Uncommunication

Public relations involves communicating with people to gain and maintain support.

Communicating:  the activity of conveying information.

Information: a collection of facts or data or knowledge about specific events or news.

Seems pretty easy both to understand and to do, but apparently not.

Take this sound bite, for example, from a news conference to answer reporters' questions about the dismissal of the lab director at the Health Sciences Complex in St. John's:

"I implore you, this decision today was made about the future, not about the past."

Now lest you think this is a case of selective editing, I'd suggest you follow the link to the TransCon story on the news conference.  Notice how little of it is taken from information - that is hard facts - told by the people sitting at the head of the boardroom table.

Most of it, like most of the news stories on this firing, draws attention to other issues, like evidence at the Cameron Inquiry about the improper and possibly illegal disposal of Crown assets.  A piece of important laboratory equipment was handed over to a private individual apparently free of charge.  This individual refurbished it and sold it for a tidy profit.  What's more, the computer that went with the machine included patient data - it could be as much as every test ever run on the thing - which the Inquiry managed to retrieve.

There may well be other aspects to this that aren't in the public domain, but with just what is already out there, it isn't hard for people to put two and two together and conclude Gulliver's sudden departure is connected to events that came to light at the Cameron Inquiry.

What you have in this case could be called uncommunication. 

Think of it as the opposite of communication because uncommunication doesn't involve the conveying of facts, data or knowledge. 

Quite the opposite.  It's not about conveying information at all.  Uncommunication actually leaves the recipient in worse shape - at least with respect to facts, data and knowledge - than if he or she knew nothing at all.

Take another government example of uncommunication: the workplace health and safety commission's computer security failure.  You don't have to look hard to see an effort to avoid providing information - facts, data and knowledge - to anyone.  There are plenty of words strung together as sentences but, as with the Eastern Health comment above, they are for the most part devoid of any clear meaning.

Or consider the lighter version, namely the tendency of cabinet ministers to repeat cliches and verbal ticks so frequently they get turned around in them.  Like, this line from the Premier's scrum on Monday:

...it’s so important for our children, for our youth, to realize that this is a historic day, this is a turning point for them, in their lives, on a go-forward basis.

Yes, even the future is coming on a go forward basis.  Perhaps we will move forward on a go forward basis into that future.  The Premier's Maserati has three gear positions:  Go forward on a go forward basis, go backward on a go forward basis and park on a go forward basis.  He likely bought it after doing the due diligence piece, another of his cliches that every cabinet minister recites.

His language is so riddled with verbal ticks and meaningless phrases, it is difficult sometimes to understand if he understands what he is saying. 

Let's not forget his "don't quote me on that" bit from the same scrum:

we’re just very proud and honoured and very pleased that in fact right now we can go it alone and excuse me, don’t quote me on that we can go it on our own, from that perspective.

If there is a difference between "we can go it alone" and "we can go it on our own" then it is one only in the Premier's mind. If there is some importance to that phrase then that too remains only in the Premier's mind. We are going it alone on the Lower Churchill supposedly, but are looking for financial backing, financial partners and a loan guarantee from Ottawa.

The phrase means nothing.

This phenomenon is not confined to government circles. 

Take, for example, the case of NLRC, the proposed refinery near Come By Chance.  At the heart of the company's recent legal travails appears to be uncommunication;  that is, according to a statement of claim the company failed to disclose that key financial backers had withdrawn. That issue hasn't be clarified such that a news report on Thursday stated that the company was fine until law suits started.

However, that may not be true.  The company may have appeared to be fine.  But if the statement of claim proves true, that was only an appearance. Company statements, including the memo obtained by CBC discuss generalities without conveying meaningful information.  If the statement of claim is true, there may even have been withholding of information - in other words: uncommunication.

The trend is not universal.

Rutter Technologies announced on Thursday it had won yet another contract to build components for the light armoured vehicle family currently in service in both the Canadian and United States armies.  The news release contains all the relevant information you need to know why this is important plus there are a couple of obligatory feel-good statements from key people involved.

Summary:  $14.6 million from General Dynamics Land Systems to build electrical systems for the Stryker vehicle over the next 19 months that will increase the Stryker's current carrying capacity.  The components will be built by Rutter in St. John's at its facility on Thorburn Road.  Rutter will hire an unspecified number of additional people and add another shift at its plant.

Lay that release side by side with one announcing yet another half million dollars of public money in a manufacturing company and you'll see the uncommunication of the government release. The feel-good statements far outweigh the factual stuff, a hall-mark of uncommunication.

As Rutter demonstrates, the trend to uncommunication is not universal.

There is still hope...

on a go-forward basis.

Arrrrrggggghhh.

-srbp-

Sliding by #nlpoli

Sliding b'ys.

During the recent emergency in eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, both the provincial government and the City of St. John’s denied the public access to basic information about the emergency.

Instead, they both preferred either self-serving political messages – “all is well.  We are doing great job” – or authoritarian edicts and directives -” stay off the roads”.

The City news release quoted in last week’s post typify this.

Supposedly it was about the lifting of some restrictions on the public. 

That’s what the headline said.

But the first sentence - supposedly the most important information in the release was a self-serving statement:

City of St. John’s snow clearing crews continue to work around the clock to clear streets for regular traffic.

The middle bit contained short statements about what stores could open for a few hours.

Darin, King of Uncommunication

Plenty of people in Newfoundland and Labrador are running around thinking that, as a result of a bureaucratic error,  a bunch of people at the College of the North Atlantic got more in their pay envelopes than they were entitled to receive.

It’s understandable that they believe this or something like it since that is exactly what is implied in the very careful selection of words education minister Darin King used to reveal this issue on Monday:

Education Minister Discloses Errors Made at
College of the North Atlantic’s Qatar Campus

There is that word right there in the headline on the release:  “errors”.

That same idea is also there in the release itself, referring to “salary overpayments”, and “errors” that were “made in determining salaries”.

All through his comments in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, King kept using the word “error”:

I made a release yesterday that fully disclosed to the Province an error that has been made to the tune of approximately $5 million. I also made it fully clear that this is not a decision of government that made this error; …

…we would do an external review for the purpose of trying to determine exactly where the College of the North Atlantic made mistakes that led to the error that has been identified

But then there is a curious statement attributed to the minister in the news release:

"I want to assure employees of the Qatar campus that they will continue to receive their current salary for the remainder of their contract," said Minister King. "We will continue to work with the college as they address this situation and assess the full financial impact of the errors."

Okay.

Just follow this for a second.

As a result of an “error”, people have been overpaid – supposedly – but then there is an assurance that those same people will continue to receive their “current salary” – that is, presumably, the overpaid one – until the contracts expire.

Odd, isn’t it?

It’s odd because what people think happened and what actually occurred are two different things.  All those people are running around believing things that aren’t true  because the news release and the minister’s media lines bury the real story under mountains of obfuscation.

If you confronted King about the news release, he will insist he told all.  Well, he didn’t really do that in the release itself, but between the news release and his subsequent comments, the real story is there;  you just have to dig it out from underneath the vague words and sentences in what is truly a classic piece of uncommunication. 

To find out what really happened, though, you just have to read carefully. 

Take a look at what education minister Darin King told the House on Tuesday:

I also made it fully clear that this is not a decision of government that made this error;  it was a decision made by the College of the North Atlantic which is an arm’s-length corporation of government, Mr. Speaker.

The editors at Hansard mistakenly stuck a semi-colon in there but there is no mistaking that the error was not overpayment. Just take out the mistake in punctuation and read the resulting sentence out loud. 

Poof.

The “error” not a mistake at all.  It was some unspecified decision taken by the people who run the College of the North Atlantic.

But what decision?

Well, that bit too is buried away in another comment King made:

For example, it is only about a month and a half ago, Mr. Speaker, when the former president of the college decided, without the proper authority and authorization, to sign a one year extension to the current contracting tender, …

Poof.

He tried to obscure the relationship between the “error” and this example of him being helpful but that’s just a bit too convenient a bit of timing to be real. 

Put that comment about helpfulness together with the rest of it and a more complete and accurate version of the current crisis appears than the one most people seem to be getting.

All clear now?

King’s two news releases on Monday are a classic example of uncommunication, of concealing crucial information by carefully selecting words and sentences that have fuzzy meanings. It’s like issuing a news release that makes it sound like Abitibi abandoned a mill site rather than admit that the provincial government had shagged up royally and expropriated the thing by mistake.

Oh yes, and it was two releases.

The second one – issued as King scrummed reporters – announced that that president of CMA tossed her teddy in the corner on Friday afternoon citing, among other things, inappropriate provincial government interference in the management of her operation.

Despite the fact King had the resignation three days beforehand, the announcement appeared one and a half hours after the first release in which King claimed credit for disclosures he really didn’t make.  It might just be bungling – Lord knows there’s been enough of that lately  – but there is something about the second release and the timing that screams “uncommunication.”

-srbp-

Unformation #nlpoli

Changes in the news media,  changes in the audience, and changes in what information organizations provide to the pubic have created the Unformation Age.  Information  -  facts, figures, data - is less important than unsubstantiated opinion assembled to serve a temporary purpose and often lacking coherence over time. This is the abandonment of  a common means of assembling information coherently that affects all aspects of society.  

"Deep Dive" is the name that Saltwire gives to its new series that is supposed to give readers more information on specific topics that are of concern across the Atlantic Canada.  

The series gives Saltwire a way to produce unique content using all its resources in Atlantic Canada, thereby lowering the burden on any one newsroom.  Saltwire hopes the Deep Dives will generate new income for the chain. In future, Deep Dives will be accessible only to subscribers.  The rest of us will be blocked by a paywall.  

It's a business model that has worked successfully at major newspapers, which have either halted declining revenue from subscriptions using paywalls or seen revenue growth to offset the losses from the old cash-cow advertising.

It might work.  The real question is whether Saltwire will produce the content that will make readers dig into their pockets.

So that makes you wonder how deep is the deep dive?

Stepping on rakes: #nlpoli version

Premier Dwight Ball has changed his position. 

That’s the first thing.

Here’s the way James McLeod described Ball’s position on cuts to the public service.  It’s from the Saturday Telegram:

“We’ve met with some of the labour organizations and leaders right now, so what we’ve committed to — and it hasn’t changed — is attrition still remains as the primary source for us to see changes in numbers around the public sector, and a fair negotiating process,” Ball said. 

“Once we get into that fair negotiation, we will see then what direction the discussion goes.” 

Ball said job cuts in the government will be tied together with contract negotiations.
“They’re all connected, because it’s all where you save money and expenses,” he said.

Friday Math

1.  Brent crude is trading at $58.67 per barrel.

2.  The Canadian dollar is worth $1.18 against the American dollar.

It's easier to plan a party and pump out happy face uncommunication than provide an update on the provincial government's finances.

Polling season is just a bonus excuse.

Obviously.

-srbp-

Firds of a bleather: uncommunication edition

What government departments or agencies in Newfoundland and Labrador have a policy like the one at Environment Canada forbidding interviews unless they’ve been cleared by the strategic uncommunications folks first?

-srbp-

Ministerial Whimsy #nlpoli

Ever wonder why the provincial government passes laws and then never puts them into force?

Like the Sustainable Development Act that the Conservatives pushed through the House in 2007 and then abandoned.

Or the Court Security Act they passed in 2004, ignored for six years, then brought back with a couple of minor changes to the wording, repealed the old Act they’d never implemented, and passed through the House the new one as…wait for it… the Court Security Act, 2010. <fake dramatic music noise>Dunt…dunt… dah.

Policy Pixelation #nlpoli

The members of the House of Assembly voted unanimously at the end of October to set up a committee to decide how to give everyone in the province a cheque each month from government.

The motion started out with a few reasons why the members thought it was a good idea:  people across Canada didn’t all have the same income, people were getting such a cheque already from the federal government to cope with COVID, some people – no one indicated who they were – thought this was a good idea, and when people had more money they were generally better off.

When it came time to explain those things in greater detail, Jordan Brown, the New Democrat member who led the debate didn’t give a single bit of extra detail that showed he and his staff had done any research on it at all.

He just made flat, generic statements, including:

“There are a lot of geographical differences in regions throughout this country, too.”

“we do have very unique geographical challenges, we have a unique population. We have a lot of unique needs that make this province what it is.”

“A lot of the research that we've come across was actually Canadian research, Canadian led. As Canadians, we should be proud that we are actually looking at these things within our own country. We have a lot of the research and legwork already done here.”

“Just my observation of this province, we're a very societal province. We're very adapt. We're very caring. We seem to be a province that cares so deeply about everybody in it.

He mentioned five groups that signed a letter in favour of what they called a “basic income.”  Brown also added that a “Tory senator wrote a book on why we should do this as a country.” 

No details.  No evidence.  No specific information.

And most tellingly of all, not a single description of just what this universal basic income might look like.

No Market Research Required #nlpoli

In the House of Commons, members can put questions to cabinet ministers several ways.  One of them is called Questions on the Order Paper.

Ask a sensible question.  Get a sensible answer.

This is a truly amazing idea given that the House of Assembly got rid of the notion 20 years ago. Actually telling people something useful instead other uncommunication that remains all the rage in provincial government circles.

Bloc Quebecois member of parliament Marilene Gill put a Question on the Order Paper about Muskrat Falls and the recent federal loan guarantee for $2.9 billion.

Here are the questions from Gill and the answers from natural resources minister Jim Carr.  Note the underlined bits for anyone not aware of this information.

Taxpayers shafted

On February 2, Abitibi notified the provincial government that the company vacated the only properties the provincial government didn’t expropriate in December 2008.

As a result, the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador are entirely responsible for cleaning up whatever environmental mess may be attached to the century old facility.

There is no word on how big the problems at the old paper mill are or how much it will cost taxpayers to clean it up.

The official government release on the development is a masterpiece of uncommunication from a department – natural resources – that has become legendary for its practice of the dark art of misinformation. 

There is even a complete contradiction in the claim at the front – namely that the provincial government is now responsible for the sit in every respect and a statement at the back that Abitibi is still liable.

This is the third financial shaft to be felt by taxpayers resulting from the 2008 expropriation.  The first is the yet-unresolved bill for the expropriation itself.  The second is the voluntary payment by the provincial government of money owed by the company.

-srbp-

More delays in taking out the trash #nlpoli

On Monday,  municipal affairs minister Keith Hutchings announced that the provincial government was setting back the clock on the provincial waste management strategy.

Well, they sort of announced it. 

You see, the news release posted by the government uncommunication elves buried the news under a lot of self-congratulation.

And what they didn’t bury they just left out altogether.

The persistence of uncommunication in government #nlpoli

For some interesting insights into the way government works, take a look at an access to information request someone submitted for documents related to the bond ratings for the province issued earlier this year.

First, notice that the department responsible for openness and transparency continues to follow the decidedly closed and opaque practice of printing electronic documents,  scanning them, and then posting a picture of the document.  This makes it harder to find information in the documents and use it and of course that is precisely the intent of the practice.

Second, notice the enormous amount of effort spent by finance department officials to obtain comparative credit ratings for other provinces and for Newfoundland and Labrador over time.  It’s a relatively meaningless piece of information but it sucked up an astonishingly large amount of email traffic.

Actions speak louder than words

St. John's deputy mayor Ron Ellsworth is showing that talk is cheap.

In his case, that would be his own talk about greater openness in the city's budget process and his most recent campaign promise to get the city back to basics.

Ellsworth is a relative newbie to politics having been elected first in 2005 as a ward councilor, but so far his public comments have been more like a veteran of the uncommunication school.  Take, for example, his comment on postponement of a curbside recycling program - about as basic as it gets these days  - due to an apparent lack of cash:

"We have to make tough decisions on tough issues, and this is one example of that happening," Ellsworth said in an interview.

"I'm not very happy about what we've had to decide to do, but the reality is that we do have limitations and when we have budget constraints like this, the first thing we look at is new programs."

Ah yes.  Tough decisions.  On Friday when this story broke, he was pushing the "opportunity" offered by this delay. Now it's the tough decisions.

Then he played the empathy card, followed by the admonition to speak out:

"I understand the frustration and concern by those that are very close to environmental issues. ... They should make their voices known."

He understands the frustration  - but with what he is not clear - but that, quite obviously,  won't change his mind since these are tough decisions that have already been made. 

And speaking out is all fine but sadly, Ellsworth - as chair of the city finance committee - has been way less than forthcoming with any concrete information about the city's finances. Oh yes, and the tough decision has already been made, in case you missed that.

Ellsworth gave absolute no information to CBC Radio on Friday morning past, even when the interviewer gifted him with a chance.  He fell back on the "opportunities" crap.  Then there were figures coming from somewhere about a seven million dollar shortfall and one million to implement the program.  This evenings' news referred to three million for implementation.

It almost goes without saying that the numbers don't add up.

Ellsworth spent some time taking calls from residents on Monday on a CBC call-in show.  They weren't happy. There's nothing for them to be happy about, especially considering that one of Ellsworth's lines has been that the public expect council to manage public money wisely.

Sure they do.

But what Ellsworth is missing is that voters in St. John's are increasingly unsatisfied with politicians who pay only lip service to ideas like openness and focusing on the basics.  They expect action.

To voters, managing money wisely would not mean boosting the subsidy to something that isn't a core city service - i.e. Mile One - over the past two years by the amount Ellsworth has said the recycling program needs in start-up cash. Bond Papers readers will recall that these subsidies have been unpopular around these parts. To voters, basics would include recycling.

To voters openness means giving basic information and it goes along with the inclusiveness of asking voters for their views before making a decision about how to spend their money. They know Ellsworth's track record on openness isn't a good one.

While it would be tempting to just throw up ones hands in frustration, or to dismiss Ellsworth as a lost cause, he still has an opportunity to bring his words and his actions into line.

First, he can put the city's financial information in public.  He has that ability as deputy mayor.  He can give the public a real chance to review the city's plans and voice their concerns.  If need be, council can reverse it's recycling decision. 

After all, if the city's habit of overspending is as bad as Ellsworth claims, there simply won't be cash in two years to implement this basic recycling program. And if he has really been the voice of reason and fiscal responsibility then the voters will back him against his supposedly free-spending colleagues.

Second, city council needs to bring in the auditor general to review the books.  He may well uncover some little secrets that need to be aired out if the city's finances are to be put on the right track. An audit by the province's financial watchdog will at the very least give everyone a common basis for discussion.

Now if none of that happens, Ellsworth and his colleagues run the risk that come next fall, voters won't be pleased.   They'll be in a mood to throw the bums out, as the saying goes.

Ellsworth and his colleagues can change now or they can let the voters make the change next fall.

Actions do speak louder than words, and voters are judging Ellsworth and his colleagues by their actions.

As he heard to day, they've been measured and found sorely wanting.

-srbp-

Un-publishing

No, it isn’t like uncommunication.

The Canadian Association of Journalists has a new draft set of guidelines on correcting online information and dealing with requests to remove online material. CAJ handed the job of drafting the guidelines to an “unpublishing panel” of the CAJ ethics committee.

You can find an excellent summary of the issues involved at j-source.ca.

Here are the basic principles CAJ is proposing for how to handle requests to unpublish a particular post.  Again, there is a more detailed discussion at j-source.ca along with an explanation of each point.

1. We [the online publisher] are in the publishing business and generally should not unpublish.
2. Ongoing accuracy is our responsibility.
3. Put a clear policy in place.
4. Unpublish for the right reasons.
5. It’s fair to be human.
6. Source remorse is not a right reason to unpublish.
7. Unpublish by consensus.
8. Explain your unpublishing policy.
9. Help sources understand the implications of digital publishing.
10. Consider the impact of publishing before publication.

- srbp -

The New Approach in Uncommunication #nlpoli

There are times when you look at a government news release and just laugh.

Apparently, people who catch fish illegally are now called "abusers."

The gang at fish and wildlife caught a few of these "abusers",  according to the release, and these people are now facing charges related "to illegal poaching."

Okay.

Kremlinology 33: Trouble at t’mill

One of the cross beams has gone out of skew on the treadle.

Note that in CBC’s Monday night report on the rift within the provincial Conservative Party some people walked away from the CBC reporter like she hadn’t washed in a month.

Others cheerfully denied there were any problems.

Among the walkers: Jerome! and Darin, King of Uncommunication.  No sign of Fairity O’Brien but odds are he’d be in the silent camp as well.

Among the smilers:  Terry French and Shawn Skinner. The latter was stretching his own credibility to the breaking point after the whole Elizabeth Matthews fiasco, but that’s another story.

One suspects that the smilers would also include the gang that NTV’s Michael Connors reported at the Fabian Manning campaign launch Monday evening:

Seems like da byes want to make it easy for the rest of us tell which player belongs in what camp.

People will want to watch any broadcast of the Dunderdale coronation this weekend just to see who is where, doing what.

For those who picked up the pop culture reference at the beginning, here’s the original Python sketch of the Spanish Inquisition.  Note the striking resemblance Graham Chapman bears to Jerome! before the latter lost his ’stache.

 

- srbp -

Introducing Premier Dunderdale… along with a primer on the new Premier

Jerome! won’t be running.

And he dropped the hint that Darin, King of Uncommunication is also out of the race to be Premier.

Does any Conservative want to be Premier?

Kathy Dunderdale is only reconsidering her original pledge because people are encouraging her to do so.  It’s not like she – or any other Conservatives for that matter – apparently have the requisite combination of ambition plus ideas to go after what used to be looked on as the most important political job in the province.

This sorry state speaks volumes for the utter devastation Danny Williams wreaked on the Conservative Party, let alone the political system in the province generally.

No one wants the job.

Either that or there is a move afoot within Tory circles to engineer an outcome without running the risk of a divisive leadership campaign.  Even that doesn’t say very much for the current state of the Conservative Party or its pool of  - ersatz? -  leaders.

Undoubtedly, there’ll be more to follow.  in the meantime, amuse yourselves with these oldies but goodies:

A Kathy Dunderdale Primer

A sample of posts on Kathy Dunderdale from the Sir Robert Bond Papers:

• “Patronage and the Public Tender Act”
• “Delusions”
• “Introducing Premier Kathy Dunderdale”
• “TARFU”
• “Calamity Kath Dunderdale:  the Miracle Max Ploy”
• “Calamity Kathy’s Story Doesn’t Add Up”
• “Public too stupid to understand”
• “There’s crap.  There’s bullshit….”
• “Five years of secret talks…”
• “Physician heal thyself:  Dunderdale version”

- srbp -