Does big business have a PR problem?

Interesting story from the Dec. 9 New York Times on whether big business is having a public relations crisis.

“More than ever, Americans do not trust business or the people who run it,” reports Claudia H. Deutsch. “Pollsters, researchers, even many corporate chiefs themselves say that business is under attack by a majority of the public, which believes that executives are bent on destroying the environment, cooking the books and lining their own pockets.” Deutsch cites polls from Roper and Harris, in which 72 percent of respondents feel that wrongdoing is widespread in industry, only 2 percent regard the executives of large companies as “very trustworthy,” and 90 percent say big companies have too much influence on government.

The full story can be read here.

So when the companies you follow complain that your coverage is causing them problems, remind them that the public’s perception of business is that it’s filled with crooks and profiteers. Only they can change that perception.