Now we are NOT talking

Telstra CTO Hugh Bradlow strikes me as a guy who understands future technologies and the impact on business.

He struck up a conversation on the interesting, if not controversial, subject of Net Neutrality. And as you'll see, I joined that conversation with a comment seeking his opinion on telcos charging content providers for the use of the Internet. A fair question, and one that Hugh started to address in his second post here.

Net neutrality, and related issues like quality of service, are subjects of keen interest here at Filtered. And given that our day job is devoted to talking to people about such things, we duly requested an offline conversation with Mr Bradlow. As I said, reading his blog you get the idea he's got a well-rounded view that would be of wider interest to people.

But that request was denied today. Once you step out of the blog and into tightly controlled PR universe, Telstra's shutters come down once again. Telstra does not want to be in any way linked to the current discussions about media reform in Australia, I was told by a PR woman. She won't even let Mr Bradlow out of the cage in the context of restricting our discussion to Net Neutrality.

The kicker to all of this is that the AFR and Telstra have for some months (years?) been engaged what the politically astute would call a robust public discussion. Their distaste for this situation is one that I'd suggest ultimately circles back to the telco's desire to control the media universe. I know of at least one AFR reporter that Telstra is currently not talking to, and without a believable explanation I have been swept under the same rug.

And so Telstra is now learning again that the more you try and control the media, the more it bites. Telstra might think its new blog gives it publishing credentials and a platform from which to right the media wrongs, placate its long-suffering shareholders and give those same shareholders and staff a platform to attack the media.

But you can't on the one hand create the illusion of openness, and then on the other selectively refuse to engage in discussions with the media where there is an obvious opportunity to continue that discussion. Telstra needs to understand that blogs represent a corporate culture built on the premise of conversations. Look at what Scoble did for Microsoft. If you don't want to go down that path and change your corporate culture for the better, get rid of the blog and stop polluting the web with PR drivel. That way Telstra's PR machine can carry on as it always has and not worry about changing its ways because of the illusion of openness created by Now We Are NOT Talking.

If there is a positive note I can leave you with, at least the blog from the non-talking company finally has RSS feeds. Next step, add trackback, if you dare.

Comments

[Cameron Reilly]

LOL. I always found Hugh to be one of the nicer guys at the Big T. Just out of interest MJ, how many senior execs at Fairfax have a blog of any sort?

[Mark Jones]

Well, of course you know the answer to that question Cam. : ) But I don't think that's enough to debunk my point.

[Bomerexy]

To blog or not to blog appears to be a vexing question for many corporations at the moment. I am hearing about discussions of how to regulate the blogging activity of employees... while avoiding the appearance of infringing some sort of civil liberty.
Under the cloak of the blogsphere, some executives can be brave, or at least a little braver than they might be in other "more traditional" channels.
I share the remorse you feel about any of them “not talking,” even by blog... what's next? no more off the record conversations?
It’s a potential blight on our democratic system.
[apologies for rant]

[Simon Sharwood]

During my time in PR I came to realise that the reason some companies are always trying to explain thaty their behaviour only *looks* evil is because they actually *are* evil, but of course cannot ever admit it.
I get that feeling again reading this post!

[Cameron Reilly]

Mark, I guess I'm giving Hugh (and the other Telstra execs) some credit for trying to have an open conversation, even if they appear to be failing. The question is, when it comes to exec blogs, is it better not to even try (like Fairfax execs) if you aren't going to do it wholeheartedly or to try and screw it up (like Telstra)?

Out of significant Aussie companies, who else has execs blogging at all? I can't think of anyone off the top of my head... oh the CEO of RealEstate.com.au has a blog. And I just started a podcast for them as well which they are hosting off of their site.

[Simon Sharwood]

Now we are talking has gone feral again, accusing AFR writers of doing their corporate masters' bidding.

http://www.nowwearetalking.com.au/Home/PageBlog.aspx?mid=216 is where teh action is.

[Rod Bruem]

What a lot of drivel. Mark I'm not aware of any AFR reporter who's been blackbanned by Telstra. Telstra engages with journalists every day of the week, more than any other company in Australia. The AFR has launched a deliberate campaign to malign Telstra's CEO. Why would the company choose to deal with reporters from your newspaper any more than it has to? The Fairfax AFR often seems more like a socialist newsletter than a business daily in a leading free market economy.

[Warwick]

Mark
Nice blog. I don't believe it's true re your claim about Telstra "not talking to" an AFR journalist. Happy to be corrected. Who are you referring to? Do you mean that they are not given everything they ask for?

[Mark Jones]

Mate, I won't be revealing sources, as you might expect. There is a bigger issue here and I'm seriously wondering where it's all heading.

[Rod Bruem]

so who's a conspiracy freak now?

[Dave]

That really is interesting, Mark. Are corporate executives (these days) meant to be all Web 2.0 and inclusive? Or are they meant to be running their company? Probably a little of both.. as a shareholder, you might hope more of the latter.

I find it interesting that although Hugh has a blog, although he openly discusses issues, and although he repsonds to your comments on his blog... that you still criticise the process becaue he's not immediately available for an important call such as yours ;)

I know blogging's big time these days.. but hey - maybe Telstra execs are pretty busy people!

[Mark Jones]

Dave, good question. But I'd add to your point by saying writing a blog of this type should be considered part of running the company. Overseas examples have shown us that blogs are used to create, or reflect a culture of openness. And to clarify, I wasn't asking Telstra PR to get Hugh to drop everything and get on the phone. Sure, journos always want to talk to someone ASAP, it's the nature of the business. What's different here is the answer I got was no, not today, or any other day (at least for now). If Hugh's got time to write blog posts, he's got time for a 1/2 hr phoner. It's my experience that if people really want to talk to the media, they will make time. 'Busy' is code for 'no'.
On reflection, I've been more worked up around this post than my usual fare. It's a reflection of my utter distate for PR strategies that hinder, rather than facilitate, news gathering.

[Dave]

Yep, understood Mark. Finding truth (what?) amidst PR noise is tough. PR guys aren't diplomats - they're on the payroll, representing shareholder interests (and openly so).

I guess Hugh might see the see the benefits of using his 'spare' half hour to blog to many vs. talking privately to one :)