Public affairs
PR and communications teams use Media Monitor to hear how their brand and leaders are being talked about — and to get ready for what comes next.
- Hear it as it airs. Alerts flag every mention of your brand and your executives.
- See the whole reaction. Search and Ask round up who said what, where and when, with timestamps.
- Know whether your statement landed. Find every show that read it on air, and what they said next.
- Prep the boss. Before an interview, see everything a host has said about you.
Case study: Target’s Halloween costume
In late August, Target pulled a kids’ clown costume after critics said it echoed blackface minstrel imagery. On Aug. 24, it apologized: “As a company, we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry.”
Then the talk shows weighed in: 20 episodes on 15 shows, 16 of them in the first week.
What Target would have heard on the right
- The apology became the story. Hosts read Target’s statement on air, mostly to argue the company had caved. Michael Knowles faulted it for never saying what was wrong with the costume. The Michael Knowles Show, 21:46
- Cancel-culture talk. Tim Pool said cancel culture was back, and that Target bent only because the model was Black. Timcast News, 19:21
- Some unexpected cover. Will Cain, a self-described skeptic of racism claims, said the pose matched the old caricature and he’d have flagged it. Will Cain Country, 28:47
“The markets are already anticipating the return of woke. That’s what Target giving in on this says.”
“I do think I would have raised my hands to Target and been like, hey, anyone think this one’s a little off?”
What Target would have heard on Black‑oriented shows
- A process critique. The Breakfast Club’s Charlamagne tha God gave Target “Donkey of the Day” and told it to fix its approval process, not blame one employee. The Breakfast Club, 1:20:11
- A link to the boycott. He tied the costume to Target’s retreat from diversity programs, while admitting he couldn’t prove it. The Breakfast Club, 1:20:52 Joe Budden went further and speculated it was deliberate. The Joe Budden Podcast, 2:53:17
“How does an image carrying this much American racial history make it through a modern corporation’s design, merchandising, photography, marketing, and approval process without somebody recognizing what it is?”
Case study: Prepping a Boeing executive for Joe Rogan
Say a Boeing executive has been invited on The Joe Rogan Experience. Before they say yes, the comms team wants to know what Rogan has already said about the company, and what he’s likely to ask.
Ask screened every JRE episode in Media Monitor that mentions Boeing — 30 of them — and sorted what Rogan said by theme, with likely questions for each.
Four questions to rehearse
Each is one of Ask’s suggestions, with the record behind it.
- “Were mechanics really signing off on their own work?” It’s Rogan’s most specific complaint. When a whistleblower’s video on his show said Boeing had cut inspectors, he called it “a money thing.” JRE #2119, 2:19:50 He has repeated the claim on two episodes since. JRE #2125, 1:15:03 JRE #2162, 2:01:48
- “What do you actually know about those deaths?” He has brought up two whistleblowers who died after raising concerns about Boeing’s planes, and asked Tim Dillon whether they were murdered. JRE #2162, 1:57:44
- “Why could SpaceX bring them home when Boeing couldn’t?” He raised the astronauts stuck on the space station himself. JRE #2196, 2:35:04 Elon Musk later told him an earlier SpaceX offer to bring them back was turned down for political reasons. JRE #2281, 1:26:49
- “How serious is the Chinese aircraft competitor?” When James Lindsay argued that Boeing was being run down to benefit China, Rogan said he hoped Lindsay was wrong. JRE #2119, 2:30:37 Three months later, he brought the theory up himself. JRE #2162, 2:00:06
“Well, that sounds like a money thing, right? They’re saying that quality is overhead.”
“Bro, Elon has to go rescue them. … Boeing can’t get them.”
Ask’s advice: Be ready to explain who checks the work, what happens when someone reports a defect, what managers are rewarded for and exactly what failed on Starliner.