Last Blog Assignment: News Coverage vs. Organizational Response

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/27/ap/hightech/main2735358.shtml

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=23738




CBS News covered a story about AT&T CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. will be retiring in June with Randall Stephenson taking his place.



According to CBS News, Whitacre announced his unexpected June retirement on Friday. The news article seemed to focus on different aspects of this retirement than the website. The media focused on some of Whitacre’s personality traits, but more oddly on the money he will make during/after his retirement. It feels like the newspaper article was written by the “Average Joe” and wants average income individuals to read about Whitacre’s retirement. The writer made it very important to note “ the 65-year-old will enjoy a rich payout in retirement”, making it a point to express the millions of dollars that Whitacre will receive in deferred compensation, pension trust, and tax help (cbsnews.com). A good third of the paper focuses primarily on Whitacre’s benefits and an “increase in monthly benefits for AT&T’s oldest and poorest retirees (cbsnews.com).” The tone of the article is not bad; it does talk about the old CEO’s blunt personality and gives a brief description on AT&T’s history. However, it does fail to really focus on the upcoming event – the actual retirement of Whitacre and Chief Operating Officer Randall Stephenson stepping up in his place.



AT&T took a very different route in their news release regarding the retirement of Whitacre. They first honored Whitacre by explaining how he “is the longest-serving CEO in the telecommunications history” and how he was there while the company fell apart and grew (att.com). This paper takes a very different tone. It does not really focus on the money and retirement benefits of the old CEO, but honors him briefly before giving the public more information about the NEW CEO, Richard Stephenson. The tone is very proud, and it feels like the company is just letting the people know that they are in good hands during this change. This release does add to the information given by CBS, because that news article barely focused on what was to come with the new Stephenson. AT&T ‘s release has some of the same information, but elaborates more on Stephenson’s climb up the ladder. It shows that they are not hiding his history, that they want people to know where he came from, and trying to invoke complete trust from their customers. They made it especially important to quote both men saying honorable things about the other, and towards the end of the article AT&T wants to make it known that both Whitacre and Stephenson expect a smooth transition. The organization’s response is not really clear in filling in why Whitacre has decided to retire, and the fact that the media did use the word “unexpectily” raises eyebrows. However, the company’s response also filled in blanks about Stephenson that the public did not know, and the news article fills in blanks about the CEO, his retirement plan, and a little more into the history of the company.