Yesterday BP went green. TB noted that flaks have work to do to persuade us this stuff is sincere.
There was a big presentation, and oodles of coverage today, some of which was positive, or at least even-handed.
A hack writes:
*“I imagine there will be a lot of unhappiness that the Q&A at the BP presentation was moderated by a Bloomberg anchor. And that Bloomberg got an exclusive interview with the CEO. They also barred cameras from the session so any broadcasters wanting to use pictures had to rely on BP’s own feed. And there was lots of applause at various points, because the audience wasn’t only made up of hacks and (fawning) analysts but also various other folk including BP employees. It wasn’t quite as nauseating as hacks being made to ask questions at Corbyn’s election rallies, but conceptually, it had something in common with that.”
*
Ouch. BP was surprised by this reaction. It thinks having a Bloomberg hack do the moderating was more open than having a BP person do it.
It did provide a TV feed, but hacks were free to use it as they saw fit. And it certainly doesn’t feel it got an easy ride just because staff asked a few questions.
I guess this illustrates just how differently we look at the world. Hacks start with the assumption they are being legged over. We are sometimes completely right.
BP thought it was simply being practical in dealing with a big story. And it also makes the point that the presentation wasn’t specifically a press conference. It was a presentation to a large variety of stakeholders, which includes the press.
It might want to rethink its approach a bit, I suspect.
**TB is taking a well-earned break. It shall return on March 2.**
