The Job of Reporting About Wal-Mart

Filing a discrimination suit against the world's largest company is one thing. Covering it in everyday reporting is another.

Those two worlds collided when a federal judge in California this week granted class-action status to a sex-discrimination case involving at least 1.6 million women workers and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

"Wal-Mart can take any kind of financial hit whenever the suit ends," said Maria Halkias, retail reporter for The Dallas Morning News. "Labor costs are rising from measures they have instituted in light of recent troubles. But it is such a resourceful company."

Reporters should be aware that there are several Web sources they can turn to when tracking news on Wal-Mart, Halkias said. For example, she points to http://www.retailforward.com, the site for a development firm specializing in retail and product marketing. She also suggests, http://www.ufcw99.com/, the site for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

The judge's decision created the largest class-action trial against a private company. The plaintiffs allege that Bentonville, Ark.-headquartered Wal-Mart discriminates against female employees in promotions and pay. Reporters covering the Wal-Mart discrimination story have already seen the company begin to take internal action.

"There has been a remarkable frequency of executives talking about the company image," said Jenny Strasburg, retailing reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. "Through this, there is a certain sort of sincere reflection that the company is trying to make things better."

"The company hired an image consulting company about a year ago and things have shifted," noted Bill Bowden, senior editor of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal. "They are worried about their persona."

With revenues of more than 200 billion dollars annually and over 4,500 locations worldwide, Wal-Mart permeates not only American culture, but global business as well. The vast nature of the company helps it reach practically every section of the newspaper.

For example, Wal-Mart is mentioned in The San Francisco Chronicle's health care coverage, government bills reporting, real estate section and political news.

"From a retail standpoint, Wal-Mart is such a consistent conversation in every publication," Strasburg says. "It's important to talk about how we can get to the next level of stories about the company that everyone loves to hate."

Getting to even the first level of stories on Wal-Mart is a challenge for some companies.

"Wal-Mart is least friendly with the small publications like the one I work for," Bowden says. "It has so much clout, but the one thing we have going for us is proximity."

Bowden says that Wal-Mart pays greater attention to the larger newspapers, figuring such a strategy will filter down to other publications. But no matter the paper size, online resources and other outlets can be useful in coverage.

"There is so much information out there for people besides reporters to learn what Wal-Mart is doing," Halkias says. "They are widely covered. There is so much focus and attention on them so there is not a shortage of information about them."

The ushering in of a new image consultant has shifted the focus of the company, Bowden says. Reporters say that though once Wal-Mart felt they were being targeted because they were the 'Big kid on the block', that mentality no longer exists.

The question over the discrimination suit is one with implications for the greater retail industry.

"Wal-Mart hires people to be the public face of the company and they are very sophisticated in presenting the company," Strasburg says. "But the potential liability to this company and the way a class-action suit could alter companies' approach to sex discrimination claims could really be remarkable."

Where Wal-Mart is counting on coming through the most is with its loyal customer base and its employees. There is concern that internal frustration against the company could reach a boiling point.

The No. 1 retail giant is concerned with investors as well. Indeed, there has been reaction to the class-action news on Wall Street this week. Wal-Mart's stock traded at $56 prior to the judge's decision. Today, it currently stands at just over $53 a share.

"Investors were clearly a little spooked about class-action status," Strasburg notes. "You get a sense people are watching. But if shoppers vote with their wallet, they're voting with this company and it is winning."

The ultimate impact could take years to play out. But consultants, lawyers and other officials will be speaking about the potential ramifications in countless publications until the case comes to resolution.