deeper and more enduring.

Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a law professor at Harvard, noted in an email that state policy outcomes are becoming more bimodal liberal or conservative, rather than centrist than in previous eras and that the misalignment between public policy and public opinion is pervasive in modern American politics, particularly in red states where public policy is far more extreme and conservative than the public wants.

In theory, the hostility of average voters to extreme issue stances can pressure politicians to move toward the center, Stephanopoulos contended, but this aligning impact of general elections can be reduced through tactics like gerrymandering, which make it unlikely that even large swings in public opinion will much alter the composition of the legislature.

In addition, in Stephanopouloss view, in a highly polarized era, the pressure to moderate in order to win general elections faces growing counterpressure to take immoderate positions in order to win primaries:

Theres little that could persuade many voters to ever support the other side. And while general elections might be aligning, theyre pitted against many misaligning forces: the views of activists and donors, the need to win the primary election to be re-elected, pressure from legislative leadership, politicians own often extreme ideologies and so on. Its no surprise that the misaligning forces are often stronger.

Bruce Cain, a political scientist at Stanford, made the argument by email that given the clustering of communities along political, cultural and social lines in the United States presently and the dispersion of powers in American federalism, we should expect our state and local laboratories to yield a wide dispersion of products, especially when they are given more freedom to experiment.

So why dont all states converge on the national median, as revealed by the polls? Cain asked and answered that there are real public opinion differences across states and local communities, especially on hot-button social issues.

Ultimately, Cain continued, if elected officials and judges get too far out of alignment with voters, they will get the message in the form of surprising electoral outcomes, as recently occurred in Wisconsin. Democrats in the 70s and 80s experienced the same on busing, crime and welfare.

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Opinion | The Republican Strategists Who Have Carefully Planned All of This - The New York Times