On occasion, Public Relations folks have to release bad news.  The industry cliche is, “If you want to hide it, send it out Friday afternoon at five.”

I’m sure that before 24 hour news cycles, live blogging, and Twitter, “Friday at five” made sense.  But, send it out Friday at five today?  Expect that the newsrooms are watching, waiting and, not taking kindly to being kept late before the weekend.

You can’t hide bad news, so don’t even try.  Communicate openly, honestly, and quickly.