In these tough times, the words of those in charge are chosen with extra care.
Witness
President Obama's tightrope walk in his Feb. 24 address to Congress, full of precisely calibrated language about "recovery" and overcoming "our many challenges." Like Federal Reserve chief
Ben Bernanke, Obama doesn't want to scare America by painting a doom-ridden picture, but neither can he airbrush the dire state of the union.
A similar task confronted media execs, never more so than over the past few weeks during that quarterly performance series known as Earnings Season. One after another, the heads of major companies gave Wall Street and the media their state-of-showbiz addresses, mostly divulging balance sheets dripping with red ink.
The losses, some in the billions of dollars, have been staggering. Businesses recently counted on as cash cows, including DVD and local TV stations, suddenly seem on the brink of extinction. Even Web advertising, once seen as the bright new hope, has begun to evaporate.
But how to express all that without sending already battered share prices lower still? It's a matter that takes weeks to resolve as draft after draft of earnings press releases and conference call scripts and talking points circulate among top management and their handlers in investor relations and PR.
All is meticulously rehearsed, lest a comment or even a tone of voice send shares tumbling.
Rupert Murdoch, in typical fashion, chose bluntness on News Corp.'s call.
"Our results for the quarter are a direct reflection of the grim economic climate," he said Feb. 5. "While we anticipated a weakening, the downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought."
Disney's
Bob Iger didn't sound like the happiest exec on earth when said the climate "is likely to be the weakest economy in our lifetimes."
Jeff Bewkes at Time Warner employed his sardonic wit, perhaps self-effacingly, when he noted, "In the media business, we all know there's been a lot of value destroyed through poor acquisitions."
Lionsgate vice chairman
Michael Burns, both on the call and at a recent conference, called the company's disastrous showing what it was: "a bad miss" and "a crappy quarter."
Of course, for showbiz execs, sometimes old-fashioned spin is the preferred approach.
Jeffrey Katzenberg's Feb. 24 remarks, if not matched by the numbers, seemed to describe huge gains instead of DreamWorks Animation's quarterly loss.
The topper acknowledged a "weakened economic environment" but said the company was "firing on all cylinders" and releasing "box office blockbusters."
His reward the next morning? A drubbing for the stock and a downgrade by one unimpressed analyst.
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