go public

James Van Der Beek says a tabloid threat prompted him to quickly go public with his cancer diagnosis: ‘There’s no playbook for how to announce these things.’

By September 1911, Carson had laid “the groundwork for civil war,” to quote Ulster historian Alvin Jackson, and was ready to go public in a speech before 50,000 Unionists: “We must be prepared — and time is precious in these things — the morning Home Rule passes, ourselves to become responsible for the Government of the Protestant Province of Ulster.”

In its aftermath, she realizes it was exploitative and decides to report it to the police and go public.

“You don’t go public unless you’re sure of the facts,” said Fink, who is based in Southern California but has worked on PR campaigns around the world, including for the Soviet Union’s response to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown.

“I don’t know of anyone who would go public with a story unless they verified it was true,” he said.