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November 2008
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PR Fallout From Terrorist Attacks
By Dean Rotbart
This past week, all the business journalists I know, became war correspondents, and every corporate public relations department in the country sustained severe collateral damage.
Whatever your public relations plans were for the next six months to a year, you can basically forget them. The world of financial media relations has been changed indelibly by the terrorist attacks on the United States last week.
A PR pitch that stood a reasonable chance of attracting news reporters on Monday, September 10, 2001, stands almost no chance today. The magnitude of the terrorist stories and the proximity of events to the heart of the financial news establishment, means journalists and news organizations will be preoccupied for months and perhaps years to come.
The terror that reined down on New York and Washington D.C. hit closer to most news people and news organizations than all the bombs and grenades of Vietnam, Korea and World War 2 combined.
Ground zero for the New York attack is also the town square of a media village that included, among other news residents, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, The Nightly Business Report and The Street.com.
WSJ reporters and editors, who miraculously avoided any serious bodily injuries, nevertheless have lost for the time being the use of their New York newsroom. Your morning Journal is now being compiled from makeshift offices in South Brunswick, New Jersey.
Regardless of their physical location at the time of the blasts, EVERY New York business journalist was personally affected by the World Trade Center attack. For some journalists, the tragedy left them recalling the last breakfast meeting they had at the twin towers or the various corporate offices, now destroyed, where they conducted recent interviews.
Many journalists lost friends and sources in the terrorist attacks. More than a few scribes came within a narrow twist of fate of ending up on the casualty list as well.
Business journalists outside New York were less directly affected, but nonetheless more personally tied to the events in lower Manhattan than any story they have ever covered. These journalists, too, at one time walked the corridors of the destroyed buildings and personally knew many of the people who were either victims or survivors.
Right now, all business journalists and news organizations are running on adrenaline. Even shell-shocked reporters whose offices were blown away in the terror attacks and who lost friends or sources, have suppressed their emotions in the heroic effort to keep the presses running and the airwaves filled.
But there will come a time for each journalist to return to his or her old routine, only to discover that it, too, was irreparably damaged by the terrorist attacks. Imagine you are Ron Insana, co-anchor of CNBC's Business Center, and like Ron, you were near enough to the twin towers when they collapsed that your world literally went black for an eternity of minutes.
Ron survived and was an amazingly composed and eloquent in relaying his personal experience on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC and in resuming his coverage of the dayŐs events themselves.
Now flash forward. Do you believe that any future business news story, such as the recently announced merger between Hewlett Packard and Compaq, will really get Ron's pulse racing in the same manner it had previously?
What about the far more mundane earnings forecasts, product introductions and economic projections that make up the bulk of a business journalistŐs regular diet?
Six or twelve months from now, when the world has returned to some semblance of pre-attack normalcy, what will it be like for many of these journalists to sit in a newsroom and contemplate a resumption of their earlier careers?
For some, the return to routine will be a welcome relief. But I believe many of those who experienced the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks will find it hard to cope and even harder to concentrate. I, for one, would not like to have to pitch them the same run-of-the-mill business mush.
Many public relations agency and corporate communications executives, themselves, have been so swept up in the crisis stage of this story that they likely have yet to realize its long-term implications for what they do. For now, their world is filled with dispatches on corporate relocations and contributions and emergency assistance.
But long before business journalists are ready to get back to news as normal, PR people will begin feeling the pressure from the executive suite to get attention for their business-as-usual news developments.
What follows are some of my suggestions on the best strategic way to position your public relations efforts in the coming weeks and months.
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Prepare senior executives for lowered expectations now. Let them know the business news world has changed and it will mean only the most important regular business stories will get ink. Previously marginal business news stories and features are now irrelevant.
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Delay any plans for "get-to-know-you" media visits and calls. Unless your company and/or executives have an expertise of direct bearing on the terrorist attacks and aftermath, no business journalist wants to meet you casually anytime soon.
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Build on the closeness forged with journalists during this crisis. Like Democrats and Republicans who usually carp at one another, PR people and journalists are enjoying a rare unity of purpose: keeping the public correctly informed. If you do hear from a journalist, ask what you and your company can do to help.
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Use this time for careful planning and departmental review. Now is a time to scout out news organizations journalists who are likely to be responsive to your message when the business world returns to normal. |
September 17, 2001
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