Someone once asked me what PR people are good for. Aren’t they just spinners or obfuscators of the truth? Other than the fact that PR people play an indelible role in the news gathering process — like it or not — it is in times of human crisis where their skills shine most. I remember a letter one PR person wrote to an industry trade following the Tsunami disaster in south Asia. He bemoaned the fact that those monitoring the earthquake (that set off the Tsunami) did not have the PR wherewithal to contact a global wire service like Reuters or The AP to get the word out in time to do something. The scientists were obsessed with going through government channels — and we all know how frustrating that can be.

It’s no different with Katrina. Yes, of course, all the news organizations can cover this astounding disaster on their own. But behind the scenes, these journalists relied heavily on the communications departments, i.e. PR people, of the primary sources of hard information, FEMA, the National Hurricane Center, the National Weather Service, the Louisiana Governor’s office, the National Guard, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, etc., to do their jobs.

I can assure you that the professional communicators at these and countless other organizations worked liked they never have before to help get the word out to consumers to save lives. My hat goes off to them.

In both The Times (via Reuters) and Journal today, we learn of Apple’s planned alliance with Motorola and Cingular to introduce a mobile phone equipped with i-Tunes — an i-Pod phone, if you will. I was curious to see a news conference flagged for Sept. 7 in San Francisco to make the announcement. WSJ SF tech scribe Nick Wingfield reported that “people familiar with the matter” spilled the beans.

Was this an intentional leak? Perhaps one of the gizmodo’s of the world got wind of the news forcing the new triumverat’s hand? Did yesterday’s negative news that Apple has settled the class action suit over the i-Pod’s less-than-advertised battery life have something to do with the release of the deal? No one from the three companies was talking.

Katrina’s Wrath 

I’m late posting today. Maybe I should blame it on Katrina. After all, this fearsome lady not only consumed the Gulf, the city of New Orleans, and the states of Alabama and Mississippi for starters, but she consumed any space left in the country’s news hole available for non-hurricane stories. Did the Shiites and Kurds send us Katrina to take our eyes off their constitutional maneuverings to disenfranchise Iraq’s Sunni minority? How about Al Sharpton’s many detractors who no doubt gloated at the submarining of the Rev. Al’s best-laid publicity plans in Crawford, TX. KPMG is certainly happy at the likely short-lived media attention its half-billion dollar fine will receive.

In PR, so much depends on the day’s weather.