CDA: Article for June

[Linnea Micciulla]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your comments on last month's article, Noriko.  I guess I may be
more naive about these things than I realized, but I was shocked by the
article, particularly the suggestion that it is the norm 1) for people who
write press releases to make up quotes and attribute them to various people,
and 2) for companies to "buy" quotes from analysts.  Although I try to
approach all aspects of the media with a healthy dose of skepticism, it is
amazing to me to see such openness about lying to the public.  I would have
expected "Mark" to pretend that people really did say the things he says
they say, but it seems that the practice is so ingrained he merely feels a
vague discomfort about his process, rather than concern that his process is
unethical.  I can see how the preformulation process is the beginning of a
slippery slope; starting with making suggestions to CEO X about what he
might like to say ("Reality teaches us that usually you have one in mind and
just steer him or her in that direction" p. 198) and ending up with, "I am
going to offer a quotation, or have someone offer a quotation, someone at
(company), someone for whom I do not yet have a name" (p. 207).

I didn't agree with all of the conclusions reached by the authors, but
thought it was most definitely a worthwhile study.  It would certainly be
interesting to see more work done along these lines.  

Linnea