A cardinal rule taught in Journalism 101 is: don't bury the lead. That
is, don't put the most important part of a news story in the middle or
on the bottom of it. Put it up top. The public relations world has a
very different take, especially when it comes to negative news. Witness
the press release put out by Affinity Technology Group Inc., which owns
a portfolio of tech-related patents. Despite the headline, which
mentioned that the company
filed for Chapter 11 in South Carolina, a reader with a short attention span skimming the release might have simply thought Affinity suffered a rough second quarter.
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Why? In
the release, Affinity
doesn't post news of bankruptcy filing until the fourth paragraph.
After three paragraphs talking about the second quarter net losses, the
next paragraph begins, "In other news, Affinity announced that it has
filed [for Chapter 11]."
Such a tactic
isn't revolutionary. Oftentimes when a company files for bankruptcy, a
press release will come out with a headline that won't say that the
company simply filed for Chapter 11. It will typically say that the
company will restructure debt by filing for Chapter 11, or that it has
filed to facilitate a sale, seemingly as a way to soften the blow. But
Affinity's method is definitely one of the most novel approaches we've
seen. -
Ben Fidler
