[발췌] Former communications manager: 'There's so much the public don't get' (Sep 2013)

출처: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/joris-luyendijk-banking-blog/2013/sep/27/communications-manager-major-banks
지은이: Joris Luyendijk

※ 발췌 (excerpts):

( ... ... )

"How do we find out that bankers have spoken to the press without authorisation? There are external agencies that monitor the media for us. We flick through those. You can pay extra for summaries which is great because financial coverage can be ridiculously boring and time-consuming. Sometimes people in the bank send you stuff; look at this.

"Reputation is a bank's core asset. And there are regulatory issues about what we can and can't say. ( ... ... )

( ... ... )

"Quite a few journalists go to work for banks, that's true. Why? There's better pay, sure. But it's also because journalist have no idea what they're in for. Sometimes I would come across one who had gone over to our side and he'd have this shell-shocked look. The first six months they are like, what the fuck? They had no idea because bankers were always really, really nice to them.

"Some financial journalists can be a bit naive about how much they know. We are very careful to ensure our people are media trained so they only give journalists what they want to give. And the guys with really good intel won't speak to journalists in the first place. They won't even speak to me. They're are the ones who know where all the skeletons are.

"Then there are the business reporters from mainstream media. Sometimes I'd get calls from a reporter at a major paper or broadcaster asking a question that shows he doesn't have a clue. He wouldn't even now the difference between primary and secondary markets or flow or structured but he would want a chat on the state of the market. How can I work with that?

"UK mainstream media are so focused on the stock market. That's a fraction of the financial markets. Foreign currency trading alone is around $3tn a day. A day! Then there are bonds, both corporate and government, commodities, structured products ...

"Some journalist are in it for the fun. Get taken out for a flashy meal and free wine. The good ones prefer to meet in the bank. They want to be in a space where bankers feel comfortable, so they forget they're talking to a journalist.

"If I still worked for the bank we would not be having this conversation. ( ... ) There's so much the public don't get. Blaming everything on investment bankers, for instance. Maybe this is also confession, like a good Catholic."

다른 출처: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/joris-luyendijk-banking-blog/2013/sep/27/senior-bankers-pr-officer
지은이: Joris Luyendijk

※ 발췌(excerpts):

( ... .... ) But my favorite quote is about some journalists' understanding of the mentality in banks. Let's first see the scene. Senior bankers may be terrified of getting misquoted, the interviewee explains, but they love to see their name in the papers.

"Senior bankers become really nice to us just before and after they get promoted to the level where they are allowed to talked to the press. Suddenly they realise that we have the power to put them in front of journalists─authorisation to speak to journalists can be another status symbol."

One outcome is that when journalists meet senior bankers in the context of an authorised interview in the presence of a PR officer, those journalists may get to see a side of that banker that is, shall we say, slightly one-sided?

"Quite a few journalist go to work for banks, that's true. Why? There's better pay, sure. But it's also because journalist have no idea what they are in for. Sometimes I would come across one who had gone over to our side and he'd have this shell-shocked look. The first six months they are like, what the fuck? They had no idea because bankers were always really, really nice to them."