Ronald N. Levy (10/12):
It's important for defense lawyers to get PR because there is a presumption of innocence in a court of law but the presumption is often guilt in the court of public opinion.
People reason that if an accused were not guilty, why would the accusation have been made?
When a company is accused, as many or most are eventually, the public makes a quick judgment based on what the public knows. If the public knows only about the accusation, the effect of the accusation can be ominous on the relationship between the company and the public.
But if the public knows that the company has done good deeds as by supporting medical research, creating jobs or protecting our environment, the public is more likely to disbelieve charges of evil that contradict what the public already knows to be true because it has been in the media--that the company has helped medical research, helped create jobs or protected our environment.
I like health research because most people already have jobs, and life goes on despite all the environmental alarms, but people get sick and die all the time so people still alive care very much when a company sponsors research that can protect human health.
America's leading cancer hospitals are Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York where Robin Roberts was recently treated, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Stanford University where the top cancer doctor has the good fortune to be named Dr. Ronald Levy (no relation). Some of the world's leading heart doctors are in New York, which may be the city where it is easiest to initiate massive media coverage: Dr. Larry Chinnitz of NYU Langone, Dr. Valentin Fuster of Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Donna Mancini of NY Presbyterian/Columbia, and Dr. Richard Steingart of Memorial Sloan-Kettering.
At a time when savings get less than 1% interest and many safe securities pay well under 5%, a company investment of a few million a year in medical research may bring vastly more benefit than cost.
Even aside from the protective value of being known for protecting public health, it can be good for sales and for government relations if a CEO is seen on TV and in newspapers working with top doctors in the public interest and urging the public to support the cause. |