Journalists Don't Back Down from Raw-Knuckled PR Tactics
Location: New York
Date: 2013-05-23
Harken back to the deepest and darkest moments of the
California energy crisis. Utilities’ rates were tightly regulated
and neither the governor nor the state legislature would lift the
rate caps so that utilities could recoup their costs. Instead, they
insisted that power traders were manipulating markets while the
elected leadership pleaded with federal regulators to limit
wholesale electricity prices.
Eventually, unethical traders combined with a flawed regulatory
design to upend the California energy scheme as well as to end the
job of its then-sitting governor. It also forced Pacific Gas &
Electric into bankruptcy and it pushed Southern California Edison to
the precipice of disaster.
“Hello, this is John Bryson,” the chief executive officer of
Southern California Edison said as he answered my call from his
office phone -- at 6 a.m. Pacific Time, in the year 2000. I
introduced myself, to which he replied, “Sorry that I’ve been unable
to get back with you but the folks in our media relations department
have relayed your messages. I understand you would like an
interview?”
Bryson, who went on to become U.S. Commerce Secretary in the Obama
administration, proceeded to talk freely with me, explaining the
hardships that the energy debacle had taken on his company as well
as the state’s economy. It was a glimpse inside the mind of a man
with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Today, Southern California Edison is going through a different
crisis. It’s one that is centered on its idled nuclear facility,
which in shorthand is called SONGS. The plant, with two reactors,
has been down since January 2012 because of an uncommon vibration
that caused hundreds of tubes inside its steam generators to
prematurely wear thin. Radiation subsequently leaked at one of the
units.
While investigations are now underway, the central question is
whether the utility knew about the underlying issues before the
leaks were discovered in 2012. The utility is emphatic that it did
not. Two key U.S. lawmakers, however, suspect otherwise. Now, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission is deciding if the company can restart
its one “healthy” unit while the Securities and Exchange Commission
is looking into whether any vital information had been concealed
from investors.
Combative Tone
The fate of SONGS is at stake. But so, too, is the future of the
nuclear resurgence, especially in the aftermath of the Fukushima
disaster in 2011. Now, more than ever before, Southern California
Edison needs the type of outreach and the kind of connection that
John Bryson had established with me 13 years earlier. It was
personal and it was honest. And it was deeply appreciated.
And while I can understand that the utility is now under immense
stress, it has done an inadequate job of measuring up to those
earlier standards. It has -- fairly -- disagreed with the facts as
I’ve presented them. But it has taken the unusual step of trying to
go over my head as a way to redirect my energies. It has failed. But
such a tack presumes the reporter believes a Watergate exists under
every rock -- not true, in the vast majority of cases, as
journalists want to get the story right.
By contrast, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which sold the steam
generators in question to the utility, made a polite request to
discuss with me my coverage of the plight of SONGS. It was personal
and it was heartfelt -- an attempt to get out their side of the
story, and to establish a trust between their company and me. Both
the media professional and the source were genuine.
In the end, which tactic do you think is more effective? The
combative tone that is demanding retribution or the diplomatic one
that is trying to impart a position to a wider audience? If
reporters become rogue and are derelict in their duties, they will
lose respect, and their jobs. But misunderstandings or honest
mistakes can be corrected and the record can be set straight.
Two-plus decades ago, at the Journal of Commerce, an advertiser had
accused a reporter of making a flagrant error. It took its case to
the publisher, who said that the paper would print a front page
correction. The journalist insisted, however, that he hadn’t erred
and that trying to placate the sponsor was wrongheaded. The
pugnacious PR approach to getting “justice” created a lingering
ill-will within our newsroom.
That raw-knuckled style is similar to that of the National Rifle
Association. And while this column is not the place to debate the
merits of gun control, it does provide an appropriate example of the
point I’m trying to make. As an ardent proponent of tough gun
regulations, I’ve written multiple columns advocating as much. The
NRA leaders are fat targets because they come across as wretched and
unfeeling, caring mostly about increasing gun sales at the expense
of public safety. In short, they are bullies and the media are able
to fight back.
Public Outreach
Having said that, my experience has been that of getting these
extremely cordial responses from nearly all readers -- ones that
have extended a variety of invitations so that I can better grasp
their pro-gun position. Locally, my children’s music teacher, who is
active in her Catholic Church and who has six kids, is a soft spoken
advocate for reasonable gun rights. This should be the face of the
NRA.
For those entrenched in a point of view, public outreach can seem as
if it is unnecessary, or a distraction from the pursuit of their
cause. But if companies or organizations lose the people’s trust,
they will flounder in the marketplace. It’s a universal truth and
it’s one that is especially applicable to that of the nuclear
sector, which believes passionately that it is safe and reliable.
But, yet, it has little patience when trying to convey its message
to a broader audience.
Southern California Edison is getting walloped in the press. Some of
that just comes with the territory, as it and the other utility
incumbents in California learned in the early 2000s. But some of
that is the result of poor public relations and the distrust that
has crested between it and its opponents.
The goal here, as it is in every credible news organization, is to
be accurate and fair. Mitsubishi starts with that assumption and
it’s the way that it has chosen to interact with journalists.
Southern California Edison, in some cases, has opted to take a
hardline approach. While there may be occasions when such a PR
strategy is warranted, most of the time that tack will backfire and
the journalists who are getting squeezed will only dig in.
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