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Telstra PR bites again

May 9th, 2006 by mhjones

Man, I do love a good online argument. And this one’s a pearler. One of Telstra’s PR bloggers at Now We Are Talking, Rod Breum, has come out fighting after another stinging missive from AFR journo Pamela Williams last Friday, called "Connections line up at Telstra." (I’d link you to the story, but it costs $3.30 to view, and there’s no permalink. Sigh.)

But to summarise, her argument is that Telstra has breached its own procurement guidelines by appointing billions of dollars in IT contracts to companies like Alcatel without a decent tender process. Telstra boss Sol Trujillo has not only imported dozens of Americans to run the company, but he has abandoned its historical rigorous tender processes where multiple suppliers lined up. Sol is all about quick deals with mates, she argues. It’s a big piece, thoroughly researched, and over 5000 words. My only criticism would be that she uses a lot of unnamed sources.

Here’s Rod’s first post in response, which contains the internal memo Telstra sent to staff. It contains all the usual PR drivel you’d expect. My favourite line:

What readers were not made aware of, was that the journalist Pam Williams has been bombarding Telstra with questions for several weeks.

Gasp! News Flash! Pam was doing her job.

Then in an incredible display of maturity, Rod continues by posting the questions he fired back at Fairfax in retaliation. They’re really un-funny, and bizzare. For example: "Will you please explain the process that was undertaken in Fairfax’s most recent decision to procure newsprint? Was this a fully competitive tender advertised internationally? How many tenderers were there? Please name the unsuccessful tenderers."

To follow, was another post which contained Fairfax’s response. You guessed it, no comment. But the biggest sensation is that Rod has accused Fairfax of breaching its own, and the media industry’s, code of ethics:

The biggest threat to Fairfax and its so-called “rivers of gold” classified advertising is Telstra and Sensis…While the journalist Pam Williams put her name to this attack on Telstra, Fairfax insiders tell me it was driven by people much higher up in the company with an obvious agenda

The idea that an AFR journalist applied a commercial agenda to a story of this nature is laughable to say the least. Rod, you really have lost the plot. I’ve said it before after the first William vs Bruem fight, use the Telstra blog for a useful conversation rather than this emotional drivel.

Simon Sharwood, an Aussie IT Journo and one of the many people to offer insightful comments on the Telstra posts, says it well: There’s a problem here. On the one hand, you would have us believe that Fairfax is not upholding standards it holds you to. On the other, you are willing to use the same "anonymous sources" tactic you decry to justify your assertion the AFR’s story is a commercial attack on Telstra. You cannot have it both ways, Rod.

Tagged: Aussie media
Comments: 12 Comments »

12 Responses to “Telstra PR bites again”

  1. Caitlin Says:
    May 9th, 2006 at 7:42 pm

    >What readers were not made aware of, >was that the journalist Pam Williams >has been bombarding Telstra with >questions for several weeks.

    ROFL. That’s a ridiculous criticism! It only goes to show that she did a thorough job.

  2. Caitlin Says:
    May 9th, 2006 at 7:55 pm

    Hi Mark, I have copied your Swicki but it’s only returning results from my home page. Any suggestions on how to fix this, please?
    Caitlin

  3. James Farmer Says:
    May 10th, 2006 at 10:50 am

    My favourite bit was where he said ‘Sensis’ :)

  4. Rob Irwin Says:
    May 10th, 2006 at 3:57 pm

    Yep, it’s an extraordinary blog, on the whole, and well worth the price of admission…

  5. Rod Bruem Says:
    May 11th, 2006 at 9:52 am

    Mark I’m amused by the fact you clearly found my questions to the
    AFR ridiculous. I agree. They are identical to the questions your newspaper sent to Telstra. That was the point of the exercise.
    Similarly, my use of an “unnamed source” had the same purpose. Sorry it was too subtle for you.
    Your own level of maturity and experience is clearly evident in your assertion that you find it “laughable” that a journalist would pursue the interests of his or her employer.
    As an AFR journalist, isn’t that exactly what you’re doing here??
    David Kirk’s speech to the Australia Israel Chamber last week in which he boasted of his involvement in the Williams story should convince cubs like you.

  6. Corporate Engagement Says:
    May 11th, 2006 at 10:42 am

    Telstra’s Bruem stays on the attack

    Mark Jones of the AFR cops this: Filtered: Telstra PR bites again. Your own level of maturity and experience is clearly evident in your assertion that you find it laughable that a journalist would pursue the interests of his or her employer.Bruem’s com…

  7. Simon Says:
    May 11th, 2006 at 11:10 am

    Assuming the previous comment came from Rod Bruem, has he actually read a transcript of Kirk’s speech, or is he relying on a post to his own “blog” about the speech?
    The post is anonymous so there’s no telling if it actually happened, a nasty abuse of the conventions of online debate, doubly so given Telstra filters the comments it publishes on the site.
    And in any case, Bruem (?) ignores the fact that management like to get involved in stories like this to ensure they do not defame the subjects or otherwise have negative commercial ramifications.
    I think less of Telstra for this. I detest their perversion of blogging. I am glad I purchase none of their products or services and cannot imagine what would compel me to do so in future given the company’s hostility to my profession and contempt for the public as demonstrated by this sham debate.

  8. Mark Jones Says:
    May 11th, 2006 at 1:15 pm

    Rod! Welcome to the conversation! Good to see we’ve finally managed to coax you out of hiding to add a comment or two. I’ll go back to my box now and pretend to be a cub reporter. All this subtle talk must be way above my head. Clearly I don’t get the difference between genuine questions by a world class news reporting organisation, and those made up on the fly by an angry PR person bent on public self destruction. :)

    Caitlin: no idea, sorry. Visit http://swicki.eurekster.com/ to see if it helps.

  9. Pat Says:
    May 12th, 2006 at 4:25 pm

    Wow – this is certainly entertaining. I’m just wondering how long it will take until Bruem’s blog gets yanked. This guy, honestly… truly… doesn’t have a clue.

    I am simply stunned that management haven’t sacked him… picking a grubby fight with the AFR is not something I would imagine is on Sol’s “to do” list.

    Yeah, journalists asking questions! How dare they?

    What he doesn’t seem to acknowledge is the fin is acting in the interests of Telstra shareholders by analysing the company’s approach to procurement… and that’s the paper’s job. Plus, holding large companies accountable keeps them in check, and stops them from collapsing and putting people like Bruem out of a job…

    In his ideal world, shareholders would only know what Telstra’s PR/communications drones pump out in their press releases.

    “this latest initiative will position Telstra for growth in the coming year”… “leveraging exisiting technology blah”…

    As for you, Jones, fetch me a coffee young cub! And bring my foot ointment, I have a job for you!

    Ah Jonesy, full of piss and vinegar… he could be a good journo one day, if he applies himself.

  10. Dan Warne (News Editor, APC) Says:
    May 13th, 2006 at 5:46 pm

    Rod writes: “Your own level of maturity and experience is clearly evident in your assertion that you find it “laughable” that a journalist would pursue the interests of his or her employer.
    As an AFR journalist, isn’t that exactly what you’re doing here??”

    So, by defending the personal integrity of a journalist that Mark works with, he is merely doing the bidding of his employer?

    Perhaps Rod Bruem is so busy doing the bidding of his employer as a PR spruiker that he forgets that some people have pride in personal integrity in the workplace.

  11. Spin Doctor Says:
    May 15th, 2006 at 12:54 pm

    Has the thought crossed people’s mind’s that Rod has provided a little circus action as a way of providing a diverting sideshow to the main act? Fact: his website and Phil Burgess’ rantings are designed to maximize the monopoly position, while minimizing any true reform to open and fair competition.

    The thing that galls me is that Telstra has received billions of our tax dollars over the years to build networks and a maket share that it now wants to keep for its shareholders at our disadvantage. Al of this in a benign regulatory environment where they stagnated and eventually killed any real innovation.

    That’s the real game boys, let’s not lose sight of that via Burgess & Breum’s none too subtle shell game.

    “Rivers of Gold” threat – what crap. As if Sensis could provide any compelling content or a real alternative to Google. When Google gets its act together and becomes truly global (that is, national as well as international), Sensis can kiss its yellow backside goodbye.

  12. Scooter Says:
    May 23rd, 2006 at 11:19 am

    My old news journalism lecturer used to tell us that ‘fighting with the media is like wrestling with a pig – you may win, but you will get covered in shit’

    It sounds to me like sour grapes by Rod as Pamela seems to be just doing her job be asking questions and trying to get to the bottom of things.

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