TJ Walker

TJ Walker –
TJWalker.com is a news site featuring communications analysis of the top stories of the day. I am looking at the news through the filter of how the messages are communicated and how the newsmakers are communicating.

The site is for news junkies, public affairs hounds, and people who work in or have an interest in any of the communications industries, including public relations, journalism, marketing, public affairs, corporate communications, investor relations and crisis counseling.

The point of TJWalker is to create a better understanding of communication and to learn what to do from great practitioners in the news and to learn what not to do from people who screw up in the news. (And in any given week, a newsmaker might be used as an example for both).

Because TJWalker is all about communication, I don’t limit myself to just text on a blog. That’s why every day (Monday through Friday) at 2:00 PM (Eastern, USA) we have a live TV show right here at tjwalker.com. You and anyone else can ask me questions, give your opinions or just tell me you think I’m wrong. You can see and hear me and hold me accountable for everything I write and say. This is also why I put up at least several videos every day on YouTube and other video file sharing sits. And I put up our live daily show on iTunes for people who prefer to listen to their information. And yes, we try to put up new pictures and photos on a regular basis. I believe in trying to communicate with people in as many different formats as possible to make it easy and convenient for them. That’s why we do daily text articles, plus live and on –demand TV and radio.

So who am I to do this? First, I am a lifelong passionate consumer of news, media and speeches. As a boy growing up in North Carolina in the 70s, I marveled at how Jesse Helms rode to power as a TV, radio and newspaper columnist. For the last 25 years I have built a thriving practice teaching people how to be better presenters. I have personally trained Presidents of countries, Prime ministers, CEOs, U.S. Senators, Nobel Peace Prize winners, Miss Universes, Members of Parliament and professional athletes. You might not always agree with my analysis of a given newsmaker in the spotlight, but you can rest assured that I am giving opinions that are based on real world experience, not simply an academic or armchair perspective. And I try to practice what I preach. In any given week I may be a guest analyst on a dozen or more TV or radio news programs. I post all of them here for you to critique and judge.

I am fortunate to have a great teamwork with me here at TJWalker Interactive and at Media Training Worldwide. Kris Gentile, Mike Bako, Jennifer Wallerstein and our large team of interns do a fantastic job of reporting, producing, analyzing, and creating content for TJWalker and without them the site would look like one long email. But the site is primarily written by me and is a reflection of my voice and principles. So if you don’t like something here, you are better off directing your concerns to me.

A word about bias. Yes, of course, everyone has some bias. I am no exception. But the point of TJWalker is not to advance one political agenda over the other; it is to understand how ideas are communicated. For people who come to TJWalker for the first time, they may encounter me criticizing the public speaking or media skills of a politician or party they like, so their immediate knee-jerk reaction is to criticize me as being a partisan with an axe to grind for the other side. This is assuredly not the case.

For those who frequent TJWalker on a regular basis for a couple lf months, you will eventually see me praise AND vilify the people you like the most and do the same to people you find anathema. Indeed, I have praised the communication skills of Clinton, Reagan, Jesse Jackson and Hitler. And I’ve attacked another Clinton, John McCain, and Fidel Castro. If I haven’t offended you yet, then you aren’t trying hard enough.

The number one bias I have is in favor of interesting, memorable and moving communication over boring, unmemorable or un-planned negative communication. I leave it to the millions of other blogs to judge the policy and philosophy coherence flowing from the newsmakers’ mouths. I am focused on how they communicate and how effectively they communicate.

If you have suggestions on news topics you’d like me to comment on, please send them to me directly at tj@tjwalker.com

SITE: Tj's Site

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