Here's an interesting story about a California mall called Pacific View (owned by the Macerich Corporation) banning an anti-war demonstration on their premises at the peak of this past holiday shopping season. Turns out, it seems the court is siding with the protestors in the name of free speech, etc. But that's not what got my attention focused on this item. Instead it was this segment of the report, which in a wide variety of forms, you've read a million times:

Pacific View Mall Spokeswoman Alice Love was on vacation and unavailable for comment for this story. Other mall representatives, including Kathy Taggart and Macerich corporate public relations representatives did not respond or could not be reached for comment on this story.

If that were a rare or unusual reaction on the part of PR people to difficult news or awkward subjects, that would be one thing. But it happens routinely. I've done it. The idea is to hold your breath, hide out, get scarce, and wait for the thing to blow over. The conventional, traditional PR thinking is that by addressing such things, things only get worse.

I used to believe that. I could stonewall with the best of them. And maybe back then in my day that was the right approach? I don't believe it is any longer, especially not in today's world of evolving transparency and conversation and pro-sumerism. Today, I think companies like Macerich have a chance to talk about things, explain their position, diffuse bad news, and possibly come to a reasonable compromise through a dialogue with various parties with a multitude of real and imagined gripes. In this case, the story hasn't been killed by silence. It seems the marchers will be back.

By the way, if you go to the Macerich one-way, highly-polished, non-interactive website linked above, please notice their drop down under the general heading "Social Responsibility" and read about their community-based philosophy and Acts of Kindness. I think it illuminates why ordinary people often feel such a disconnect at a website and quickly head for the metasphere for new or better sources.

Before I go, I also just have to note the irony of a mall called Pacific View denying a peaceful anti-war protest.

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