Views on Reputation/LawFirmsPR.com

Where Have All the Reporters Gone?

As a teenager in the 1970s, all I ever wanted to be was a newspaper journalist, like my great uncle. Lucky for me, I got that wish granted early in my career. Today, the media industry, print in particular, is littered with victims of the economy  and the new economy being transformed by the Internet, bloggers and so-called "IReporters".

Every day I read about another round of layoffs and buyouts in the newspaper industry and it now seems clear that these jobs are never coming back even when the economy does.

What are journalism professors telling their students these days? It's no longer "work hard and you'll get a job at a major metropolitan newspaper fighting for truth, justice and the American way." (OK, I loved the Clark Kent character and Superman).

We're in a new information age and it's still unclear how this will influence public opinion on many critical issues of the day. While we have more access to information than ever before, we can't always be sure that what we are reading is fact or fiction or something in between. We can longer rely on the daily newspaper to get "all the news that's fit to print" just as we can no longer rely on the evening news to take us on in-depth photographic journeys to other continents that explain how people and governments live and work.

I love sites like Twitter and Facebook for some doses of my news appetite just like the many news sites and blogs that keep me informed 24/7. I like being able to customize my news with wire services, dailies, trade publications and blogs. But it's also a lot more work to stay on top of the deluge of information.

The loss of so many talented and veteran beat reporters to the economy, many who spent decades plying their trade, is a loss for all of us who want to better understand the complex issues we all face in our local communities, nationally and internationally.

Yes, the Internet has made the world smaller and allowed information to reach us all faster. We should be better informed than any generation in history. I can only hope that today's Twitterers, bloggers, podcasters, citizen reporters and Facebook commentators take some lessons from the great traditions of journalism.

From the early days of journalism, being objective and getting to the truth were the pillars of the profession. As we entered the 20th Century, most people had only one media outlet they depended on for the "facts" -- usually their daily newspaper, and later, the radio and the evening news. Walter Cronkite, for example, was one of the most trusted people in America. And you had to be one heckuva reporter and writer to make it to a major daily newspaper. Journalism was glamerous and exciting and we've seen that in Hollywood's portrayals of newspaper people.

The world has changed dramatically from those romantic days of Citizen Kane through All the President's Men. Like millions of others, I'm enjoying the technology and access to all the information that fits onto my computer screen and hard drive. 

Today, we combine information from multiple sources and assess what's truth and what's fiction. We've mastered quantity of information. I'm just hoping we all stay committed to quality information.

Liddy Testimony on AIG Bonuses Misses The Point About Corporate Reputation

"We understand that since our relationship with the Government and taxpayers had changed, our behavior as a company needed to change." -- Edward M. Liddy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AIG, in testimony before House Financial Services Subcommitee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, March 18, 2009

What's wrong with the above statement is that it shows that AIG's behavior only changed when it had its hand forced first by the government bailout and, more recently, the explosion of anger across the U.S. about the excessive bonuses paid for by taxpayer dollars.

Crisis communications and reputation management don't start when the crisis happens. It starts with who you are as a company, what your culture represents and how you are viewed by your critical audiences.

Companies that enjoy solid reputations get there because of their actions first, then words. They don't change for the good just because of external forces. They start out that way in their infancy, stay committed to ethical behavior, root out corruption, focus on community involvement and social responsibility and are good corporate citizens.

No one should for a minute cheer AIG for saying it changed its behavior. Actions speak louder than words when it comes to corporate reputation. Unless or until the bonuses are rescinded, AIG's corporate reputation will be and should be judged by that one action. 

It's possible that AIG didn't think about the public anger over the bonuses when it decided to grant them. But it has never apologized, which was the first major mistake it made in this crisis.

Making matters worse, AIG's put out a press statements that they were legally bound to the bonuses and that the bonuses were given to retain employees. A critical part of crisis communications planning is thinking about what you are going to say and trying to gauge public reaction BEFORE releasing any statements. In this case, AIG failed miserably. 

That's why Liddy's statement is so disturbing. Are we supposed to thank him that the company's greedy behavior changed? He can tell us his company has changed but I don't buy it. A company that hands out these kinds of bonuses with taxpayer dollars to a failed division hasn't changed at all. And a company that admits it only changed because it was forced to says much about the culture at AIG.

Obama Administration Doing Better Job of Communicating on Economy

It occurred to me last night while watching Ben Bernanke's interview on 60 Minutes that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is a much better communicator than I thought. He spoke honestly about decisions that were made --and it was particularly refreshing to hear a government official be candid about how our economy got into a recession and how the Administration, working with Congress, can get us out. (And it was very cool to see those robots move millions of dollars inside the Treasury Department). 

That was followed by today's announcement by President Obama to boost small business lending, which was an excellent example of how to stage a public relations event to connect with mutliple audiences. 

Treasury Timothy Geithner opened the event and was followed by the owner of a regional bank and a small business owner trying to expand his restaurants.  In the audience, were small business owners while, at the podium, the President then  railed at AIG for giving out bonuses with taxpayer dollars to employees who are partially responsible for creating the economic mess. He then outlined his plans to unlock SBA loans. 

In a little more than 24 hours, starting with yesterday's Sunday morning news programs, the Administration has managed to communicate quite effectively across multiple critical audiences about the economic crisis: from Wall Street to small businesses to the consumers on Main Street. 

In doing so, it has for now taken back control of the news cycle and should quiet Republican naysayers who doubt the President's ability to move so rapidly on many fronts to stop the credit freeze, mass layoffs and foreclosures.