Articles by Levick Experts
For the Defense
A Virtual Omnipresent Enemy
Defending Clients against Internet Blog Attacks
One day your client informs you that a blog has been posted on the Internet attacking his company for polluting the Missouri River, You know enough about blogs—those increasingly popular online “discussions”—to share his consternation.
It could be a lone crank who sees conspiracies everywhere. No one will take it seriously, least of all national journalists who may stumble on it while researching environmental stories. But it could also be a serious effort by. . . well, by any number of possible adversaries, some with legitimate claims.
If your client chanced upon the blog, there’s every reason to believe that reporters and other opinion-makers will too. So the first thing you need to do is assess its potential credibility to disinterested outsiders.
Second, you’ve got to try to figure out who is responsible for the blog. The “Coalition for Clean Water” as the banner reads, could be a well-funded non-government organization (NGO) with a real long-term agenda. It could even be a front for plaintiffs coalition enlisting members in a planned class action.
Third, if the adversary is a serious one, you’ve got to start reading the tea leaves. You’ve got to decipher if this blog is but one piece of a well-integrated campaign to pressure your client into a policy change, or force a litigation settlement, or if it is simply a general political attack to further tarnish the reputation of your client’s company,
Did the blog appear at the same time as corporate earnings were posted? If so, its creator may be communicating with industry analysts in any number of other ways as well. What is your client’s investment relations strategy and how is it coordinated with media? It may be a more vulnerable strategy now.
Does the blog hint at small-town political pay-offs? If so, whoever created it may be reaching out to local newspapers in an effort to undermine corporate relations with key grassroots supporters.
Blogs by themselves should not give rise to fear. But when well coordinated they may be an early warning sign of things to come. Your client has to track them carefully to understand what may be in store.
Rallying Cries
“Blogs” are short for “web logs.” They are online “discussions” that can be posted quickly on the Internet and that provide inexpensive ways to rally public opinion. They may typically over-simplify issues or at least create a one-sided dialogue that does not allow the defendant to weigh in.
For the moment, many of them have the look and feel of fringe diatribes. The authors are usually single individuals and the content, even where there might be some scintilla of fact, is framed so artlessly as to minimize the impact.
Cases in point are two anti-Disney blogs. They accuse that corporation of unfair copyright practice, slave labor, and promoting B-movies as classics—all in the same breath. Disney shareholders probably have other things to worry about for now.
But only for now. And that’s the bad news.
It is only a matter of time before blogs become commonplace weapons allowing well-organized adversaries to both disseminate and preserve shrewder anti-corporate messages. One recent blog, for example, attacks a plan by FedEx to build a hub at the Piedmont Triad Airport in Guilford County, North Carolina.
Guilford County is a sprawling community that cannot easily convene town meetings to debate development projects. The blog is a natural substitute, especially for these typically computer-literate citizens. There’s also a local newspaper, the News & Record, that everybody reads and that can be counted on to inform its audience of the blog’s existence.
The FedEx experience is illustrative for a larger reason as well NGOs have often been marginalized as radicals. But because blogs are pure stealth warfare, people who might never choose to ally themselves with activists are more susceptible to their messages. After all, they don’t see their faces or know their real names.
The Attack...
The NGOs are but one possible adversary. Labor unions and plaintiffs’ counsel are others. The latter are past masters at online solicitations. It’s a small step from providing information or misinformation about, say, Vioxx under the banner of a plaintiff’s law firm, to a similar discussion of the drug that appears to come from a more disinterested source.
Success breeds growth. As the blogs get more hits, they grow broader and deeper. A wealth of resources is soon added to the page, such as op-ed pieces selectively posted to convey third-party imprimatur.
The blogs then begin to look and feel legitimate. For reporters, they become useful sources of information even though they aren’t exactly impartial sources of information.
Tactical, blogs pose far greater threats than any other kind of online attack.
First, they are HTML-programmed and optimized via. “key words” for immediate inclusion on all operative search engines. If a matter is high profile enough—like Vioxx—any “discussion” of that matter will likely be picked up on a daily basis, directing reporters and other online information-seekers to the blog.
Second, they are programmed to filter out unwanted content. The other side, your side, cannot find a way into the ongoing dialogue. A blog can thus create the impression of virtually unanimous public sentiment even as it systematically narrows participation in the discussion.
Third, blogs are, as the name suggests, “logs.” As they communicate ongoing developments, they also preserve a record of anti-corporate “fact” and opinion.
As such, they can pollute the jury pool and maximize your client’s exposure in the court of public opinion.
The Counter-attack...
The issues raised by these virtual attacks on US business underscores theme that has run through every list of best practices that we have included in our past columns for this publication: To serve your clients, you must look beyond case management and trial work.
You must go further by helping strategize client communications at every level of public discourse, The Internet is certainly no exception.
That said, how should we now be counseling corporate America when it’s under such open—and yet paradoxically insidious—attack?
Logically, if a smart use of technology is causing the client harm, we must then work with the client to implement a smart technology in response. Two steps are fundamental.
First, does your client have its own blog or at least a dedicated website to address the issue in dispute? For example, it is not enough for Merck to respond to Vioxx questions by just posting a link on its main corporate site. Companies facing such issues should also consider having their own “discussion groups” optimized like any blog to attract the greatest number of online visitors. Even in the absence of a pro-corporate blog there can be “web optimization” through smart web coding and word sponsorship. Every time reporters use Google to research “Vioxx,” they could then be directed to a pro-Merck web site, articles, resources and discussion groups just as easily as to any plaintiffs’ firm or consumer watchdog.
Second, what do you know about the source of opposition blogs? Until you know whom you’re fighting, you’re fighting with one arm. Is it an interest group with legitimate claims—namely, a citizens’ group with potentially credible grievances? If so, you may want to think about a settlement sooner rather than later. Alternatively, if the blog is just one part of a larger agenda, you’ll at least know what kind of a fight you have on your hands and you’ll be able to better the corporate resources required to win it.
By identifying your adversary, you may also be able to split their ranks. If an outside group is advocating a position on behalf of local citizens, do those citizens know the strange bedfellows that politics has made for them? Folks in North Carolina may not particularly like those ideologues who’ve presumed to come to their rescue.
Protective Measures
These online strategies demand the implementation of specific tactics to identify the enemy, to level the technological playing field, and to ensure equal access to reporters and other opinion-makers. In particular:
How is your client monitoring the opposition Blog? If the blog is being monitored manually, by one or two company employees, it is a good start, but hardly enough. On at least a daily basis, the client should additionally be receiving reports based on professional content-tracking that discloses all online additions or changes. Most full-service public relations firms can provide such tracking, but consider two commercial services such as e-Watch by PRNewswire.
Is your client integrating its public relations and legal positions with its online blog or dedicated site? We’re talking about a multifaceted strategy in which two ongoing steps are always essential. First, constantly update the website with the most advantageous and supportive points based on developments in the case or dispute. Second line up messages for press briefings or interviews that repeal and reinforce those constant updates.
Are all supportive articles written by local reporters being posted? To do so, employ the same kind of professional tracking of relevant newspapers that you should be using to track opposition messages. Commercial news services are advisable to ensure that the client’s messages can then be easily tracked by reporters and other interested parties.
Positive local articles will reach and possibly influence national reporters who typically lend a lot more credence to what other journalists have to say than they do to official corporate message points. They will at least use the local articles for background. In turn, national stories should be monitored and, of course, also posted if they are favorable.
The opposition blog has this silver lining for corporations; Not only might it be your first real indication that a protracted siege has begun, it can also provide a model for the company to fashion its own best online rejoinder. Learn from the opposition and beat them at their game.
Additional Resources:
Richard S. Levick, Esq., is President of Levick Strategic Communications, which has handled the media on the highest-profile matters, from Napster and the Florida election recount to the Catholic Church controversy and the Rosie O’Donnell Rosie magazine lawsuit. His new book, Stop the Presses: The Litigation PR Desk Reference, is available on Amazon.com.