👑 Axios PM: Royal blunder

🦊 Plus: Dr. Fox | Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Meta   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Mar 13, 2024 Happy Wednesday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 502 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.     1 big thing: Self-inflicted comms crisis Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Stephen Pond/Getty Images   The British royal family's botched photo editing job has captured the world's attention, thrusting conspiracy theories into the mainstream. 💡 Why it matters: There's no place for vague communications during the age of social media virality and misinformation, Axios Communicators author Eleanor Hawkins writes. 💡 "Reasonable people understand the need to withhold information — especially with regards to health," crisis communications expert Molly McPherson tells Axios. "But when there is too much engineering happening to hide information, people become skeptical and are drawn to get to the bottom of it themselves." Catch up quick: It all started in January, when Kensington Palace said the Princess of Wales would be in the hospital for about two weeks to recover from a planned abdominal surgery. 👀 She hasn't made a public appearance since. 📷 Kensington Palace released a photo of Kate and her children this past weekend in honor of Mother's Day in the U.K. (See the photo.) Newswires pulled the photo after realizing it had been manipulated. The princess said on social media that she edited the photo, which was taken by her husband, Prince William. "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she said. Go deeper.     2. 🔥 Flamin' Hot Cheetos under fire Flamin' Hot Cheetos with cheese and pickles at the Houston Rodeo. Photo: Ana Khan/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images The California legislature is considering a bill that would keep several popular snacks — including Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Doritos and M&Ms — out of public schools, the L.A. Times reports. The bill targets several artificial food dyes, including the one that makes Flamin' Hot Cheetos red. 🎒Some schools have already banned Flamin' Hot Cheetos, largely because they contain loads of salt and fat.     A message from Meta Cataracts are the primary cause of avoidable blindness     FundamentalVR and Orbis International created a VR training platform that helps surgeons practice cataract surgery. The impact: More surgeons have access to the training they need to treat cataracts around the world. Explore the impact of the metaverse.     3. Catch me up Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios   📱The House voted overwhelmingly to require ByteDance to divest from TikTok. The bill faces a rockier path in the Senate. Go deeper. 🎤 Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was set to launch a show on X, with an interview with Elon Musk on the premiere episode. But Lemon says Musk canceled the partnership because he didn't like the interview. Lemon says he still wants to be paid — and will sue if he has to. But Axios' Dan Primack confirmed that X didn't have a signed contract with Lemon. Go deeper. 🛍️ Outdoor Voices, the athleisure brand that bet big on prime locations in many of the country's fastest-growing cities, is closing its storefronts and moving entirely online, employees say. Go deeper.     4. 🦊 1 for the road: Dr. Fox Richmond Wildlife Center executive director and founder Melissa Stanley wears a fox mask as she feeds an orphaned red fox on Sunday. Photo from video: Richmond Wildlife Center via AP Employees of the Richmond Wildlife Center in Virginia are doing their best to act like mother foxes as they feed and care for an orphaned fox. 🍼 That includes wearing a fox mask during feedings, as well as minimizing human sounds and blocking its view of other humans. The steps increase the chances the fox will be able to thrive back in the wild, AP reports. "It's important to make sure that the orphans that are raised in captivity do not become imprinted upon or habituated to humans," the wildlife center said in a Facebook post.     A message from Meta "VR let me practice hundreds of times before I operated on a patient"     Dr. Baid used FundamentalVR and Orbis International's VR platform for additional training in a hands-on environment. Why it's important: In the past year, Dr. Baid has performed 300 life-changing surgeries to preserve her patients' vision. Discover other stories.   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: