The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson

A shooting inside a Minneapolis church during a back-to-school Mass left two children dead and several others injured. The Annunciation Catholic School community was shattered. The country watched. A…

The Breakdown:

The first move most people make in a crisis is often the one that causes the most damage. It happens when emotion outruns strategy, and the brain mistakes public pressure for personal d…

Taylor Swift didn’t just pop onto her boyfriend’s New Heights podcast for fun. She executed a masterclass in brand strategy. With over 16 million views and endless headlines, her first-ever appearanc…

This week’s PR Breakdown isn’t about a corporate crisis or a press release gone wrong. It’s about satire — and the way it forces a reaction.

In the latest season of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Par…

Justin Timberlake ended his tour and dropped a bombshell on Instagram—he’s been battling Lyme disease. The post was emotional, reflective, and full of gratitude. But was it also a PR move?

In this epi…

After NPR called me to weigh in on the Coldplay concert scandal and Astronomer’s new viral ad starring Gwyneth Paltrow, a listener to the time to email to call me a “fussbucket.”

You know what? I’ll t…

Seventy thousand five hundred twenty-one. 

That’s how many news stories included Andy Byron’s name after one juicy Jumbotron moment at a Coldplay concert. In this episode of The PR Breakdown, dissecti…

When the flood came, the warnings didn’t. In this episode, a deadly cascade of communication breakdowns and the consequences of delay. At least 129 people are dead, with dozens still missing, after h…

July appears quiet. It isn’t.

This episode outlines why summer is a high-risk period for reputation management. With newsroom staffing reduced and audience attention low, deeper stories start brewing.…

In this live edition of The PR Breakdown, Molly McPherson is joined by Warren Weeks and John Perenak, the hosts of the Reputation Town podcast, to explore the widening gap between journalism and publ…

Tyler Perry is facing a $260 million sexual harassment lawsuit from actor Derek Dixon—and his legal team wasted no time calling it a “scam” and “shakedown.” That move may work in court. It won’t hold…

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A $400 million defamation lawsuit, a full dismissal from a federal judge, and reputations still in question. This week, we’re breaking down the legal loss—and PR fallout—of It Ends With Us director J…

This week delivered a crash course in reputational damage. From a celebrity divorce to a DOGE(Y) dodge, and newsroom blowback, this episode highlights five real-time PR failures that exposed deeper i…

Jake Tapper’s new book Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again is making headlines; not just for what’s in it. The backlash, the omissions, the P…

This episode examines the sharp edge of celebrity scandal and why some reputations teeter over the cliff while others, against the odds, manage a comeback. With Sean Combs (Diddy) serving as the case…

Last week, my daughter graduated from Loyola University Chicago. After years of watching her build a life—on the field, on the sidelines, in the center of the action—she’s stepping into the real worl…

Bill Belichick has always been a master of control—on the field, in the press, and with his own narrative. But this episode examines how that carefully crafted reputation is unraveling, not because o…

A football legend avoids the one question everyone’s asking. A Hollywood power couple frames advocacy through a lens that feels just a little too curated. And a trusted draft analyst unravels on-air …

This episode examines Harvard University’s April 2025 letter rejecting sweeping demands from the Trump administration—an act of resistance that was principled, measured, and strategically precise.

The…