> Executives, by their very nature, are politicians.  Whether they be from
> Cadence or IBM or FEMA or Synopsys or Microsoft or HP or PBS, executives
> know their primary job is to present the company marketing image in the
> best possible light.  At any time executives can be telling the truth, or
> a selective version of the truth, or a mix of truth and image, or their
> interpretations of the truth, or sometimes (albeit rarely) outright lies.
> It also means that executives will often omit or "forget to mention" key
> parts of a story until you discover them on your own.  In addition, it
> means executives will sometimes use carefully worded everyday language in
> some artifically precise manner to give you a false impression that backs
> their company's marketing message.  Yes, it's all blatent misdirection,
> but it's not done maliciously.  Ask any politician (and if they're being
> momentarily completely honest) they'll tell you that having to do "spin"
> is just part of the job.  It's how PR and Marketing works.
>
>     - from http://www.deepchip.com/wiretap/060913.html


From: Lou Covey <lou=user domain=vitalcompr hot bomb>

Hi, John,

So, it's all about spin, is it?

What we have here is exactly what you stated: Cadence is trying to boost
their stock by showing some R&D chops.

But what we also have here is a couple of opinion makers who entered into
the fray with your own agenda: Prove Cadence wrong.

What has been discovered between the two poles was not exactly true, but not
exactly false.

Your and Santarini's job is to find what is true, without spin... Cadence's
OR yours.  You and Santarini reported rumor and innuendo from people who had
the same prejudices you held.  The story was highly entertaining and was
probably a lot of fun to write.  But you were wrong to leap into the fray
until you really knew what was going on.  The apology is not due to the
Cadence engineers, but to your readers who deserve better.

And as far as Wall Street goes, those boys and girls should have known the
facts of the matter long before it ever became public.  If they didn't
they weren't doing their job either.

    - Lou Covey
      VitalCom Public Relations                  Redwood City, CA

 Editor's Note: Lou's worked in public relations for years and has always
 been an outspoken "anti-spin" advocate in the field.  Lou has this weird
 Don Quixote complex about there being truth in advertising in PR.  - John