A few interesting topics popped up in the press yesterday. I have included brief commentary on all items below.
Michael West, columnist with The Age Business, took issue with AMP and it’s communications with investors and the media. His article, titled “On balance, it’s a PR plague“, accuses the in-house media staff at AMP of engaging in “corporate double-speak” and presenting “illusory dross” to investors.
AMP’s shares have fallen to their lowest value since August 2003, yet it seems the company is at a loss to explain the reasons for the slide. West believes they have created convoluted reports to keep the investor’s cautiously optimistic, instead of delivering the cold hard reality of the figures.
Bruce Esplin, Emergency Services Commissioner, has given Telstra some rare public praise. He applauded them for leading the way on the fire alert SMS service on Tuesday. ”The telecommunications carriers, led by Telstra, decided they would do that as a community service,” he said.
GetUp and the Brotherhood of St. Laurence have had a bit of a media dust up over climate change. The politically progressive organisation GetUp have asked activists and environmentalists to send energy saving devices to Canberra in protest to the Government’s proposed Emissions Trading Scheme.
This has ruffled the feathers of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, who see energy saving devices as essential cost cutters for lower socio-economic groups in society. They have claimed that GetUp only care about the “political elite” and “well off” members of society.
Finally, Shaun Carney, Associated Editor of the Age has given Pacific Brands another hiding in what has already been a disastrous week for the Company. In his article, “Greed without end“, he has used Pacific Brands as the whipping boy in a larger argument questioning the ethics of executives salaries.
