PR NEWS is pleased to offer a forum for reader feedback, which we'll run every few weeks. This first section features a response to Katharine Paine's Nov. 8 Image Patrol column from Dave Franson, director of communications and PR for Bombardier Aerospace, the manufacturers of Learjet. To share your thoughts on articles we've run, send comments to Jenny Sullivan, editor, at [email protected].
I read with interest your Image Patrol column in the Nov. 8 issue. It rated The New Piper's PR efforts after the JFK, Jr. tragedy in July very highly (B+), and Bombardier Aerospace's performance following the Payne Stewart Learjet accident in October as an emphatic failure (F).
You stated that "by not having spokespeople available to the media, Lear left itself open to speculation." I couldn't help but wonder how you arrived at the conclusion that Learjet had no spokespeople available.
In point of fact, within hours of the Learjet's crash, Bombardier officials in Wichita conducted a press briefing, issued a statement and offered more than 100 callers information on the original production and delivery dates of the aircraft in question, detailing its performance and specifications. They provided available safety data and offered videotape to television crews and a press kit with fact sheets on the Learjet 35.
As you noted in your article, "reporters will always publish the answer. The best you can do is give them as many facts as you possibly can." The press did, in fact, publish much of what Bombardier provided. Unfortunately, it often appeared without attribution.
Where do you think the information on the Learjet 35, the pictures of it in flight, the schematic drawings and information on pressurization came from? How do you suggest non-aviation reporters were able to address complex issues like pilots' checklists and the effects of hypoxia? A vast number of them received their information directly from Bombardier.
What they didn't get-though virtually everyone asked-were speculative opinions on the cause of the accident.
It's probably obvious that I disagree with your assessment of Bombardier's efforts. You've undoubtedly also guessed that my comments are not totally objective. I am, in fact, one of the spokespeople you flunked on your Image Patrol Report card.
I know, firsthand, the level of effort and the extent of the response Bombardier generated. You apparently only surmised it and failed to verify your suppositions by checking with the source.
As a media consultant, you may well deserve a passing grade. But as an informed journalist, offering an opinion on this particular situation, I'm afraid you'll have to join the rest of us in remedial classes.
Dave Franson can be reached at [email protected].