28 | capitaregistrars.com

IN THE MEDIA

ANDY VERITY

Since the

“WAKE UP! YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH THE MEDIA”

Andy Verity will be a familiar voice to anyone who tunes into Radio Five Live’s “Wake up to money” programme each weekday. Registration Matters caught up with him to get his opinion on how business deals with the media

R

M: Since the arrival of the credit crunch and the recession, do you think that there has been a greater interest in business news from the general public?

AV: There’s no doubt that there’s been a revolution in the way business news is perceived. When I arrived at the BBC 11 years ago it was a struggle to get a business item on the news bulletins because it was thought that the general public wouldn’t be interested unless there was direct relevance to their lives. Now you wouldn’t ask how an earthquake in Chile would affect people in the UK so business news had to jump over a bigger hurdle than any other kind of news to get on the bulletin.

Since the crisis at Northern Rock, the whole attitude of journalists to business news has changed – you no longer have to do a big sales job to get an editor interested. You’re pushing at an open door.



RM: How difficult is it to explain business and financial stories to the general public?

AV: I think the general public tends to hear about a brand or sales numbers and it sounds pretty faceless – and therefore it is very important to show that the world of business is populated by people, not just blank numbers.

But since the credit crunch happened the whole landscape of financial journalism has been completely turned upside down. People have realised the importance of the business world to them. As a financial journalist your stock goes up because people need you more. The need for accessible explanations of the way business works is much more in demand – and that’s something that not that many people are very good at.



RM: Do you think companies understand how and why they need to deal with the media?

AV: If you listen to business people when they are talking about business, you will hear that they gossip, they talk about the personalities or whether the shares

SPRING 2010

might be worth buying. What they often fail to realise is that what’s important to them is at odds with what is important to the public.

They often fail to recognise that they have a public profile at all. It is quite amazing that the banks – even now – still don’t seem to understand the importance of their public image. They often don’t field their own executives to appear on the media because there’s this blithe ignorance that they have a public profile. I think that’s something to be ashamed of now that the public has spent so much money bailing out the banking system.

If the bankers really think that their bonuses can be justified – and maybe they can – then they should field their people and get them answering questions from the media. Instead they leave this impression of arrogance; that they have no need to talk to the media and participate in a public debate.



RM: Do you think that, since the credit crunch, businesses are more wary about how they deal with the media?

AV: There are two problems with the attitudes of directors toward the media. One is that they’re afraid; the other is that they don’t see the value of a really good, positive public profile. And you can add a third as well: they don’t see the value of being there to present themselves when there’s a negative story and show themselves to be part of the wider debate.

An executive who appears when there’s a negative story going around will fear that it’s going to be the death of their career, but that’s a mistake. Companies spend all this money on advertising and then do not spend 10 minutes or an hour of an executive’s time rebutting a negative news story.

Not doing that could wipe out all the value of your advertising spend so it makes a lot of sense for businesses to front up to the media. I think not talking to the media is a bit like not voting in an election – if you don’t take part then you shouldn’t moan when you don’t like the result.

credit crunch happened the whole landscape

of financial journalism has been completely turned upside down. People have realised the importance of the business world to them Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32