While recent events have brought the issue to the forefront of international debate, shipping companies have dealt with rampant high-seas piracy off the East Coast of Africa and in Asian waters for years. Some larger companies have crisis communications plans to deal with the media and other audiences when a piracy event occurs. But beyond that, corporate communications about piracy has been muted, probably because in the overall scope of the shipping industry, it has been ... Read More

When more than 10,000 Moldovan youths gathered on Tuesday to protest the nation's Communist leadership, we were provided further evidence that online communications are increasingly facilitating offline assemblies - everywhere around the globe. Organizers used Twitter, Facebook, and text messaging to spread word of the demonstration, share first-hand accounts of the day’s events, and express the opinions that led to protest in the first place. The fact that this comes just one week after social media played a ... Read More

We haven't had to wait long for confirmation that the Securities and Exchange Commission will take no prisoners as it seeks to reestablish its reputation as an aggressive regulator dedicated to protecting the interests of investors. Today's "message case" is a case in point. In a complaint filed in Federal District Court in Dallas today – and purposely splashed across the web and the front pages – the SEC accused Robert Allen Stanford, the chief of the ... Read More

With nearly 300 million Internet users in China – including 50 million bloggers that have generated more than 100 million posts to date – the potential for a viral media tsunami that could sink an international brand is palpable. The Chinese Government continues to shut down Websites that deal with controversial issues and monitor individual Internet usage with an estimated Internet police force of 30,000. But still, 50 million bloggers can generate quite a bit of ... Read More

A billion dollars in fines is never anything to scoff at. But when considering the penalties that German engineering giant Siemens could have faced as a result of a years-long international bribery investigation, things certainly could have been a lot worse. At the end of the day, the $1.34 billion that Siemens will pay to governments throughout the world is only a mere fraction of the fines that could have been levied by U.S. regulators alone. ... Read More

A new National Intelligence Counsel (NIC) report released last month, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World, says that the post-World War II international system is changing dramatically. The report states that Brazil, Russia, India, and China will have powerful seats at a new international table – and in assuming those roles, they will alter the rules that govern the global marketplace. Why does this matter to professional communicators? Because it means that U.S. private and public ... Read More