Journalism, like politics, is a business of ‘what have you done for me lately.’
I’ve been reminded of that quite clearly over the past few days as I’ve rolled with both the kind words and, well, that other stuff.
One recent story drew a “Wow” from a public relations person. Even though public relations is an industry built on hyperbole, that kind of reaction is rare.
Another story impressed the principals with our reach — the local firm was getting calls from all over the country.
The power of a good story and of the Internet, I explained.
Yes, that and the chain of papers you’re part of, the contact said.
Um, not so much.
About half the business journals across the country are owned by a single media company based in North Carolina. We’re not one of them. We’re New England Business Media, a home-grown company that provides business information in Hartford, Worcester and the state of Maine. Most days, the business community can reach out and touch an owner. So can the employees. That’s both a luxury and a business advantage.
We’re lean and built close to the ground. Our aim is to be responsive, flexible and good at what we do.
A lot of days we succeed. Then there are the other days.
I enjoyed working for an editor once who had a drawing on his office wall showing a fire-breathing dragon standing triumphant over a knight. The caption read: ‘Some days, the dragon wins.’
I was reminded of that as I worked on corrections for some fuzzy math, a misspelled name and our other sins.
We find interesting ways to make errors. And we don’t need help.
We’ve been wrestling with some problems associated with sloppy public relations work. When we wrote a web item for HBJ Today about a firm getting an increased federal contract, we got a call saying we had it wrong. While this was a new contract, it was actually for less than the old contract, a fact not in evidence in the firm’s original telling of the story. Another company put out a press release about a financial development yet seemed surprised when our story didn’t include a business unit that hadn’t been mentioned.
We really do want to get it right and we’ll work with you toward that end. But give us a fighting chance to get it right the first time. Say what you mean and mean what you say. It’s a goal we strive to attain every day.
Then there was the call from the unhappy state media relations guy who was objecting to an unflattering editorial characterization of his group’s handling of a situation.
He seemed to want to quibble about semantics, whether answering the call meant literally picking up the phone or something broader. He regaled me with all the steps that had been taken to win the deal. But, in the final analysis, he had to admit, they hadn’t closed the deal.
I invited him to write an op-ed column laying out the situation from his perspective. There was a pregnant pause. He said he’d have to think about that. He hasn’t called back, nor have I called him. Amid the silence, I could swear I heard the page turning. And that’s fine.
The point of all this is that we are far from infallible here at the Business Journal. We’re trying to get it right and we’re getting better every day. Still, stuff happens.
When it does, there are lots of vehicles available — letters to the editor, op-ed columns, a request for a correction or a simple phone call — to get your voice heard. We’re here; we’re accessible; we want to get it right; we welcome feedback.
After all, we’re in the communication business. Let’s communicate.
Norm Bell is editor of the Hartford Business Journal. Reach him at nbell@HartfordBusiness.com
