ABSTRACT
The fact is, managers get paid to answer difficult questions every day from people who know the facts, understand the business, and are familiar with the products and services involved. Everyone from worried or irate shareholders to curious government regulators have posed questions that managers must answer – many of them on the spot, without reference to files, databases, or conversations with others in the organization. The relationship between the media and business is essentially adversarial, which is simply part of doing business in a democratic society. NBC reporter and later ABC News commentator David Brinkley once said, “When a reporter asks questions, he is not working for the person being questioned, whether business [executive], politician, or bureaucrat, but he is working for the readers and listeners.” He also said, “News is what you don’t want to tell me. Everything else is public relations.”
