Online investor relations participants are fully aware of Dominic Jones’ criticism of PR Wires – including Business Wire (read them here).  As such, there is no need to repeat the story here.

A couple of days ago, Neil Hershberg, Senior Vice President, Global Media at BW posted a response to many of those criticisms. I looked forward to reading it given the amount of posts I had already read by Jones.  Like most logical people, I believe there are 2 sides to any story and I was looking forward to finally reading the BW side.

Unfortunately, by the second paragraph, I realized this was going to be less about the facts and more about smearing when I read the following:

“The swift and successful industry transformation has largely relegated web disclosure strategists to the sidelines; the need for their consultative services is drying up faster than a passing shower in the Sahara.”

First, what  does this have to do with the debate at hand? The business model of desperate online IR vendors is to knock down industry stalwart BW to win business?

Second, it is WRONG. Web disclosure strategists are doing some pretty brisk business and growing everyday.

As such, the statement is both irrelevant and incorrect – not exactly what I expected from BW.

I don’t think I’m alone in my conclusions about the BW piece because not one comment had been posted in support of or against it.  Given the size of BW and the importance of some of these issues within a less-than-shy IR industry, I take the lack of comments as evidence that the post failed to hit its mark.  Given the fact I am one of the less-than-shy IR players, I posted a comment that is now awaiting moderation. I hope BW approves it.  In case it isn’t approved, here is a copy of my post.

I’d like to hear back from colleagues as to whether or not BW should take another shot at its’ response.  Remember, I’ve taken some hard licks from Dominic Jones myself. Some of them have been well deserved, others not so much (in my opinion).  The point is, I’m not one of the Jones “like-minded followers” that BW talks about in its post.  I just want to see a great debate of the facts.

MY RESPONSE TO BUSINESS WIRE POST

There is no doubt that a response to Dominic Jones is valuable to everyone in the IR industry. We are all best served by a healthy debate over the facts.

Unfortunately, the amount of sarcasm in your response served to both distract from your message and decrease its credibility. Evidence of this can probably be seen in the fact I am the first person to post a comment.

I expected more from BW than “blather addressed” (your tweet) … “like-minded followers” … “from his hermit kingdom north of the border”. Not only is the language unprofessional, it is insulting to those professionals that agree with some/all of his posts, especially those from Canada.

That fact that you chose to marginalize this group of people, rather than serve up a strong, convincing counter-argument leads me to conclude the purpose of this post was less about the issues at hand and more about attacking Jones personally.

Finally, you stated “Jones finally confirmed last week what we have said all along: He is simply a vendor in blogger’s clothing.”

Correct me if I’m wrong but don’t we all know that Jones is an IR vendor? Hasn’t he been very clear about this from the outset? Did you really think you had confirmed what the rest of us didn’t already know?

Conclusion – I would have preferred an article that punched and counter-punched on the facts. It would have been a great read. By making it personal, you’ve failed to get your message across.

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Regards,

George