Covering today’s merger was like a throwback to another era. It’s rare that a firm will actually hold a media event that allows personal interaction. But “press conferences” were the standard up until about 2002, when the Internet became more accessible.

Nowadays, it’s far more common for a combining company to hold a teleconference with analysts -- and allow journalists to eavesdrop.

But today, Pfizer invited journalists to come to its Manhattan headquarters to ask questions of Pfizer Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler and Wyeth’s CEO Bernard Poussot. The event made me realize how much of communication is nonverbal. Sure, I would have heard the same responses to my questions, had I participated by telephone. But I got more information by being there in person. I could tell by the executives’ body language which questions made them uncomfortable and which answers seemed rehearsed.

One interesting response from Kindler was to a question about whether Pfizer feels greater accountability to taxpayers because the four Wall Street firms that are financing the deal are all using federal bailout money.

Kindler responded that these are exactly the sort of transactions the bailout money should be funding—helping U.S. companies become stronger and more competitive. He pointed out that health care has been one of the few areas where there has actually been job growth during the recession.

However, Pfizer plans to cut 15% of the combined Pfizer/Wyeth workforce—not exactly good news for the economy overall.

What do you think? Is this good use of federal bailout money?