02/21

Opinionators. 

For all the blather and blah-blah about how the Internet was the last great frontier of alternative, original journalism, it's now merely a distant outpost, inhabited by the hardy and the hell-bent on maxing out their plastic. Oh sure, there are plenty of bloggers: free-ranging opinionators from right-to-left who post their thoughts on their Web pages, inviting commentary from visitors.  They link to other sites, refer to other media, even attack the mainstream press but they rarely, if ever, set out to do an investigative report, an original interview or actually step out into the daylight to cover an event.

Thus writes commentator Antonia Zerbisias in the Toronto Star.  It is a valid insight. 

Few of us report events because we don't have time while working at our day jobs.  So, we commentate on events we observe in the media.  This is good and bad.  It is good to the extent that citizens express views freely.  It is bad when it does not add to the knowledge about events.  Opinonators, to use her term, increase the body of interpretation but rarely the body of facts.   However, it is always better to have facts first because facts should drive opinion and not the other way around. 

I try not to commentate on things I don't know about for that reason.  While others debate pros and cons of war with Iraq, I accept I don't know what the administration knows.  I also accept that I am worried about what the administration knows.  That is, does Bush know enough to justify war or is he a cowboy?  What I do understand is that perception is divided on this question, and it has created a public relations crisis for the administration.  Bush pretends not to notice but Colin Powell is dialing around the world to line up support.

I admit I am a "free-ranging opinionator," but I hope these thoughts provide some insight into the far-ranging concerns that public relations deals with.  Too often we get lost in quotidian concerns and mechanics.  We forget perceptions drive great issues, and there are lessons for good and ill in how perceptions are handled.

02/20

Aside from the dubious claim that every investor was too dumb to read an IPO prospectus, the lawsuits are the front of a litigation wave that will keep lawyers busy for years.  What this means for PR practitioners in financial services is they will become skilled in crisis communications.  Of course, lawyers are going to control most of the communications about the cases as they proceed, but they probably won't control all the media or messages.  Moreover, if tort lawyers are skilled (and they are), we will read plenty of stories about poor retirees left destitute through the greed of investment bankers and CEOs of fictional high-tech firms. 

Don't misread me.  There was plenty of greed and self-dealing during the Internet Bubble.  Money drives investment bankers -- lots of it.  They can rationalize just about anything when there are millions to be made.  But, on the other hand, money drove investors too.  They were as carnivorous and were counting cottages by the sea.

But that makes no difference now.  We are in a battle of perceptions, and investment bankers are on the losing side.   Certainly underwriters can say they disclosed the risks of each IPO in the prospectus.  Certainly lawyers can testify they put in every risk they could think of (including some outlandish "if...thens.")  Again, it makes no difference.  Thousands lost money: Somebody has to pay for it. 

At issue is whether Americans understand -- or even want to understand -- the concept of risk.  The lawsuits may argue that the risks were too great, and these people should never have been allowed to invest.  Of course, during the Bubble, these same people were furious when they weren't allowed to get in at the beginning. 

Good luck PR practitioners.  You're going to need it.
 

02/19

Yesterday, the office was like a library with one reader.  The hush was pervasive in the empty halls and employees called in from homes buried beneath 18 to 24 inches of snow.  I was one of the lucky ones in that I was able to get a train into New York (and a seat!) and arrive at work only an hour later than my normal time.

There are events that shatter schedules and the snow storm of 2003 was one of those.  There is nothing to do when that happens but start over.  The Atlanta client is now searching for a date in late February.  The revenues and earnings are being released today.  The Human Resources Officer meeting is postponed until some indefinite time in the future.

We had a low-key day at work.  Some of us wondered why we bothered to come in.
 

02/18

Yesterday, however, they got it right.  It was a monster storm, and it did paralyze the Mid-Atlantic States.  Strangely, the Nor'easter that brought the blizzard from the South did not reach places where snow usually falls, such as Rochester and Buffalo.  I can imagine citizens of those towns smiling grimly at downstate New Yorkers finally getting something they deserve.

We got in excess of 18 inches of snow yesterday.  That's a lot for us.  It's normal for Buffalo.  I own two snow shovels and there was no way I was going to keep up with this storm, even if it was a holiday -- President's Day for those who observe it. I started digging about 5:30 a.m. and kept at it until about 7 a.m. clearing nine inches of snow from a hundred feet of walks and a two-car driveway. 

I then waited until noon for the second effort.  By then, everything I had done was gone.  Another nine inches had fallen and it was still snowing furiously.  Between shoveling and playing with my daughter, we were out for another two hours.  By then, I discovered I have a lower back, and my lower back did not like what I was doing. 

I went into the house, napped flat on the floor with my knees up to straighten my spine out then realized the snow was largely over.  I now have to open the driveway again to get the cars out once the plow has passed by.  I hope my back will return to its normal condition by then. 

If you predict something long enough, chances are you will get it right once in awhile. 
 

 02/17

We have a difficult time getting away as a family because my wife's PR business interrupts, my work gets in the way and dance classes plus extracurricular activities for our daughter make scheduling a nightmare.   We're a typical two-income family with a child.

We promised ourselves twice that we were going to Washington, D.C. to get away and see museums.  The first time we tried during Christmas, my mother-in-law entered the hospital unexpectedly: We never made it.  The second time was supposed to be this President's Day weekend, but a client meeting for me on Tuesday and my daughter's dance class on Saturday ended that.  So, we thought we would get up early on Sunday and travel to Wilmington, Delaware, to see the Hagley Museum and Library and other historical sites that make the state a treasure. 

It was a great plan but the for the weather.  We left the house at 8:30 a.m. to travel down the New Jersey Turnpike to Wilmington.  The skies were an overcast gray and the temperature hovered at eight degrees Fahrenheit.  It doesn't snow at that temperature here so I was reasonably sure  we could make it although we knew a winter storm was hammering Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.  

We drove about 80 percent of the New Jersey Turnpike when we entered a wall of snow -- just like that.  We went from a dry highway to a road covered with snow in spite of salt trucks and blades working furiously.  Our speed dropped then dropped again and finally, we were crawling.  My wife suggested we turn back, and I was not going to argue.  We turned around, drove north out of the storm and went to a local museum with an IMAX theater that kept my daughter happy.  Today, we are supposed to get 12 to 18 inches of snow with blizzard conditions.  I'll be shoveling to keep the driveway open. 

Happy President's Day everyone!  And yes, we've promised ourselves that we are going to...