Online Public Relations Thoughts

The UK prime minister Liz Truss could hardly have a worse start in office.  Everything is seemingly against her.  The economy is in meltdown.  Her tax cuts are widely condemned.  The pound tanked. She barely took office when the queen died.  Millions are looking at her to stop inflation.  What can one say or do in a situation like this?  Truss has apparently elected to stay the course and hope the only way is up.  She will know soon enough whether it is.  Her conservative MPs will get restless quickly if she doesn't show progress.  The labor party is lying in wait to take over the government.  This is a time when she needs to choose her words carefully and act with care.  Almost any event can send the country spinning off course. It is an amazingly difficult position for a PM to be in.

Russian men are making a statement to the government.  Rather than protesting in the streets over the call-up of reservists, they are leaving the country.  It is a message to Putin and his allies that the war in Ukraine is not seen as an essential "special military operation."  Either that or tens of thousands of Russian men are not patriots willing to die for their country.  Putin, of course, can put a stop to the mass migration by increasing guards at the borders and turning men back, but so far, he hasn't.  Ukraine's people are motivated and willing.  Women and children have left the country.  The men have stayed behind.  One would think that Putin gets the message, but so far he hasn't.  

"Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia has the right to use nuclear weapons if Moscow deems it necessary, and if it deems its territory is under threat from conventional weapons." This quote from a CNBC story is a perfect example of justifying the unjustifiable action.  It is on a par with the man who murdered his parents then pleaded for mercy from the judge because he was an orphan. The circular logic is breathtaking.  One wonders how Putin and his hangers-on live with themselves day by day.  Are they cynical or do they actually believe their contentions?  Do they see the Donbas and Crimea as Russian territory now and forever? Would Ukraine's assault to take those territories back be an excuse for use of the bomb?  The reasoning is maddening and frightening for anyone who opposes their ambitions. 

The special master examining the documents seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate has ordered Trump's lawyers to prove that papers were planted by the FBI during their search.   He wants facts and not allegations, which Trump and his team have been making.  In a time of charges and counter-charges with a slim hold or none at all on facts, the only safety is falling back on what can be proved objectively.  Even that is hard to do when events are smeared with conflicting interpretations. Those who believe Trump is innocent will not change their opinions no matter the weight of evidence.  Those who believe him guilty will never accept exoneration of any charge.  It is left for those who isolate facts and judge impartially to do their work the best they can.  It is a hard position to be in because everyone is watching for the least slip to prove their contentions are right, but hard evidence in the end is all that counts.  

President Putin of Russia is making veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Were he to do so, it would break the international understanding and taboo against using them that has prevailed since World War II.  Only the US, to its shame, has used the bomb in warfare.  Since then, an understanding of the danger the explosives pose has imbedded itself in the world's psyche.  Putin's statement that he is "not bluffing" needs to be taken seriously.   He is driven by his will to win.  As a communicator, he is chilling and scary, but that is the way he wants to be seen.  He is saying that nothing will stop him in Ukraine and mobilization of 300,000 more soldiers is backing his words.  He is a modern day madman.  

The Federal Reserve is about to send a message on inflation. Is it serious about breaking the back of rising prices or not?  Financial markets, corporations, debt holders are all eager for the word and decision of how much interest rates will rise.  Wall Street is deep into blues and fearful.  Corporations are looking to shed debt as rates rise.  Debt holders are fearful of chapter 11 bankruptcy among hard-hit businesses.  The worries are many and everyone is ready to spring to a place of safety. What the Fed decides will roil the environment no matter if it slows rate increases or advances them.  The first indication of the Fed's message will be the size of the basis point increase.  From there, the business world will focus on the words of Jerome Powell.  How serious is he?  Is there room for maneuver?  Will the pain of rising rates continue?  They will be some of the most important words to be spoken this year.

President Biden has an unhappy habit of declaring victory before a war is won.   This is the second time he has declared the pandemic to be over.  Remember that he declared inflation under control months ago.  He doesn't seem to appreciate the caution one should take when communicating about things that are not under his control  No one knows whether the pandemic is really over.  We might have another flare-up this fall and winter.  As for inflation, not even the Federal Reserve can predict when it might be under control.  Biden is an optimist who needs to be a realist in his approach to the public.  Think of another president -- Zelenskyy.  He has had great success on the battlefield lately, but he refuses to declare the war is over.  Instead, he tells his citizens that much fighting remains and they should not relax their guard.  That's the approach Biden should have taken when talking about COVID, but he didn't.  He will rue the fact he was incautious in November.  

New Jersey had celebrated a big environmental win over disposable plastic bags after implementing a law forbidding use of them and mandating reusable sacks. The lawmakers didn't consider what householders would have to do with reusable bags, especially those from grocer delivery companies.  The companies can't take them back for sanitary reasons so they are piling up in homes across the state.  Thus a giant environmental PR win has become the newest PR headache.  New Jersey lawmakers aren't sitting still.  They are in the process of "tweaking" the law to solve the problem, including requiring that delivery companies take the bags back.  It is an example of unintended consequences of good deeds, something PR practitioners need to consider when developing programs for their organizations.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is demonstrating a key trait of leadership -- showing up where the action is.  Unlike Putin in Russia who is ignoring the soldiers in the field, Zelenskyy is touring battlegrounds and thanking the troops for their sacrifices.  Putin is projecting a normalcy to Russian life.  Zelenskyy is emphasizing the life and death struggle of his country. The messages from the two leaders are clear.  The question is which perspective will win in the end.  At this point, no one knows.  But, for the present Ukrainians have taken the lead in the image battle.  Its citizens are committed to keeping their land and have demonized Russian efforts to take them away.  Ukrainians are committed.  There is a question about the Russian military and citizenry.   

What rational person would want this job?  Liz Truss, the new UK prime minister, is stepping into economic chaos and trying to manage it.  There is every indication she can succeed no better than her disgraced predecessor, Boris Johnson. Yet she is taking on the misery and she will know in a short time whether she is up to it.  Communications to her constituents will be a key part of her job.  She must point out a reasonable path then sell it to UK citizens.  She will be fighting the opposition at the same time she is trying to move forward, and the economic turmoil will be sapping her energy every day.  One can only hope she is up to the job.  The UK needs a period of equanimity.   

President Biden has finally come out to lash "MAGA Republicans" who blindly follow former President Trump and his lies.  He has initiated a war of words that will flood airwaves, social and print media until election day in November.  Is it too late?  Does he have enough pull with American citizens for them to listen to what he has to say?  There is no way of knowing at this point.  Success depends on independent voters who swing to either of the two parties.  Give Biden PR credit for standing up up to Trump and extremists.  He could have kept his thoughts to himself as he had done until recently.  What he must avoid is sounding too partisan.  That will turn voters off.  Rather, he must appeal, as he is doing, to higher principles of democracy and what it means. There is no doubt that American ideals are threatened and Biden is pointing that out to his credit. 

There are opposed views about the legacy of  Mikhail Gorbachev.  The West sees him as a visionary who led Russia to a democratic state.  Russians call him a traitor who destroyed the Soviet Union. Whose opinion will become history's judgement will come decades from now, long after Putin steps down or dies in office.  It is not often a former leader sparks such controversy.  Gorbachev was the last leader of the USSR and took steps to open it up from the sclerotic state it was. That it all fell apart rather than reformed is not unusual but hardliners can't forgive him.  Conservatives only see greatness in the former state, which wasn't true then or now.  Could it be that Russians prefer the heavy hand of bureaucracy?  Have they forgotten the food and goods lines that characterized the country?  Are Russian citizens content with being told what to do, how to think and what to say?  The war in Ukraine seems to indicate that they are.  Putin seems to understand the Russian citizen better than Gorbachev did.