Lyons: The perils of the official written statement
The fashionable method of mass communication for public officials, and many others, is the written statement.
Written statements aren't new, but are far more pervasive than ever for good reasons and bad. Usually not intentionally, but sometimes they stifle communication instead of fostering it.
The beauty of the written statement is that it can be instantly posted on a website, tweeted or emailed. Some might simply run it verbatim, shorten the message or ignore it.
Story Archived
Only the most recent 7 days of articles are available for free. For articles older than 7 days there is a small fee for retrieval from our archive. If you are a registered member of the site, the content is free just by signing in below.
Please sign in with your Comment Member ID and password.
Purchase Access
To allow for flexibility, we offer a variety of options for purchasing articles:
Having trouble?
If you have any technical difficulties, either with your username and password or with the payment options, please contact us by e-mail at archivedesk@shawmedia.com
