How should a branded company podcast that focuses on industry news address an ongoing public incident affecting the industry? It’s tough to find the right balance between providing commentary on a topic that may be on the mind of listeners and taking an appropriate tone when in the midst of negative impact on stakeholders. These considerations came up when I listened to the most recent episode of the podcast from HITRUST Alliance:

Trust vs.

The show generally has hosts Robert Booker and Jeremy Huval providing their perspective on news and best practices in cyber security, along with industry guests. For this episode they brought on their own company CMO Steve Perkins and together they talked about trust in the context of a recent high profile security breach in the American healthcare industry.

The show does a good job presenting a mix of their unbiased expertise while also weaving in mentions of the HITRUST service offering. They took an interesting approach to the active industry incident - I actually don’t know the specific company and details, since the hosts made an intentional choice to go out of their way not to name the companies involved or cast judgment on how the breach occurred. That made it a bit harder for me to understand the references, but I can appreciate that for their typical listener who is well versed in these industry developments, it helps HITRUST maintain their objectivity and not pile on in a sensitive situation.