On The Algerian Gas Plant Incident

Most of my posts are about idiocy and venal failure. However, sometimes it is worthwhile to close the jaundiced eye and offer praise where it is deserved.

The deaths of so many hostages in the firefight between Algerian military forces and insurgents in the third week of this month was a debacle of the first order. The Algerian government carried out a rescue operation on its own terms, with tragic consequences.

Despite having almost no solid information, no guidance from the Japanese government and the likelihood of a catastrophe on their hards, the executives of JGC Corporation comported themselves with dignity and strength. The performance of investor relations head Endo Takeshi, the company's face and voice during the early days of the crisis, was simply masterful. Watching his press availabilities and the later appearances in public by JGC president Kawana Ko'ichi -- and realizing that no one in Japanese corporate life has had to handle the loss of 16 of workers, 10 of whom were Japanese nationals, in a terrorist incident or military confrontation -- one could only wonder, "Where did they get these guys and can we get more of them? (Link)

No crying jags, no whining about how little the government could tell them about the situation in Algeria, no checking into the hospital for stress, no idiotic standing up and bowing to take responsibility for things they had no control over...

The stoic yet caring conduct of JGC Corp.'s executives almost makes me forget Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's ludicrous reference to the dead workers as "corporate war dead" (kigyo senshi - Link - J)　and the news media's attempts to make an issue out of one of those killed's having been a dispatched worker from a personnel firm -- as if we all bought in to the concept that the killing of a full-time employee was somehow less sad.

Junkies

Some folks cannot shake a habit.

From the news organization that gave you "Kyūma Fumio ready to buy F-22s" and enough untrue claims of incipient regulatory changes to choke a black bass, comes the latest in the string of "No, this is not an honest interpretation of what the interview subject said, but no harm/no foul right?" news flashes.



Actually, no, it isn't.

Why does the FT feel it necessary to over-promote its interviews? Do the editors think their paper's reputation to be so low that unless the headlines scream of juicy exclusives, no one will read the article?

More importantly, do the editors of the FT realize how their hyping of their exclusives pollutes the news stream? This AFP retelling of the main revelations does the FT a huge favor by dialing down the temperature to reasonable levels.

Unfortunately, not all FT exclusives have been brought back down to reality by the efforts of competitors.

A paper with a global reputation should not be relying on the kindness of strangers to police its excesses. It should, indeed, be policing the exaggerations and misleading representations of others.