The oil giant’s profits rose 17 percent against the same period last year, and some greedy ba***rd was “disappointed!” Yet … we consumer pay it, and we keep our voices muted.

Then I thought about friends who are communications executives at Exxon Mobil and what an easy job they have of spin control over the profit story because there’s not a damn thing the American consumers are doing about it, except buying more SUVs.

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I was attending one such conference recently, a really terrific series of sessions on issues that could make a difference in the world. It doesn’t matter to identify the organization because you didn’t hear about it.

An organizer proudly told participants that their team of PR people would be sending out a press release to generate media coverage. The PR people probably did write up a release, use some useless blast email press contact service and the release is now sitting in spam filters at newsrooms around the country. Works that way, and it is too bad because many such conferences could make news … and make a difference.

In today’s world, press releases don’t generate news, and they certainly don’t make a difference. Sorry.

Here are some ideas for an alternative approach –

1. Make use of photos. Ask the photographer who covers your event to shoot several “news-style” photos. Quickly prepare a two-sentence caption and get those photos to the media where you hope to be seen. The media — mainstream and online — loves photos.
2. Streaming video. If you videotape an important speech, make excerpts available on your Web site.
3. Podcasts. Again, take recorded excerpts and make them available online with a short synopsis of the event.
4. Alert the media. Even if contacting the media is an after-thought, some journalists may be attracted to your story when they see photos and/or video.

Good luck.

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It would have been so easy to get out ahead of this aggravating issue for the flying public, use more contemporary methods of communications and show some empathy. But, American created its own form of crisis communications by poor communications.

Ripping a page from 1970s-style corporate communications, American’s CEO, Gerald Arpey, said there was nothing to be alarmed about. “Irrespective of FAA oversight, no one would put a plane in service that wasn’t safe,” he told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I put my kids on these airplanes all the time.”

A lot of people today might be responding, “Gee, Mr. Arpey, I don’t really care about you or your kids … I just wanted to get home because my mom was ill or we wanted to attend a wedding tomorrow … but we can’t because you screwed up.”

Why didn’t Arpey call the nation’s media to the airline’s repair hubs and personally show them the nature of repairs and try to explain the problems? Why wasn’t he the “voice” of his airline, as Richard Branson would have done, rather than issue a series of statements through a spokesperson.

Why didn’t Arpey show up at key cities and personally apologize to passengers who got slammed by the airline with cancelled flights and spotty refunds? Why wasn’t he walking the ticket counters, interacting with customers, taking their names and making promises to make good on their inconvenience?

Why didn’t the airline make better use of the Web to reach out to the hundreds of thousands of passengers who got stuck and penalized when clearly it was American’s fault?

Check American’s Web site, and it appears to be business as normal … except for one little line, “Aircraft inspections affect some AA travel.” No kidding.

I think American Airlines has dug a hole so deep that it’s hard to fly out of.

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When an organization, for example, issues a news release and concludes with a puffy ‘about’ section, no one … and certainly no one in the news media … cares.

What people — customers, consumers, shareholders, the media, stakeholders, employees, vendors, etc — care about is the value to them of what a company or organization does. That’s what influences an organization’s brand value.

So, for Starbucks to hype a “04.08.08″ promotion with such gusto merely to announce a new roast of coffee, it’s … well (let me think of something polite) … it’s not only dull, predictable and boring but tarnishes Starbucks luster to announce something more authentically important in the future. Sorry, Starbucks … but your feeble attempt to right your listing ship is more ‘about’ you than the value of why we should care.

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The agenda seems a bit too plain vanilla and avoids many more important issues that journalists should be focusing their attention on in the Middle East. I’ve added my comments in italics here after their list of agenda items:

- The Media War in Palestine: Are Journalists Safe? (The answer is, No)
- Another Year of Conflict: Covering Iran. (No one credibly covers Iran, and chances are that no one will.)
- The Art of Elections: US Elections and the Arab World. Produced by CNN International. (Yawn …)
- Reporting on Oil: Moving the Markets. Produced by Ebsar Holding. (Oil prices - controlled by a cartel — are up. End of story.)
- The Displaced Masses: Reporting on Refugees in the Arab World. Produced by VideoCairo Sat. (Talk with leaders of Arab countries.)
- Utilizing the Power of TV Drama. Produced by Abu Dhabi TV. (Watch any CNN newscast for cheap drama.)
- Reliable Media Resource? Content from NGOs. Produced by Reuters TV (You’re kidding?!)
- The Arab League Media Charter. Produced by LBC. (The acronym, not explained, either means Louisiana Baptist Churches or Lebanese Broadcasting Company.)

The more important, timely and certainly more meaningful issues that will test the moral fiber of journalists and news organizations in the Middle East are obviously missing from the conference agenda: Terrorism. Coverage of Human Rights, Women’s Rights and Religious Freedom. By avoiding those issues, I can only assume the conference is just another PR stunt.

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Layli and Gil Miller-Muro, two members of the Baha’i Faith in northern Virginia, approached friends in their community who are members of other religions about the idea of a new kind of Sunday school for young children … where families from a range of religions would gather to learn about helpfulness, obedience, service and friendliness - virtues shared by all the world religions. Such weekly children’s classes are hosted by Baha’is throughout the U.S.

What made a difference is that Ms. Miller-Muro - who is founder of a not-for-profit organization in the Washington, DC, area - knew NPR reporter, Barbara Bradley Hagerty. Working together, they coordinated with the national Baha’i organization in Wilmette, IL, to develop a comprehensive feature.

The resulting story aired multiple times during NPR’s Morning Edition to an audience nationwide in the millions. But, check out how NPR then presented the story online — streaming audio of the story, photos of the Sunday school for children and a written version of the entire story. Not only did the story air on Morning Edition but it will remain online indefinitely.

At the same time, the U.S. Baha’i Faith spotlighted the story on the Faith’s home page with a link to more information, and, of course, a link to NPR. It all works to extend awareness for what I believe is fabulous coverage.

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