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| PUBLIC RELATIONS ONLINE | |
 October 19, 1999 
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Diet pill maker Metabolife launched an unprecedented public relations campaign October 6 when it published the full transcript and video of an ABC "20/20" interview with Metabolife International CEO Michael Ellis on a new Web site, www.newsinterview Web site -- 10 days before ABC aired the segment. "Putting the whole tape on the Internet was absolutely an unheard of thing to do," said Lew Phelps, a member of the Los Angeles public relations firm Sitrick & Co., which created the site. "Sitrick & Co. has never used the Internet this way -- nobody has." Metabolife preempted ABC, Phelps said, because company officials felt the "20/20" report would be biased against their product. ABC allowed Metabolife to make its own videotape of the September 9 interview with consumer watchdog Arnold Diaz. According to Phelps, millions of people have visited the interview site. They were lured by one-time, full-page ads in the New York Times and New York Post and what Phelps called "extensive" radio advertising nationwide. Metabolife also purchased a 15-second ad that aired during "20/20"'s Oct. 15 broadcast, asking viewers to visit the site and vote on whether the Metabolife segment was balanced or not. The site is not linked to the company's main Web site, www.metabolife.com. Nor does the main site make any reference to the interview site or the ABC story. According to Phelps, officials discussed a connection but he was "not sure why that didn't happen." |
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| Both promise and problems | ||||||||||||||
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Communications professionals are sharply divided over Metabolife's Internet-based strategy. Michael W. Kempner, president and CEO of the MWW Group, one of the nation's 20 largest public relations firms, sees both promise and problems in the technique. "It's a double-edged sword. The promise [of the Internet] is the ability to get information to targeted audiences and quickly and accurately, to change and add information on a real-time basis," Kempner said from the company's East Rutherford, N.J., headquarters. "[But] other organizations take that information, often without really knowing whether it's accurate, and then spread the gospel. People have to take the time to investigate whether the information is accurate or not. It's no different than reading an article or watching something on TV." Others, like Jill Olmstead, an associate professor of broadcast journalism at American University in Washington, argue Metabolife is using the Web to undermine the journalists' work. "In essence, it's an effort at intimidation. It's borderline prepublication censorship. I think it has a very chilling effect on journalism," said Olmstead, who reports on public affairs issues for WGN radio in Chicago and hosts a cable TV public affairs show. But many Internet advocates say the Web site may in fact improve the journalism. Journalist Mike Godwin, author of Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age, approved of Metabolife's unorthodox technique. "I think it's great. I'm entirely comfortable with what the Metabolife people did," Godwin said. "Your comments can be taken out of context, or you can be misquoted. Through the Internet and cheap computing, you have the ability to set the record straight." Olmstead counters that viewers should trust the editorial process. "[Reporters] go to a multitude of sources, many of whom they may not interview on air. We absolutely filter news," she said. "That's our job. It's based on a set of professional standards that do occasionally get violated, and companies have every right to scream and yell afterwards if they don't like it." Godwin, on the other hand, said viewers should be skeptical of news reports, no matter where they come from. "I know that professional journalists try to be balanced, but sometimes they are not," he said. "I don't think people should trust the pros any more than they trust anyone else. People need to learn to be more skeptical." |
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| Feeling an impact? | ||||||||||||||
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Not surprisingly, Metabolife and ABC officials offer different assessments of the public relations campaign. "We would take the view that the coverage was a lot more balanced given the news interview Web site Web site than it would have been otherwise," Phelps said. "I suspect ABC would dispute that fact." Indeed, ABC spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said Metabolife's campaign had no effect on the "20/20" editorial process. "There really was no change at all. We talked to people with varying views well in advance of their PR campaign," said Murphy, who called the entire campaign a "sideshow." Murphy doesn't dispute the role of the Metabolife campaign in drawing attention to the "20/20" report, however. Since the segment aired last Friday, visitors have posted hundreds of messages in an ABC chat room set up to discuss Metabolife. The program itself drew 13.1 million viewers, a 14 percent increase over the previous week's Friday "20/20". It was the highest-rated Friday "20/20" in a month. "It made a lot more people aware that we were doing a piece than would have been aware otherwise," Murphy said. "Obviously, when you do a piece you want people to see it, regardless of how they found out about it." |
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