Up or Down, PR Drives The Dow
October 28, 2008 by Mark Rose
Filed under Media, News, PR Practices
A great feat in public relations is to create a deeply penetrating brand that is accepted broadly and perpetuates unquestioned credibility for its creator. Is there a better PR brand than the Dow Jones Industrial Average?
We are all obsessed with “The Dow” right now although few of us know what it is or why it is so important. DJIA - The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an index of 30 “Blue Chip” stocks that are supposed to be an indicator of the broader stock market (thousands of stocks). “The Dow” is broadcast across the world, transcending geography, language barriers and market highs and lows. Even rival media companies, such as The New York Times (above, left) post “The Dow” on its home page. PR doesn’t get better than that.
May 26, 1896 Dow Jones published its first “Industrial” average, DJIA, consisting of 12 stocks closing at 40.94. DJIA is occasionally re-jiggered to reflect our changing economic landscape. Manufacturing companies in DJIA such as U.S. Steel have been replaced by tech companies such as Microsoft. Standard & Poors, Wilshire, and Russell all have stock indexes that are broader, more specific, and, many investment professionals would argue, more accurate indicators of trends in the stock market. But none are more recognized or accepted as DJIA, which has become synonymous with “the market.” That’s a big reason why Rupert Murdoch was obsessed with acquiring Dow Jones and its media properties Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and MarketWatch.
See What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average? from How Stuff Works - includes video on stocks currently in the DJIA.
Embracing Chaos, Living With Uncertainty
Every morning at 9:00 AM New York time I call the Dow for the day - down 300, up 450, or something like that. My market call is based purely on a “feeling,” like picking a horse because you like its name. Recently, it’s rare that we see the market go up two days in a row, so if it is up one day chances are it will give it all back, and then some, the following day. I find my “method” to be more accurate than most of the market prognosticators, who seem to have collectively thrown up their hands to say “Your guess is as good as mine.”
The New York magazine cover story by Kurt Andersen captures the mood of the city - fear, uncertainty, deep foreboding that as bad as it seems it is only going to get worse. I was talking to a top-tier real estate broker/appraiser in Manhattan (he appraised Madonna’s apartment) who is convinced that the bottom of the New York real estate market will drop with a sickening thud beginning January 1, 2009, when a temporary impediment to foreclosures will be eliminated. He foresees 150,000 foreclosures in New York State, with 10% of them in the city.
The economy dominates talk at parties, work, everywhere; even if it not spoken you can feel it. What else are we going to talk about? Theatre, clothes, restaurants all cost money and nobody is spending a dime they don’t have to - including our PR clients. Coverage of finance and the implications of the sour global economy dominates all media these days. If you are not directly addressing the economy, offering usable insight and advise (and what can you really say - even an unusually sedate “Mad Money” Cramer says get out of the market) then reporters won’t bother with you.
Oddly, this has been a unifying time for Americans because the pain cuts across demographic, geographic and cultural boundaries. The Presidential race almost seems like a sidebar to the main story - how do we survive this and what will life be like on the other side?
Today Wachovia reports a record-setting $23.9 billion loss for the 3rd quarter, with tens of billions expected to be written off in successive quarters. The numbers don’t compute anymore, superlatives fail. How much shock can you take until you become numb? I think we are about to find out.
So seldom do we motley millions all think and talk about the same thing at the same time—let alone two great big things, let alone intensely and continually for weeks at a time. Welcome to the extraordinary fall of 2008. As the imploded financial industry is nationalized, and we prepare to elect—can it really be?—an African-American intellectual the next president, New Yorkers are in a kind of breathless, Twittery mind meld about matters of huge historic consequence. Because Wall Street is (excuse the expression) ground zero for the present cataclysm, we are probably experiencing financial vertigo more acutely than most of our fellow Americans. - Kurt Andersen, New York magazine
Murdoch Saber Rattles WSJ / Dow Jones
Media Analysis
Much is underway at the new Murdoch-owned Dow Jones: Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones staffers will be consolidated at the News Corp. building in midtown Manhattan, wsj.com is being revamped and will remain subscription-based, the Journal is leaning more on general news and politics, and an organizational shake-up from the newly-hired top editor Robert Thomson through the middle ranks is positioning Dow for the digital media age.
The Murdoch digital-stamp is apparent at wsj.com as it integrates content from other News Corp. properties, such as MarketWatch, Barron’s, and Fox. Subtle style changes on the home page have made it easier to navigate, and video is coming front and center.
Murdoch needs to be careful that the “serious” brand of Dow business news is not diluted by his march to 
snag a wider audience. The Wall Street Journal, along with USA Today, is truly a national newspaper that is not anchored to one locale (Wall Street being a state of mind). The New York Times has made a play for national prominence through a distribution agreement with Starbucks but it will always be perceived as a New York paper.
I welcome the expansion of video on wsj.com. Rival CNBCmakes excellent use of video on their site and wsj.com has a ways to go before it can be competitive in that department. Professional quality video from Fox is starkly contrasted to columnists like Jon Friedman who are painful to watch. Generally, print reporters are not making the transition to on-air journalism. Ironically, they need media training.
Related: Murdoch Grab of Dow Jones PR Feat, PRBlogNews, Aug. 2, 2007 | New York Times GaGa Over Rupert’s Yogurt at Boldface Business Confab, PRBlogNews, July 22, 2007
See Robert Thomson memo to staff about editorial changes.
