REICH COMMUNICATIONS

The Social Impact of Social Distancing

 

 

Working from home these past several days has had its benefits, for sure.  No rushing to catch the train.  No 45 minutes of commuting each way, between the train and the walk to and from the station.

But there’s definitely been a social cost in order to maintain social distancing.  I miss the small interactions that normally punctuate each work day.

The brief chat or at least a wave to Elio, who runs the coffee stand at the Fleetwood train station.  I’ve known Elio for most of the 40+ years I‘ve been taking the train.  Over the years we’ve spoken about things ranging from business or politics to the weather or what life was like in his native Brazil.  In recent years, the topic is often grandchildren.

Then there’s Sam, the guy at the coffee cart at the corner of 44^th and 3^rd.  Actually, his full name is Samara.  Sam comes from Egypt, and much of his family is still there.  We chat about business, traffic and sometimes the pretty woman who just walked past his cart.

And there’s my friend Dahlia, a Russian woman who owns the Comfort Diner on E. 45^th Street.  I see her every week or so when I go for a lunch of eggs and a toasted bagel.  But I often see her as I’m on the way into work and she’s outside the diner taking a cigarette break.  I stop and remind her what she’s doing to her lungs, but we’ll also talk about kids or politics or life in general. 

When I get into the lobby of my building, I stop to say hi to Franco, who mans the lobby desk.  It’s usually a quick hello, but sometimes it’s more.

A few times a week I see my friend Gregory, the doorman at The Kimberly Hotel.  Whenever I see him, he takes off his gloves to shake my hand.  We'll usually chat about the weather, but we’ve spoken about so much more – work, family, politics.  Unlike me, Gregory’s not working from home these days.  He’s not working, since the hotel is shut down for a few weeks.  I pray he’s still drawing a paycheck.

They’re all brief exchanges, but they are part of my daily routine – a routine that’s been interrupted by something I can’t see called COVID-19.

Most of us have lost little pieces of our daily routines and those little losses add up to an unsettling change.

It’s nice to be home, but it will be nice to – eventually – get my routine back.   

Trust ... A Precious Commodity

Those of us in the Public Relations business know that trust is something that is difficult to earn and easy to lose.  It's something that is built up over time, by being consistent and truthful.

This president has never attempted to earn the trust of the American people, right from his first day in office when he lied about the size of his inauguration crowd.  There were the photos right in front of us, yet he asked us to believe his words rather than our own eyes.

He's been doing this repeatedly for the past three years, despite videotape, photos and transcripts that we all can see that prove he's lied to us again and again and yet again.

So it comes as no surprise that, after nearly 27,000 documented lies and exaggerations since 2016, most of us put little stock in what he says.

Trust in our government and our leader in a time of crisis is essential, and these past few weeks as the coronavirus has overtaken our lives have been a very sad case history of how important trust – and truth -- is. 

Most Americans simply do not trust the president on matters of public health and COVID-19. 

We've turned instead to the major networks and major papers for accurate information and advice.  A new poll shows 53 percent of us beehive what we are seeing on network news (excluding FOX) as opposed to about 41 percent who trust what the president tells us. 

Instead, we listen to or governor's, mayor's and health experts like Dr. Fauci, who hasn't (yet) been corrupted or compromised by the president to lie to us about the seriousness of this health situation.

What a pathetic state of affairs where we can't believe the White House in a time of national crisis.

I love the headline in today's New York Times: "Saying He Long Saw Pandemic, Trump Rewrites History."

The story documents the statements he's made that minimize or mock the seriousness of this pandemic, going back to Jan. 22 when he said he wasn’t worried at all and said “it was one or two people coming in from China.”  Even two days ago, he said the pandemic would " wash away," whatever that means. 

And now he says he’s known it was a pandemic for a long time.  So he again lies to our faces, denying what we all have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears for the past few weeks.  He continues to chip away at whatever little trust might remain.

Oh, how nice it would be to again be able to believe what our president tells us.

Communications in a Crisis

 

The Coronavirus outbreak seems to be testing to the limits a number of aspects of our infrastructure, including government and the media.

The White House response has been abysmal and could serve as a future PR case history on how NOT to handle crisis communications.

The White House and the president have destroyed over the past three years any credibility they should have with the public by repeated lies, exaggerations and misguiding statements on things as trivial as inauguration crowd size to the path of a devastating hurricane.  

Because of that, just as many feared, when potentially lifesaving information is now needed, the public is not sure what to believe from the president’s mouth.  Because his statements flew in the face of what we’ve been seeing with our own eyes and what health experts have been saying, we believe him even less.     

He’s been telling us, first, that the whole health risk was a hoax and a plot by his enemies to take him down.  At the same time, health experts from within our government and outside it have been issuing specific warnings and pleading for specific actions.  Who are we likely to believe?   Someone who has consistently lied or someone who is an expert in the field with no political axe to grind?  

Once it became apparent they had to step up and take a real leadership role, which included admitting we have a crisis on our hands, the White House again botched it. The president’s Oval Office address Wednesday night was a disaster – from both a policy and a public relations point of view.

On the policy end, there was very little of substance and, to make matters worse, some of the substance stated was incorrect and had to be walked back soon after with “clarifications.”

On the public relations side, both the substance and the delivery were horrendous and further eroded whatever remains of the president’s and the administration’s credibility.   His claims that he has been at the forefront in avoiding this crisis boggles the mind, after hearing him minimize the virus for weeks.

The day after the Oval Office address, we were given a reminder of how a leader should speak to us – calmly and with a lot of specifics.  Joe Biden’s talk was what the nation craved – and the polar opposite of what our president had given us the night before.  Bernie Sanders jumped on the bandwagon two hours later, but his talk seemed like a campaign speech with its focus on healthcare for all.

In a press conference Friday as he declared a national emergency, he used the time to congratulate himself for his strong actions that prevented “thousands of deaths.”  He did outline some specifics, but when it came to numbers he simply said “many” or “a tremendous number” of testing kits will be shipped.  He reverted to his combative self when he cut off a reporter from NPR, telling her that her question was rude.  She had asked him why he had eliminated the emergency preparedness unit after he first took office.

None of his talk is reassuring. 

This is sure to go down as a classic case history that PR and communications people will study in the future as an example of what NOT to do.    

What We Do: Drive Safe Chicago

 

For The National Road Safety Foundation, we several years ago developed a relationship with the producers of Teen Kids News, a nationally-syndicated show aired on more than 160 TV stations.  We'd worked before with the show's creator and producer Alan Weiss.

Teen Kids News does stories about teen driving safety throughout the year, working closely with The National Road Safety Foundation. 

Here's one that aired this past weekend, documenting one of our projects -- the Drive Safe Chicago PSA Challenge.  We invited teens in the midwest to give us their ideas for a public service message about the dangers of drunk driving.  Check out the video to see what they came up with.... 

 

Happy Spring... Almost

Although it feels like a wintery morning -- 36 degrees and windy here -- spring isn't far away.

One sure sign of the new season is the move to daylight savings tonight.  An extra hour of daylight in the evening.  Spring is just a few weeks away.

Happy Spring...almost.

A LEGO Story

 

I read today of the death of Danish inventor Jens Nygaard Knudsen.  What could be his most notable achievement was his role in creating LEGO mini-figures, the ubiquitous people who inhabit the LEGO places we build.  They debuted on the market in the late 1970s, to populate LEGO landscapes that were sold in boxed sets.  The mini-figures themselves have become movie stars, with the first LEGO movie in 2014 ranking among the top-grossing films that year.

This news started me searching about the history of LEGOS. 

I didn’t remember them from my childhood.  When I was a kid, the building toys back then were Erector Sets – metal girders that you had to screw together with nuts and bolts.  I also remember Lincoln Logs, wooden pieces that had grooves at each end so they’d fit together.

But I first saw LEGOs when my kids were little in the late 1970s.  I loved them – still do.  I’d spend hours sitting on the floor with Jennifer and then with Michael, building things from the plans in the box, but just as often freestyling, making buildings and towers as tall as I could get them without toppling over.

And then my kids outgrew them.  So my LEGO play stopped until Jen had kids and, once again, I’d be on the floor with Jack and then with Gabriel.  We made space ships, cars, boats – you name it.

And then my grandsons outgrew LEGOs.  But I never did.

The countless plastic pieces remained in our basement where, from time to time, I’d walk past a partly-built structure and add a few pieces or switch things around.  Until just recently, when I cleaned up the basement, there were a few towers that just about touched the ceiling.  I’d sometimes get lost down there, trying to make them sturdier or higher.

In my online searching, I learned that Mr. Knudsen was part of a long line of imaginative folk who brought those plastic bricks to life. LEGOs actually began with a Danish carpenter, Ole Kirk Christiansen, who had a store where he sold his handmade step-ladders and ironing boards.  In the mid-1930s he developed building blocks that would interconnect.  The first were the large blocks now known as Duplo, that younger children play with.  He then began making smaller bricks and called his company “Play Well,” which in Danish is spelled leg godt.  That became LEGO, as we know it today.

During World War II, traditional toy-making materials wood and metal were scarce, but plastic was readily available.  Christiansen bought the first plastic injection-molding machine in Denmark and set it to work making plastic bricks and other parts.

Christiansen died in 1958, but his son continued the business, expanding it through Europe and, in 1972, to the U.S.

Estimates have the number of LEGO pieces produced since the 1950s at more than 400 billion, or enough for every person on earth to have 64 pieces.  Visit a LEGO store now and you’ll see entire cites built of LEGOs.  The LEGO store in Rockefeller Center here has a mini-Rock Center, complete with the skating rink.  At the Los Angeles Auto Show a year ago, I saw a full-size McClaren sports car completely made of LEGOs. 

 

I know some adults who, like me, enjoy playing with LEGOs.  It keeps the “kid” in us alive by helping us “play well.”

What We Do: New Jersey Home & Garden Show

Lots of good exposure for The New Jersey Home & Garden Show, this weekend in Edison NJ.

NY Live on WNBC-TV featured "Trading Spaces" designer Doug Wilson Wednesday and we also had him live on Cheddar News this morning.  "Today in New York" on Channel 4 did a weekend preview and featured the NJ Home & Garden Show as one of its "4 Your Weekend" picks this morning.

All that, plus some great advance newspaper coverage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                        

                  

 

 

                                          Doug Wilson with Sarah Gore and Lauren Scala on "NY Live" on WNBC-TV

What We Do: New Jersey Home & Garden Show

 

 

With the arrival of  the New Jersey Home & Garden Show next weekend, Feb. 21-23, we've been busy arranging advance exposure around celeb interior designer Doug Wilson, who will be appearing at the Home & Garden Show, offering tips to make rooms look great on a tight budget.

 

Doug is best-known as one of the designers on Trading Spaces, the hit on cable's TLC Channel.

 

We have him booked this Sunday on Today in New York on WNBC-TV, and next Wednesday on New York Live, which airs on the NBC stations here and in Boston.  And next Friday a.m., a live spot on Cheddar News, the streaming need channel aimed at millennials.  Plus lots of newspaper stories in the works as well.

Keeping Public Broadcasting Alive

Public radio and TV stations, most connected through PBS and NPR, provide an invaluable service to many Americans.

Public TV and radio bring a variety of cultural, educational and thought-provoking programs to us.  They bring a wealth of programming to viewers and listeners not only in the cities, but also to people who live in places not served by local TV or radio. 

How many of us and our children have been taught the ABC's by Sesame Street?  How many of us have been transported to faraway places and distant worlds with shows like NOVA or Travel with Rick Steves, or had our views expanded by guests and segments on "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered" or, yes, Charlie Rose?  

But the president would take all that away, as he's tried in the past three Federal budgets he's presented.  He's trying again.  The budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2021 would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from the current $445 million down to $30 million.

For public stations in major markets, some of the shortfall might be made up by donations from viewers and listeners.  But such a drastic cutback would likely be a death knell for stations in smaller markets.

Maybe this is part of the president's plan to kill independent and fact-based news media.  Maybe it's also a way to free up some funds for Trump's folly-- the wall on our southern border.  It certainly isn't going to fund essential things like Medicaid and Social Security; he's looking to make drastic cuts in those areas as well. 

The proposed budget also looks to eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  The advocacy group Americans for the Arts says the NEA has given grants to local arts organizations in every Congressional district in each of the 50 states and also in U.S. territories.

What sort of society would we be without the arts and education?

I take solace in the fact that Congress, which holds approval over the Federal purse-strings has consistently supported PBS, NPR and the NEA, rejecting past budgets from the current administration that have attempted similar cuts to the arts and humanities.  But we can't take for granted that common sense and decency will prevail. 

It's worth a call or email to your Congressman or Congresswoman.

 

The DVR Came in Handy Tuesday Night

 

Tuesday was a good night to catch up some episodes of Chicago Fire and Colbert on the DVR.  Like many, I had no interest in listening to a live broadcast of an hour or more of lies, exaggerations and braggadocio.  As expected, the fact-checkers at the Associated Press found plenty of lies and half-truths in the State of the Union address.

For a president obsessed with TV ratings, Tuesday’s State of the Union broadcast was a flop.

The TV audience on broadcast and cable dropped by 21 percent from last year’s address.  An estimated 37.2 million people tuned in.  It looks like I'm not the only one with no more tolerance for B.S.

It seems I didn't miss much by not watching.  News reports and analysis likened it more to a campaign rally than a presidential report to the nation.  And I'm glad I didn't have to see the prestige of the presidential medal of honor get degraded by being presented to one of the most divisive and hate-spewing commentators on radio.

I enjoyed Chicago Fire...and it didn't get my blood pressure boiling.