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The
Enron scandal‹it spread like
wildfire from New York to Hong
Kong, making the entire world
cringe. Fingers were pointed,
accusations were made, and
reputations were destroyed‹to
say the very least. A PR nightmare.
Ray Kotcher is the CEO of Ketchum
Public Relations, one of New
York's largest public relation
firms and one that specializes
in corporate crisis management.
With more than 20 years in
the field, Kotcher has watched
the rise and fall of corporations
occur hand in hand with the
proliferation of worldwide
media platforms.
"A
media event can truly affect the fortune of
any organization," Kotcher said. In the
case of Enron, "as the issue escalated
it got more and more media attention, which
in turn escalated the issue, which in turn
got more media attention, which in turn escalated
the issue."
Very much aware of this potentially
vicious cycle and its effects, Kotcher
has helped create a division at Ketchum
dedicated to corporate social responsibility
(CSR) to deal with the realities associated
with media coverage in our ever-changing
world. The program looks at companies
and policies from a communications perspective
and recommends shifts and adjustments
in policy based on the findings.
"The ideal public relations programs
are programs where public relations does
in fact have input into the policy of
a company," Kotcher said. "There
is a whole constituency out there that
has a real set of concerns about environmental
issues, about labor issues, about trade
issues, and public relations is in an
extraordinary place to be able to help
companies listen to and understand the
needs of these constituencies‹and
for those constituencies to be heard
by the companies."
Kotcher
remembers one of the most challenging
and dramatic points in his career‹the
early 1990s‹when many of his clients "went
global." In the world of PR, globalization
is a blessing and a curse. In the mid-90s
the excitement began‹and PR support,
for the good times and the bad times‹was
needed more than ever before, Kotcher
said.
"A company in Tokyo with a crisis
problem, a corporate problem, brand problems
or issues to deal with became the news
that the other side of the world woke
up to first thing in the morning," Kotcher
said. "And in the same respect what
happened here during the day became the
news in Asia the next day."
Similarly,
the explosion of the Internet in the
late 1990s created a profound
impact on communications and, as a result,
a need for PR support. "Because
of the Internet, anyone who knew how
to harness its powers could have a voice
in any debate‹the media agenda
was no longer driven solely by large
dominant media brands," Kotcher
said. "As a result, our clients
really began to need our help managing
their communications on a worldwide basis."
"Communications and CSR are critical
components today in the health of any
organization, especially the media industry," said
Kotcher. Just prior to opening day at
the World Economic Forum in New York
City a few weeks ago, the CEO was at
the Carriage House Center on Globalization
and Sustainability for the release of
a much talked about report, "Good
News & Bad: The Media, Corporate
Social Responsibility and Sustainable
Development."
The report, which was produced through
the combined efforts of Ketchum, Sustainability
(an international consulting firm) and
the United Nations Environment Program,
says that the media have the most powerful
influence on how people and politicians
think about and act on corporate social
responsibility and sustainable development.
According to Kotcher, the media have
the power to change the negative way
much of the world thinks about globalization.
To do so, he said, media outlets throughout
the world need to be more socially responsible
about the material they choose to cover
and need to take a more active role in
communicating the benefits of globalization.
Kotcher knows how to get the right message
across. Step into his offices: The colors
are bright, portraits of happy workers
hang outside each door, mobiles hang
from the ceiling and pass down through
the inviting communal cafeteria. The
contemporary atmosphere sets the mood
for the type of company occupying the
space.
A former
high school English teacher, Kotcher
says he has always been inspired
by helping people and watching them progress
in their own lives. "My number-one
focus," Kotcher said, "and
something that takes a lot of my time,
is the health of our organization and
our people and making sure that we are
moving forward strategically in a way
that ensures the health of our organization,
which in turn provides a place where
people can come and grow."
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