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I'm looking for a blog post or online resource on when not to comment to the press--for example, when it would violate SEC regulations or employee privacy. Can anyone point me to a resource?
The National Investor Relations Insitute is a great resouce. Not sure of the nature of your situation, but it may be worth joining to get access to their resource materials. Link: http://www.niri.org.
The short answer to your question is that if you know what constitutes insider or "material" information in your organization, don't disclose it publicly until after Legal has signed off and the communication is approved at the executive level.
If an event has not yet occurred (end of quarter, sales numbers released, merger, or downsizing) don't even hint about it, and certainly don't speculate. I've had to deal with this kind of thing quite a bit. Feel free to get in touch if you need anything further. Thanks.
Jim_Cameron - Point #2 responding to the question of when NOT to comment to the press seems to imply that it's ok to provide confidential, proprietary or personal info, as long as it's relevant to the topic.
I'm not a mind reader, but I'm guessing that wasn't your intent.
You have to weigh upside or downside, not just whether it's legal.
At a previous employer, we were getting a black eye because the press got something wrong that we weren’t in a position to talk about yet. We could have in a round about way set the record straight though other channels, but then we would have cause the mayor and city manager to look bad. And we still needed to work with these guys. There was no upside to speaking even though we were on the right side of this deal.
Even on mundane issues, you have to consider what downside exists before you decide to speak or stay silent.
There are lots of good reasons to stay silent, but one simple test I use is to ask whether anyone will miss us if we don't provide a comment. Plenty of reporters will call for comment on issues or events that are tangential to our business. If the story is not about us, I stay out of it unless I have a clear message that I know will make it into the story, and I'm comfortable that the story won't turn into something I don't want to be part of .
