The company said first quarter 2009 results include a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $45.0 million and a securities impairment charge of $36.4 million (net of tax), essentially comprising a non-cash write down of its holdings of Bank of America (BofA) preferred stock, as these securities were cut to below investment grade by credit rating agencies.

Western Alliance said that despite the credit downgrade, the its holdings of Bank of America rank pari passu with the preferred stock issued by Bank of America to the United States Treasury under the TARP program.

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Additionally, new jobless claims rose more than expected last week. Both figures are fresh evidence layoffs persist amid a weak job market that is not expected to rebound anytime soon.

The Labor Department said today that initial claims for unemployment compensation rose to a seasonally adjusted 640,000, up from a revised 613,000 the previous week. That was slightly above analysts’ expectations of 635,000. The number of workers continuing to filing claims for unemployment benefits topped 6.1 million.

Jobless claims have historically peaked six to 10 weeks before recessions end. Initial claims reflect the level of job cuts by employers. However, the latest report shows job losses remain high. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out volatility, dropped slightly to 646,750, about 12,000 below the peak in early April.

In another sign of labor market weakness, the number of people continuing to claim benefits rose to 6.13 million, setting a record for the 12th straight week. As a proportion of the work force, the total jobless benefit rolls are the highest since January 1983. The continuing claims data lag initial claims by a week. The high level of continuing claims is a sign that many laid-off workers are having difficulty finding new jobs.

Employers have cut 5.1 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007 in an effort to slash costs as consumers and businesses have sharply reduced spending. The department said earlier this month that companies cut a net total of 663,000 jobs in March, sending the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent, the highest in 25 years.

The cuts reflect the depth of the downturn, which has been global in scope. The International Monetary Fund estimated Wednesday that the global economy would shrink 1.3 percent this year, the first drop in more than six decades. The IMF projects the U.S. economy will decline 2.8 percent, the worst since 1946.

Among the states, Florida saw the largest increase in claims with 9,303 for the week ending April 11, which it attributed to more layoffs in the construction, service and manufacturing industries. The next largest increases were in Pennsylvania, California, Wisconsin and New York.

Michigan saw the largest drop in claims with 12,566, which it said was due to fewer layoffs in the automobile industry. The next biggest declines were in North Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky and Oregon.

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Distribution of a release via PR Newswire or BusinessWire will ensure that it reaches key news outlets, news databases and online news portals. But these services are simply the electronic equivalent of dropping a document on the receptionist’s desk. They do not guarantee that the journalists who actually report for the media important to your company will ever see your news release, much less appreciate its importance.

A reporter for a local newspaper may receive up to 100 releases a day, and countless additional emails. Journalists on major national publications are besieged by several times this number. You may think your news release is very important, but to a journalist it will be just one item in a stack, unless you differentiate it. How do you make it stand out?

• If you or your company’s public relations agency issues a news release, make certain the appropriate reporters know about it. Call them. If you don’t plan to tell them about it personally, don’t waste your time or money on the release. Of course, this assumes your internal public relations staff or external agency has first done its homework and identified a target group of reporters.
• Make sure a professional will be available to service the news release, promptly returning phone calls from the media and answering their questions.
• Know and respect the media’s deadlines. Responding to a reporter’s call when he or she is on deadline, or past it, makes your company look amateurish or uncooperative. You will lose the opportunity for favorable coverage on the story at hand, and for future stories; reporters have long memories.
• Finally, don’t call the editor or the newspaper your targeting. First, he or she, in all likelihood, isn’t going to write the story; second, and far more importantly, few tactics are more offensive to a reporter than a PR pro calling his editor to pitch a story. On the other side of that coin, if your staff or agency doesn’t know any better, you are going to have some very significant media relations challenges, if you don’t already have them.

None of this is brain surgery, and it would seem that any public relations professional would assiduously adhere to these four simple protocols. Unfortunately, we hear complaints far too often from reporters that an important news release was never called to their attention by the company that issued it, or, if they did see it, that they had questions, left a voicemail and either never heard back or got a response after their deadline.

You’ve built your company by responding effectively to the needs and wants of your customers. The same goes for winning favorable treatment from the news media that are important to you. The fundamental lesson of effective PR is:

To get the ink you deserve, you have to serve the media’s agenda.

If your internal public relations team or your agency isn’t following the simple steps that will provide the best possible opportunity for positive media relations, it’s time for a change.

About Stern And Company 

Stern And Company, based in Las Vegas, develops and implements strategic corporate communications, financial relations and marketing programs for public and private companies.

All of our professionals have extensive senior-level experience as financial journalists with major publications or as communications executives at leading major corporations. Our firm’s practice areas include corporate and financial relations, public relations, strategic and product marketing, crisis communications, transaction communications, restructurings, bankruptcies and litigation support.

Contact: info@sdsternpr.com

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