Pipeline company double talk is PR 101 Published: August 24, 2013 9:26PM One of the primary functions of the media is the dissemination of information. Most commonly we think of this as “news,” meaning articles. But it comes in many other forms as well. Think photographs, charts, columns, advertising, notices of meetings and events, and much, much more. News organizations have also over the years helped spread information in another way — by hosting and/or participating in seminars and forums. With this in mind, the members of The State Journal editorial board discussed organizing and hosting a public forum on the natural gas liquids pipeline proposed to run through the state, including Franklin County. Could we gather four or five experts on various subjects related to the pipeline and have them answer questions from the public? The board agreed the proposal would only work if Bluegrass Pipeline — a partnership of two companies, Williams and Boardwalk Partners — would agree to send a person to participate. Not a dozen people; not a public relations person; one person who could answer questions about the proposal. Bluegrass Pipeline politely declined our invitation. That certainly is the company’s prerogative, but we found it interesting, since the company has consistently said it wants to do anything it can to answer questions from the public. In our opinion, that’s something it has actually done a dismal job of. In addition, we thought, since the company has received quite a bit of negative press (most of which it brought upon itself), this would provide it an opportunity to present itself in a better light. After being informed the company declined, we responded via email that “company officials are quoted as saying they want to do everything they can to provide information, yet they decline to participate in a public forum.” The response we received from a company public relations officer was, “After interacting with more than 600 interested residents, elected officials and media at open houses in Kentucky earlier this month, our team is currently focused on communicating with landowners and other stakeholders as part of the route selection and permitting process during this early stage in the project.” If this had been received as a text, our thought would have been LOL, which most know means laughing out loud. It is, of course, not a funny subject, but the response was like Public Relations 101. And, in fact, one of the primary reasons the newspaper wanted to host such a forum is because many of the 600 “interested residents, elected officials and media” in fact feel like the open houses were orchestrated so they would not receive all the information they sought. If this was a ballot question, and Election Day was Tuesday, we would have to vote no. Not because we are absolutely against the project — though we lean that way — but because we simply don’t have all the information necessary to make an informed decision. The unfortunate part is Bluegrass Pipeline doesn’t seem interested in helping us gather that information. state-journal/opinion/2013/08/24/pipeline-company-double-talk-is-pr-101 ~rt
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 12:03:31 +0000
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