‘Disconnects,’ I think, would describe what Bill Hudson is taking a look at, in his writing. For example, in “Strange Facts from Around the World,” his editorials in the Daily Post last week.
Looking at disconnects, wondering about things, wondering about what’s going on. That’s what journalists do, which I realized all too well when I was working at media relations, during much of my career in PR.
‘Media relations,’ meaning, in other words, fielding questions from journalists, who were wondering about things.
‘Disconnects’ happen, sometimes, even in stories featured in national news media, in newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio news. In stories about the pandemic and climate change, and the Great Salt Lake drying up. There just might be some disconnects, as noted in Mr. Hudson’s “Strange Facts…” editorials.
Reading the articles, I was wondering about things, as well. And I was going back in time, remembering what I’ll always believe was one giant disconnect, back in the 1990s and into early 2000.
It was what I touched on, a bit, in a couple of Daily Post articles, and an opinion piece I wrote, some time ago, in the American Banker newspaper, about an ATM fee distracting the public and financial industry regulators “from real problems.”
If there ever was something hammered away at excessively in the media, that was it, back then, in my opinion. An ATM fee, that was better known as the ‘ATM surcharge.’
Financial firms had decided to charge people, who were not customers, a fee when they used a firm’s ATMs. There was fancy terminology at the time, with banks and other financial companies talking about their ‘proprietary ATM networks,’ the hundreds or thousands of ATMs various banks and other financial companies owned and operated.
The companies felt it was fair enough to charge a fee, when folks, who weren’t doing any business with them, were choosing to use the equipment the companies owned and operated, and had to have maintained, repaired, and such.
But when folks with different opinions about that, got the ear of politicians, all hell broke loose, over some ten years of time.
There were screaming headlines, and screaming news articles and opinion pieces, many featuring screaming politicians. All because of an ATM fee. Imagine that!
Image such hyperbole! Such a disconnect!
Or is that really so hard to imagine?
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.