Edwin Battistella, who teaches linguistics and writing at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, talks about why some public apologies fail while others stick.

You'll hear a recent statement from Hillary Clinton regarding her emails, as an example, along with other famous "non-apology apologies" from Brian Williams and others.

Battistella says there are certain tells that give away an insincere apology, like using the passive voice (i.e. "mistakes were made") or refusing to state explicitly what the person did wrong.