About William Moss
Trans-Pacific spin doctor. Head of Global Media Relations at TSMC. Occasional writer of humor and PR analysis. This is a personal blog and opinions are my own. More information at “About Imagethief“.
Also on Substack (where full posts live now), Bluesky, the usual places.
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Author Archives: Will Moss
Stupidvator
One of the fine things about moving to a new city is that you always encounter something you’ve never seen before. In Shanghai I experienced the thriving majesty of the Huangpu river, the early-morning army of huishou men and women … Continue reading
I say “tomato”, you say “massacre”, let’s call the whole thing off
It is a truism of public relations and communication that he who controls the language with which an issue is defined controls the debate. If you can attach your terminology to a situation, you have leverage over public opinion. Don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, Journalism, Politics, Propaganda
Comments Off on I say “tomato”, you say “massacre”, let’s call the whole thing off
Did the “Genocide Olympics” influence China?
Propaganda and censorship are two sides of the same coin. Both share the same goal: to enable an individual or organization to shape consensus in a group. They often work together. Censorship eliminates competing ideas, creating a void in which … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, China in the News, Crisis Management, Olympics, Politics, Propaganda, Public Relations, Reputation, Soft Power
Comments Off on Did the “Genocide Olympics” influence China?
Asian media vows to make western media cry
Imagethief was tickled to read today in Xinhua an article from the Boao Forum for Asia, an annual Chinese talking shop, on how Asian media will rise up to challenge western media juggernauts. It seems that Asians take umbrage that … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, Journalism, Media, Politics, Propaganda, Singapore, Soft Power, Xinhua
Comments Off on Asian media vows to make western media cry
How to turn one terrible scandal into two
Note: This includes two posts originally published on back-to-back days. Part 1: How to turn one terrible scandal into two Imagethief loves watching companies hang themselves. Unless they are his clients, in which case he has fits watching them hang … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Business, China, Crisis Management, Ethics, Olympics, Public Relations
Comments Off on How to turn one terrible scandal into two
The devil wears Prada and won’t rent me an apartment
Imagethief hates looking for an apartment. Once I am comfortable someplace, I’ll tend to stick with it unless there is some external factor that forces me to move. That could be a raise that lets me upgrade, the relocation of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Apartments, Cats, Resident Alien, Shanghai
Comments Off on The devil wears Prada and won’t rent me an apartment
A funny thing happened on the way to political re-education
Imagethief was morbidly fascinated to find a Reuters article over the weekend that explains how the Chinese Propaganda Ministry has launched a point-based “demerit” system to try to encourage proper behavior from the print media: CHINA’S Communist Party propaganda department … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, Media, Politics, Propaganda
Comments Off on A funny thing happened on the way to political re-education
Apartmental, a part mental
As regular readers will know, Imagethief has been on cross-assignment to his company’s Shanghai office in recent weeks. The company is, meanwhile, attempting to persuade me to consider semi-permanent reassignment to Shanghai. I have not yet made a decision about … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Apartments, China, Rants, Shanghai, Whatever
Comments Off on Apartmental, a part mental
I’m sorry, the government has killed your story
Colleagues from American and European offices often ask Imagethief how PR in China is different from PR in the west. Usually I give a two-part answer. First I tell them that were they to step into our offices in China … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Censorship, China, Media, Propaganda
Comments Off on I’m sorry, the government has killed your story
Fly the feces-free skies of China Southern
Few things have provided more grist for Imagethief’s gripemill than Chinese airlines. A simple search of this website for various permutations of China+Airline+Travel will make that abundantly clear. In part this hostility is unfair. Chinese airlines are every bit as … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Business, Environment, Rants, Resident Alien, Weird, Whatever
Comments Off on Fly the feces-free skies of China Southern
Imagethief 