Letter To The Editor - Silence ain't golden

In David Menzies' column titled 'Silence ain't golden,' he could not have been more right. I have entered by 34th year in the corporate, marketing, and political communications field, and am getting tired of the 'silence is golden,' rule being taught in the Public Relations programs in our schools and colleges.

The reason for the rampant use of silence to tackle a crisis or sticky corporate communications issue, can be boiled down to one thing. Lawyers.

Most corporate communications problems grow from a pebble in the road, to a mountain, and is purely based on the idea that if they shut up, things will go away.

In most cases, the public already knows the corporation screwed up, and aren't paying attention to the company hack standing up before the microphones and lying by omission.

With the internet the average person can find out what they want, without opening their tired old, and passé grey mass media newspapers, radio or television stations.

By keeping quiet, the corporate hack does only one thing. Expose just how ignorant they are of the communities or publics they are communicating with, as well as just how poor their corporate or crisis communications plan is.

Tell the truth up front, be honest when you don't know something, and be honest when you do know something, and much of the corporate legal suite will be emptied as few people will sue if they are dealt with as if they have a brain.

Compare how corporate Japan and corporate Canada and USA handle company screw-ups. In one country the CEO resigns, stands before the country and apologizes with a bow. In the other they run to hide under the rocks or behind their lawyers.