In the PR business, we’re used to dealing with fear.
Clients have always been afraid of saying the wrong thing. Or of being misquoted. Or being taken out of context. Or even criticized by competitors or the public. Managing those reptuatational fears is part of the job.
In recent months, though, there’s a growing fear that’s like nothing anybody doing communications in this country has ever seen. When I’m asked “What’s it like out there?” other than economic uncertainty, which everyone seems to acknowledge, this fear is at the top of the list, but very quietly.
There’s not much we can do to manage it because it’s impossible to say that it’s irrational and there’s no track record to stand behind with any advice. Worse, it’s a fear that poses an existential threat to the way we make a living. It’s time to acknowledge that it’s real.
Leaders in every sector are afraid, in many cases, to speak up because they are afraid of consequences by the federal government. We have heard it first hand. There’s fear of becoming a target of budget cuts. There’s fear of becoming a target of new policies. There’s fear of being embroiled in litigation versus the government. We’ve even heard fear of federal agents showing up at workplaces.
It’s harder than ever to convince a leader to be interviewed or appear in front of a live microphone at an event. The mantra seems more often to be like the one that I heard from a client’s employee in the midst of controversy more than 20 years ago: “We were keeping our heads down so they didn’t get shot off.”
Commentator Matthew Ygelsias has noticed the relative silence too. Here’s how he puts it, “There’s obviously nothing inherently wrong with a politician making a call that’s bad for a particular company or industry. But normally when that happens, the leaders of the companies that are harmed complain vociferously and try to mobilize political support for their own interests. (Now) though, corporate America is acting like they absolutely agree with all the darkest warnings about democracy being on the ballot in 2024. They seem to have decided that America is now a dictatorship, where if you publicly complain… you’ll be sent to the gulag.”
Maybe there’s some hyperbole there at the end, but the point stands – something is very different now.
Thankfully, there has been plenty of strategic communications work to do lately and we need that to continue. But more often, it’s being done under a cloud of anxiety, which is what really looks different when we look “out there” so far in 2025.
It’s impossible to say to clients under that cloud “Don’t worry about it. It will be fine.” Because we really don’t know.
What do we do know, at least for now is that we must respect our clients, support our clients, follow fundamentals and put whatever faith we can in what stands between us and fear at a whole other level – the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.