Flacks & Sacked Luncheon Lends Support to our Recently Laid-Off Journalists

More than 80 local advertising and PR folk hosted a lunch to lend moral support to at least 40 of our laid off journalist friends and to help them find new opportunities, hopefully in San Antonio. Many of the journalists were formerly at the San Antonio Express-News, which took a big hit a couple of weeks ago, despite being – as I was told – a profitable paper. A couple of folk at my table had been “copyboys” more than 35 years ago (though had left and returned since). There were many great minds in the room.

This creative and thoughtful event was organized by Michele Autenrieth Brown and Debi Aronson Pfitzenmaier. From what I can tell, they primarily used Facebook and e-mail to notify folk of the details. Alamo Café was gracious enough to agree to serve as the venue for this loud crowd.

It was great to see the faces of so many people who hadn’t seen each other in a long time. And many PR folk and journalists met each other for the first time after spending years working together via phone and e-mail.

The San Antonio PRSA Board just announced it is offering free job bank access to our journalist friends in the media affected by the economic downturn and subsequent layoffs. (There is never a charge for posting job openings.) Access to the job bank is also free to PRSA members. For more information go to our web site: http://www.prsanantonio.com/job.aspx

Kudos to Michele and Debi for giving us a forum to support our journalist colleagues!

And let me send a special thank you to our journalist friends for your years of dedication to truth and meaningful storytelling for the benefit of our community. Best of luck to you as you craft your next chapter.

TV News Directors Pack the House

Most everyone is troubled by the layoffs facing print journalists.
It’s a tough time in newsrooms everywhere including San Antonio.

The news directors from the ABC, CBS, and NBC San Antonio television affiliates discussed the impact the economy is having on local coverage. The PRSA San Antonio luncheon was a record-breaker with 96 people attending to hear the news.

I was surprised just how easy it was to get the news directors to agree to meet. However, one news executive did tell me before the luncheon that discussing the news before the May ratings book makes good business sense.

News directors (seated left to right in photo) included:

• Jim Boyle, ABC Affiliate, KSAT 12 News
• Kurt Davis, CBS Affiliate, KENS 5 Eyewitness News
• Aaron Ramey, NBC Affiliate, News 4 WOAI

In a nutshell, these highly competitive news execs said emerging technologies are forcing them to change. Social media, especially Twitter and Facebook are powerful
influencers today, the news directors said.

TV stations have taken a big hit after their steady revenue source of car dealership ads dried up. However, the was no mention at all of possible job cuts.

So far, it seems, everything’s stable in TV land.

Hard times hit our friends in the press

Everyone probably knows by now that the Express-News staff suffered major layoffs yesterday.

We pitched stories to them and their work often helped make us look good to our bosses and clients, so a bunch of PR professionals, led by Debi Pfitzenmaier and Michelle Autenreith Brown, wants to do something to help the reporters transition to the next step, whatever it may be.

Here's how it will work:

Much like what was done in NYC when Wall Street started the massive lay-offs, a small group of people led by Debi Pfitzenmaier are trying to coordinate a Flacks and Sacked lunch.

A PR person reaches out to a victim of the lay-offs who they know or pitched, invites them to lunch and covers the cost of the lunch along with their own. In turn, the reporter has a chance to network.

The event has been tentatively scheduled for Monday, March 23, at 11:30 a.m., place TBA. If you are interested, e-mail Michelle at mbrown@gdc-co.com to RSVP. If you have already invited a reporter, please let her know at that time. If you would like to help but don't feel you know anyone well enough to invite him or her, let Michelle know that too and she will match you with someone.

I've been on both sides of this fence - the laid off and the left behind. In either case, you are left wondering if (or when) the next shoe will drop, and just how big it will be. If you are one of the laid-off, it really helps to know that your friends are thinking of you.

Insights for PR Firms in a Recession Environment

Tough economic times will affect many industries. Some will be hit hard, but experts predict others, like health care, will weather the storm just fine. I’ve come across several stories trying to anticipate the effect on the public relations profession. I’ve never worked for a PR firm, but if we just look at that sector of our profession, there are some interesting prospects. I want to share two with you.

First, a recent episode of the Inside PR podcast focused on actions agencies can take when confronted with an economic downturn. The three people in the conversation (Terry Fallis , Martin Waxman and Julie Rusciolelli) are all with agencies, and part of their conversation points to opportunities agencies can take advantage of when companies reduce their in-house PR staff (sigh) and turn to agencies to take on some of that workload.

By the way, Inside PR is a podcast that I have strongly recommended you listen to before. I still do. It’s insightful and entertaining.

Second, Joseph Thornley, CEO of Thornley Fallis, posted a story, “Managing through the coming recession,” from an agency exec’s point of view. It presents some strategies that those of you in similar positions might want to consider.