An unscientific survey by PR News and Medialink suggests that many PR people still subscribe to this Eisenhower-era notion of announcing bad corporate news late on Fridays to “mitigate the blowback.”
But holding bad news until Friday afternoon can make things blow even worse on Monday morning:
You stop nothing. The people most interested in what you’re up to use this Internet thing to get information zippy quick. Investors, employees, retirees, key customers, competitors, media and the CEO’s mother will promptly see your bad news on their Yahoo home page, as an email, in a blog, listed in a news feed or a web site.
You create a new credibility issue. What, you think you get brownie points for dumping bad news after everyone’s gone home? The people who most influence how the event will ultimately impact your company will be ticked off for the disrespect you show them by sneaking out the back door.
You dig a deeper hole. Friday-night announcements don’t make the bad news go away. They create at minimum 48-hour vacuum for people to assume the worst, and some will read your desire to hide the release as more bad news to come. You'll be in a worse defensive position on Monday morning as you reopen the doors to angry shareholders, anxious employees and reporters working on follow-up pieces that incorporate how your company has mishandled the crises.
Son of you stop nothing. Your stock will still move in after-hours trading guided by speculation and negative expectations. News media will still file stories, except this time you’ll be covered by weekend beat reporters who may have no understanding or context about your company or the situation.
You still announce on Monday anyway. So you keep some people from seeing and responding the release late Friday. Fine. But they’ll respond on Monday as if they’re seeing the news for the first time – which of course they are. Now you’re dealing with two sets of responses: the people who are just hearing it, and the people who saw and reacted to it over the weekend.
Here’s my advice. Next time someone suggests putting out a Friday bad news release, tape a sign on the wall that says: “Bad news happens with you or without you.”
Then decide what’s best for the company and its reputation.
