the sPRint: We Have a Right to a Free Press, Right?
August 21, 2026 | We cover an escalation in the feud between ABC and the FCC, Bill Rasmussen’s ESPN legacy, and the right way to respond to falling for misinformation. Plus, can the emojis you use show your age?
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The Warmup
The H1 Wrap-Up 📆Can you believe it’s time to start planning for 2027? Already? At the end of last year, Stephanie Pryor interviewed SmartAcre’s Lisa Zwikl about how her agency uses AI to help with annual strategic planning. Give the interview a listen.
Oh, Canada! 🇨🇦Spry PR founder Stephanie Pryor was onsite in Toronto this week with the team from Peacock Tariff Consulting. Collaborating in person with our clients is one of the best aspects of the job. See Stephanie’s post.
International Dog Run 🐶Lithuania’s Vingis Park was graced by the gathering of over 150 corgis for an international race. Hailing from nine different countries, these little-legged cuties took to the track to test their speed. Congratulations to Gustave the Girl Dog from the US on her win! Check it out here.
Fast Twitch
An Escalation in the Fight for Free Press
The legal battle is heating up between ABC and the FCC. This week, ABC filed a lawsuit against the FCC asserting that the commission violated the network’s First Amendment rights and intensifying conversations and concerns about a free and independent press. In fact, FCC chairman Brendan Carr even said the quiet part out loud—he has been open about coercing ABC to make editorial changes.
In her reporting on the lawsuit for Axios, Sara Fischer goes on to explain that “ABC's lawsuit and its parent company Disney's aggressive defense of its First Amendment rights mark a notable departure from its previous effort to acquiesce to political pressure from the president a few years ago.” This previous effort came in 2024 with a settlement over comments made by George Stephanopoulos.
Newsrooms are already under immense pressure in the U.S., with entire beats being shut down and layoffs choking the resources we rely on for consistent and thorough journalism. Any PR professional worth their salt is worried right now—we depend on relationships with these reporters to secure coverage for our clients, and this instability isn’t good for us either. As the FCC’s actions raise questions about one of the cornerstones of public life in the U.S.—freedom of the press—we should be paying attention to the potential political and professional implications for our clients.
Read Sara Fischer’s full article here.
The High
💀 Emojis Show Your Age
Google and Reddit partnered to give us a fun new data story: Do the emojis you use show your age? A new piece from the New York Times tells us exactly where we land on the emoji-age scale.
“😭” reigns supreme to express embarrassment and something overly emotional or funny. While “💯”and “👍” hold strong among Gen X to show approval, teens are more likely to use “🔥” and “🙏”to give the same response. Other emojis that don’t show up in your ‘Most Recents’ right now may be soon enough as they gain traction among Gen Alpha and Gen Z—for example ‘🥀’ to express cringe.
While this might seem a little silly on its face, depending on the audience for your brand, this is actually useful information. If you’re primarily selling to Gen Z and younger audiences, you don’t want to use emojis that make your brand look out-of-touch or (gasp) old.
Check out the full breakdown from Eve Washington, Larry Buchanan, and Claire Cain Miller here.
Slow Twitch
The Legacy of ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen
On August 18, legendary founder of ESPN Bill Rasmussen passed away at the age of 93. Bill and his son, Scott, founded ESPN with true sports fandom at the heart of their venture. This is a newsletter about public relations, communications, and media—and we’d be remiss not to talk about the legacy of the man who created perhaps the single largest and most important sports media apparatus in the world.
Running parallel to a world in turmoil, ESPN provides a healthy diversion built on the fun, drama, and excitement of the sports world. Andrew Marchand articulates it well in his piece honoring Rasmussen’s legacy for The Athletic: “In its opening moments in September of 1979, ESPN correctly touted itself as ‘heaven’ for sports fans.”
Indeed, a 24-hour cable sports network is nothing short of heaven for its viewers.
As a child of the Great Depression, it may have seemed out of character for Rasmussen to take the risks he did to form ESPN—especially considering that half a century ago, investing in satellite technology was a gamble. History would show that it was one worth taking as ESPN grew to become a multi-billion dollar media behemoth.
After stepping away from an active role at ESPN in 1980, Rasmussen became a supporter of numerous charity events and philanthropic causes. He’s also a part of “The Sports 100,” which honors the 100 most important people in American Sports HIstory.
During a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease, which was publicly disclosed in 2019, Rasmussen served as an ambassador for both the American Parkinson Disease Association and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
For more insight into Bill’s legacy check out Andrew Marchand’s article and ESPN’s full coverage.
The Home Stretch
Humor Can Relieve the Awkwardness of Falling for Misinformation
“Misinformation is rampant; we all fall for it one time or the other. What follows when you find out it’s not real, or that you’re told it’s not real, is embarrassment. And I feel that humor is the easiest way to be like, ‘Listen, I get it, but let’s make a joke about it.’”
Dave Jorgenson shares this technique with Susie Banikarim in her recent piece for the Columbia Journalism Review. As cofounder of Local News International, Dave recognizes the critical role of journalism at a time when misinformation is at an all time high and the increasingly blurred lines between influencing and reporting.
Instead of taking an accusatory or shaming approach to situations where people took the bait from misinformation, Jorgenson takes an empathetic approach and turns the cannons towards himself. He understands that no one likes to feel dumb, so in his videos he positions himself as the target of derision to take the heat off of the person who is already confused and to help the truth become easier to digest. He makes himself the joke to remove any embarrassment that comes from… well… being wrong.
This article also covers taking the leap into business ownership. Running along similar lines of a recent Good Marketing with Stephanie episode featuring Jill Lawrence Vaughan, Jorgenson talks about finding the right people and meshing management while still getting to scratch the creative itch of making things.
Dive deeper into Susie Banikarim’s article here.
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