诺基亚新闻稿粉饰太平

    人们在新闻稿中难免会看到一些粉饰太平的话——因为这就是新闻稿的用途。不过有的时候新闻稿传递的信息远远地超出了粉饰太平的范畴，变得值得关注，甚至是惹人嘲笑。一家公司需要公布一些令人震惊的坏消息时，往往就会出现这种情况。上周四，诺基亚（Nokia）向投资者公布了一份新闻通稿，表示公司计划继续裁员数千人，并暗示未来几个季度公司的亏损将达到惊人的地步。诺基亚为这篇新闻稿选择了下面这个标题：

    “诺基亚进行战略锐化，更新公司目标及愿景。”

    所谓“战略锐化”主要包括裁掉约1万个工作岗位。真是够“锐”的！至于所谓“公司目标和愿景的升级”，主要是指未来的亏损将比之前预测的更加严重。

    诺基亚在新闻稿的第一段中表示，公司“正在计划显著削减运营成本”，不过“公司将继续把精力放在诺基亚智能手机和功能性手机的独特体验上，包括越来越强调基于地理位置的服务。”

    智能手机当然是导致诺基亚陷入困境的主要原因。诺基亚在智能手机市场上完全被苹果（Apple）的iPhone以及运行谷歌（Google）Android操作系统的智能手机踩在脚下。

    诺基亚的重组还包括裁掉部分高层管理人员。新闻稿指出：“诺基亚正在对管理团队进行重组，强化领导层的能力。”

    通读新闻稿便可以得知裁员的具体安排，不过这是个非常劳神的过程。新闻稿快结尾处，也就是在小标题“更新领导团队”下方，写着哪些高管会高升，哪些高管会从现任岗位离职。裁撤的职位数量写在新闻稿的第12段。诺基亚称这次裁员是其“平衡投资优先顺序”战略的一部分。

    《圣荷西信使报》（San Jose Mercury News）的消费科技专栏作家特洛伊•沃尔夫顿今早在Twitter上称，这篇新闻稿简直就是“一堆奥维尔主义式的欺人之谈。”喜欢玩文字游戏、粉饰太平的人还可以在诺基亚的新闻稿里找到很多类似的东西。不过对于那些想了解诺基亚真实近况的人来说，网络上还有很多报道和文章写得都很清楚。另外，你甚至只需要看看诺基亚的股票就能明白个大概。截止到发稿时，诺基亚的股价已经下跌了超过16%。

    译者：朴成奎

    We all expect spin from press releases -- that's what they're for. But sometimes they go so far past spin they become worthy of note. Or of mockery. This often happens when a company has appallingly bad news to report. Today, Nokia issued a release to inform its investors that it plans to fire thousands of people and that its losses in future quarters will be horrifyingly bad. Here's the headline Nokia (NOK) chose to break the bad news:

    "Nokia sharpens strategy and provides updates to its targets and outlook."

    The strategy-sharpening consists mainly of cutting 10,000 jobs. Sharp! And the update-provision consists of the fact that losses will be even worse than had already been forecast.

    In the first paragraph, Nokia says that while it's "planning to significantly reduce its operating expenses," the company "remains focused on the unique experiences offered by its smartphones and feature phones, including an increased emphasis on location-based services."

    Smartphones of course are the cause of Nokia's problems. It's being crushed in the marketplace by Apple's iPhone (AAPL) and phones running Google'e Android (GOOG) operating system.

    The restructuring also involves firing a bunch of executives. The press release put this as Nokia "making changes to its management team by tapping into the strong leadership bench at the company."

    The truth can be divined by reading through the release, of course, but it's an exhausting process. Toward the bottom, under the heading "Renewed leadership team," we learn which executives are being elevated and which will "step down" from their positions. The number of job cuts is finally cited in paragraph 12. The cuts are described as part of Nokia's strategy of "[b]alancing its investment priorities."

    In a tweet this morning, Troy Wolverton, personal technology columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, described the release as "an amazing collection of Orwellian doublespeak." There's plenty more there for fans of that sort of thing. For people who need to know what's actually happening at Nokia, there are hundreds of clearly written news stories just a click away. Those who simply want the gist could simply look at the stock price, which at this writing was down by more than 16%.