This is Not Funny Anymore

Jon Stewart’s rant about CNBC last night must have been his funniest show ever.  But when the laughter died, it left me with an uneasy feeling about the future of the financial network.

In less than ten minutes, Mr. Stewart took CNBC apart and also confirmed our worst fears – there is something not right with some mainstream media.  They’ve changed their focus from information to infotainment and are now becoming micro-infotainment as each “talent” (they’re not journalists in the traditional sense) becomes his or her own commentator/stand-up comic.  Or, as one of my print journalist friends calls them, bingo caller.

The micro-infotainment may be taking the whole concept of personal brand to an extreme, but that’s exactly what is expected of TV talent these days.  Perhaps the micro-infotainment is a symptom of our consumerism.  Viewers want their news packaged in small, cute pieces, funny or outrageous, and, above all, colorful.  Media are desperate to retain audiences and are therefore only too happy to keep the customer satisfied.  Unfortunately, the product isn’t ultimately satisfying, so that programs that deliver it may become irrelevant. Or, as happened to CNNfn less than five years ago, gone entirely.

This presents an interesting dilemma for media relations: where are the stakeholders we’re trying to reach?  How do we reach them? Which media are still relevant and credible?  I know that trying to book your CEO on the Jon Stewart show may sound like a lunatic proposition, unless he/she wrote an amazing book and can tell a joke without looking like a funeral director doing pole dance.

Social media consultants like to think that blogging and twittering is the answer.  But only a miniscule number of bloggers reach large audiences and, if you know of a CEO’s blog that is read by the same size audience as the Economist, please let me know.  We need extended media relations, capable of maximizing every media channel. (And please, don’t call it Media Relations 2.0, or some other dumb number.)  We need to make well-performing senior executives relevant again and that may take more creativity and brains than a year ago.

In the meantime, let’s hope that CNBC can get its act together and make itself relevant again.  We need a decent business program, because The Daily Show cannot replace it. 

Aux barricades!

This economic crisis is getting progressively worse.  We’re reaching the equivalent of DEFCON 2 but there are only a few signs that businesses are ready for what this crisis is going to do to our society.

The point was driven home when I watched an eye-opening video on Huffington Post from MSNBC. Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan and Mike Barnicle interviewed Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski about his new book he wrote with Brent Scowcroft, and David Ignatius – America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy. 

The possibility of class conflict in America is no longer a figment of imagination spread by the far left.  If Pat Buchanan sees it coming, something has changed drastically.  With millions and millions of unemployed “…there is this public awareness of the extraordinary wealth that has been transferred to a few individuals… at levels without historical precedence in America,” said Dr. Brzezinski.  These individuals are, of course, a few business executives who decided to get or, sometimes, loot what they could, tarnishing everybody with the same accusations.

And yet, there is neither a sense of urgency nor an attempt on the part of executives to differentiate themselves from their tarnished brethren.  A recent headline in The Times, “Bankers say sorry – but plead not guilty,” summed up the problem. The interesting part about these apologies, to PR professionals, was the fact that lawyers helped to phrase them. I’m not suggesting cheap spin and mindless excuses.  If transgressions were made, then take responsibility. Don’t tell me somebody wasn’t responsible for billions of pounds disappearing into thin air – just read comments from the British public at the end of the online article.  The response also begs a question: where was the executives’ PR counsel?

Few, if any, executives are prepared to respond to the current crisis to protect their reputations.  The usual crisis communications is not going to do it.  Understanding what got us into it and a well-thought-out plan of action for the new normal will separate winners from losers in the next round.