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June 15, 2007
Media Panel at Yale CEO Summit
My friend and former classmate in college and business school is Professor Jeff Sonnenfeld. Twice a year, he attracts chief executives to a one day event which covers issues relevant to the CEO, including leadership, governance, compensation and working with the media. Yesterday evening, Jeff had Joe Nocera of the NY Times plus Alan Murray and Tom Herman of the Wall Street Journal for a sparring session that contained some important information for those of us in PR. Here are the key points:
1) Unbiased news —Herman made a strong plea for reporters to keep EDGE out of stories. “I prefer stories that present both sides and allow the reader to make up his own mind.” The panel agreed that the trend is toward editors wanting more EDGE, or opinion, in the articles as readers increasingly gravitate to those media that present a like-minded approach.
2) Context—Nocera, a veteran of FORTUNE and now at the NY Times, said, “If newspapers really understood how to create context, magazines would go out of business.” The reporter may be well served to go back to previous pieces on the same subject to create a link for the reader. Herman warned that adding too much context can shift easily into bias.
3) Trust in Media—Murray noted that the Pew Foundation study of last year showed that the Wall Street Journal was the most trusted of the major media at 29%, down from 50% trust only 10 years ago. He believes that it is easier than ever to check on veracity of stories given the proliferation of media. He added that he basically believes stories he reads in his own paper, plus the NY Times, Washington Post and Financial Times because he knows many of the reporters and is aware of the strict editing process.
4) Truth in Media—Nocera talked about the tale of Rashoman, the Talmudic tale of inability to find real truth because of a contradictory set of facts. He suggested that there is no single truth.
5) Essence—Nocera added that the reporter’s job is to distill a problem to its simplest form and to take readers where they don’t expect to go.
6) Why Speak to the Media—Murray made a strong case for CEOs speaking to reporters. “People want us to publish what we know.” He suggested that CEO interaction with media is often over managed by PR people.
7) Value of Beats—Herman noted that he had been at the Journal for nearly 30 years and on the tax beat for the past 15 years. “I do know how to get information out of the IRS if need be!”
I found it quite remarkable that many of the CEOs in the room are still hesitant and reluctant to deal with the media. There were a few caustic comments about erroneous reporting, lack of understanding of a category by inexperienced reporters, and excessive speculation in the absence of facts. My view is that companies will always do better by laying out the facts and allowing stakeholders to process them. That includes a robust interaction with the business media, still the most credible source of information according to the Edelman Trust Barometer.
Posted by Edelman at June 15, 2007 3:42 PM
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