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📬 In this Edition

For a legacy brand beloved by Americans for generations, it was anything but Mm Mm Good news. 

Thanks to whip smart reporting about a loutish loudmouth at Campbell's Soup, we now know much about what happened behind the scenes when a VP talked about its products as "s--- for f---ing poor people." And mocked Indian workers. And proclaimed that those beloved soups contained “bioengineered” or “3D” meat. 

Yikes. 

The nasty remarks – covered everywhere from NBC and Fox News to USA Today and Fortune – were caught on tape by a former Campbell's employee who has alleged that he told his manager about them in January, was discouraged from reporting them, and was later terminated. 

Huh. You could call this a soup opera 🥲

The now-disgraced exec (identified by Campbell's as Martin Bally, VP and CISO) left behind a huge mess for the company to clean up. What's worse, one incendiary remark appears to be patently false. A Campbell's statement on the incident asserted that its chicken comes from "long-trusted, USDA-approved U.S. suppliers."

Campbell's responded at light speed, putting out a lengthy press statement within hours of the media debacle. And from the situation and its aftermath, comms pros can take away some valuable lessons in real time. 

1) No matter how tight you keep the reins, you can't control even your highest-ups from saying stupid things. Womp womp.

2) Damage control must be swift. Campbell's did nothing wrong in this case. By firing Bally, they took the right action at the right time, in the right way. 

3) Plan on a months-long reputation recovery. If an executive can badmouth his company in such a reckless way, there's no telling how many people will believe what he said. Trust is everything; restore it by any positive means necessary. 

4) Change the conversation. Remember when Mark Zuckerberg announced the name change from Facebook to Meta while the company faced bad press about manipulating teens? It was evil genius. And it worked. Take note.    

It’s not rocket science. It’s just soup-er simple crisis comms 🤓

- Lou Carlozo

I’ve dealt with back-outs my entire career and it never gets less frustrating.

Fresh from journalism school, I got a job as a political producer for a big UK broadcaster. It was a demanding role – the grind of the 24 hour news cycle is no joke – but rarely was I more stressed than when an interviewee (usually a politician) dropped out at the last minute.

Once it happened so late in the day, and with such a flimsy excuse, that I threw on my coat, marched out of our Westminster newsroom to the Houses of Parliament, knocked on the MP’s door, and basically said I wasn’t leaving until they were in front of a camera. 

On that occasion, it worked. A hole in the running order was avoided. 

But you can’t always go full siege mode. Push too hard with someone who’s already wavering and you'll lose them for good. So when it looks like a source or client is heading for the exit, here’s what I do:

Remind them why they said yes. People agree to interviews for reasons – they want to share their story, correct a narrative, promote something important. If you can tactfully reconnect them with that original motivation, there’s a good chance you’ll get them back on board. 

Make it easier, not harder. When people panic, obstacles grow in their mind. That’s why I always try to be flexible. If they’re suddenly hesitant about appearing on screen, suggest a phone call. If doing something live is daunting, a pre-recording might be easier. The interview will take too long? Cut the questions in half, leaving only the most essential. 

Address the real fear. An eleventh-hour cancellation is often about more than scheduling. The fear of curve-ball questioning or saying something wrong can lie dormant until the day of the interview. For this reason, I like to be transparent about what I’ll ask and share topic areas (not exact questions, but themes) in advance. 

Here’s an example. The founder of a nuclear energy startup once got cold feet a few hours before our scheduled call. Said he’d recently been burned by another journalist who’d twisted his words about the risk of a Chernobyl-style meltdown. So I sent him a couple similar pieces I’d written on the topic, showing how I handle nuanced topics fairly. Reassured, he did the interview.

Deploy strategic guilt. If someone’s genuinely wasting your time, it’s fair to mention the slot you’ve held, the other sources you’ve turned down, and so on. Not manipulatively, just factually. But don’t lay it on too thick: Getting personal is always a bad idea. 

-Alasdair Lane

In a word, yes. 

Journalists are inherently inquisitive – we want to know as much as possible about the projects we’re working on, including the backstories of the organizations we feature. Are they legitimate? How long have they been around? What’s their messaging like? Do they offer something unique that could work from a storytelling perspective?

To answer these questions, I’ll start with a simple Google search. (I’m not yet trusting enough of AI to use it as a search engine.) I’ll read through their website, getting a feel for what they do, how they do it, and vitally, how they talk about themselves. I’ll then read through a number of their most recent press releases – these offer great, skimmable summaries of a company’s work. 

Next, I move onto the news section. Any red flags against a business’s name will be there to see and digest. Also there will be a) how the company has presented itself in past stories, and b) how others refer to, describe, and generally characterize them. Both of these are important categories not only for my wider understanding of the would-be client, but also to engage my creativity. I want to think about how I might formulate a narrative that presents them (and the expertise of their team) in a compelling way. 

Speaking of the team, this is the last thing I look into. A visit to LinkedIn will help me envisage who from the company I might interview and how they might talk about a particular angle or topic. 

Is all of this necessary? Probably not. But it gives me a firm footing before any emails are exchanged or calls arranged, keeps me focused and ultimately, prevents me from wasting everyone’s time – including my own.

-Aladair Lane

Who's going where and why it matters. Not just job shifts - power dynamics, layoffs, and who's headed out. 

🧳 Entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett is launching a new tech news site and actively hiring journalists.

🧳 Rachael Bade (formerly Politico Playbook), Sean Spicer, and Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine are launching The Huddle, a new online political show and newsletter.

🧳 Jay Yarow, CNBC veteran and former editor-in-chief of Business Insider, joined CoinDesk as head of CoinDesk Insights to expand global media and events coverage.

🧳 Forbes terminated a large number of contributors; expect slower or no responses from many longtime bylines.

🧳 Rolling Stone expanded its commentary and in-depth reporting with two major hires:

🧳 Kate Clark joined The Wall Street Journal to cover startups, venture capital, and the AI boom; previously senior reporter at The Information.

🧳 Elena Burger rejoined Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) on the new media team, collaborating with partners and founders on longform blogging; previously led content at a16z and founded/ran tech newsletter The Pull Request.

📚 Yi-Ling Liu, award-winning journalist and former Wired correspondent, will publish her debut book The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet in February 2026.

Feedback? Comments? Something else on your mind? Say hello. 

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