APR Tuesday Tip: Research

From my visits with many APR candidates, I find that research tends to be the most feared topic on the exam. It is a large portion of the questions, but once you start digging into the material I think most PR pros will find this is all things you know. You just have to learn how to talk about them in the right way.

For starters...

Front: Research

Back: Research is the systematic gathering of information to describe and understand a situation; check assumptions about publics and perceptions, and check the public relations consequences. Research helps define the problem and publics.

APR Tuesday Tip: 4 Defenses of Libel

Hopefully, this topic won't give anyone bad "Media Law" flashbacks.

I tackled defamation and libel in previous flash card posts. Today's flash card covers the four legal defenses against accusations of libel.

Front: 4 Defenses of Libel

Back:
1. Truth: the burden of proof is with the plaintiff
2. Privilege: fair and accurate reports of public official proceedings
3. Fair Comment: on public figure
4. Retraction: a full and prompt apology 

APR Tuesday Tip: 5 Elements of Libel

Slander, defamation and libel are all terms we here people throw around a lot. If you are studying for the APR exam, or if you are a recent survivor of a media law course, you probably find yourself thinking "I do not think that word means what you think that word means."

Way back at the beginning of my little APR flash card experiment, I covered the definitions for defamation, slander and libel. Here's a belated follow up.

Front: 5 Elements of Libel

Back:
1. Defamation
2. Identification
3. Communication (Publication/Broadcast)
4. Fault (malice or negligence)
5. Damage (in absence of fault, provable damage or injury)

Getting Lucky in Budapest

As I mentioned in my first Budapest post, we arrived in Hungary in the evening, but our luggage unfortunately did not. By the following afternoon, I had resigned myself to living out of the backpack for the week. Viva la adventure!

Our trip was mostly, self-led sight seeing, but I did book at least one guided tour in each city. In Budapest we took the "Hammer and Sickle Communism Tour." It was great. There was only one other couple with us, so it was basically a private tour.

Our guide showed us all over Castle Hill, on the Buda side of the river. And, as the name implies, the tour focused on the history of Communism in Hungary. Since we had such a small group we were able to ask really detailed questions about anything and everything Hungarian. We even ended up having a surprisingly candid talk about the short-comings of the US education system.

For me, one of the highlights of the tour, was getting an up close look at this Budapest landmark.

Equestrian statues are very popular in Budapest, but this one is particularly popular, especially with the students of the nearby university. Notice a particularly shiny spot on that horse? 

Legend has it, if you rub the horse's balls, you'll have good luck. Our guide offered any of us the chance to try it. I figured we'd all take turns, but it soon became apparent that I was the only taker. 

It was much higher than I initially thought, but I scrambled up there and gave that statue a good grope. Our little group got a nice kick out of it, especially John. But you know what? Our luggage arrived that night.

Hello, Budapest

We landed in Budapest at 6 pm. We didn't want to waste a minute, so as soon as we were settled (easy with no luggage!) we hit the streets.

On our first evening out we

• Bought passes and figured out the Metro
• Found a restaurant with nothing but an address and a map (we’re claiming victory here, but Google Maps failed us, as it often does abroad, and the addresses and street names are bizarro)
• Saw Heroes Square, a landmark monument, lit up at night
• Stumbled across a live concert where they release hundreds of balloons filled with glow lights
• Talked to actual Hungarians while waiting for the train
• And, most importantly, found our way back to the hotel in the dark.

Adventures in Travel

One of the secrets to a good trip is to keep doing things you can well and just try to not care too much about anything else.

One thing I've gotten pretty good at is packing. In fact this time, I hardly planned at all. I just pulled out the list I use every time and tossed everything in our bags. We’re hitting Eastern Europe with one suitcase, one carryon, a backpack and a small purse. At least we thought we were.

Two things you can’t control: flight delays and lost luggage. Our original flight out of Dallas was delayed two hours due to lightening. We landed at Heathrow at the exact time we should have boarding our connection to Budapest, but we were saved by the delay. Our connection was an hour late, which put us right on time.

We landed in Budapest right on time. Except our luggage, that one suitcase didn't  It was last seen in Heathrow according to the database. So we filed a report and celebrated how little we had to carry to the taxi stand.

This is when I surprised even myself with my packing savvy. Because even though we had next to nothing in the backpack and purse, we ended up in Budapest with

• 8 pairs of socks and underwear each (recycling clothes everyday doesn't sound so bad as long as you have clean socks and drawers)
• Our camera, laptop, kindles (loaded with guide books), chargers and plug adapters
• 2 pairs of clothes each (if you count our travel clothes)
• All our prescriptions and a stock pile of Tylenol and ibuprofen
• Hats and sunscreen
• Toothbrushes and toothpaste
• Maps, itineraries, and tickets
• And of course, the only two things we really need: passports and credit cards. 

Holy smokes, we’re traveling across Eastern Europe with nothing but the clothes on our backs. And it’s fine. We have until Tuesday morning for the no show luggage to make it to the hotel, or I suspect they will reroute it to our home. Worst case scenario we need to buy deodorant (we’re very European today) and a brush, maybe a couple spare tee shirts. 

Textbooks vs. Zombies, a Public Service Announcement

My team at the OSU Library has been busy at work creating video content for a new initiative at the University. They are churning out some great stuff, and I am super proud. Here's the latest PSA, Textbooks vs. Zombies.

Watch on YouTube