With New LinkedIn Page, Vanguard to Provide Free News Coverage
- by: Blake Davis
- in COVID-19 Coverage
Thursday, April 2, 2020
One of the writers who works for Vanguard covered the Gulf War early in her career as a reporter.
For families living in and around Dover, New Hampshire, Mary Raitt Jordan made the war personal. She visited families affected by the war, sharing their letters. She compiled lists showing who had been injured or killed.
While the Gulf War only lasted 43 days, to many Americans it felt more vivid than other wars. It was the first to be captured in real time by journalists like Wolf Blitzer, who was cutting his teeth as a correspondent. Mary remembers his face on the giant TV screen in the new room.
One of the terrifying things about it compared to the war, Mary noticed, is the pace of change. While the war moved quickly, this virus seems faster than any Scud missile. No supersonic jet could keep up with this news cycle.
Newlywed at the time, she also remembers being afraid her husband, Alan, would be enlisted. He could become a story, too, and that combined to make this one of the most unsettling times for Mary and her generation.
Now, there’s a pandemic.
One of the terrifying things about it compared to the war, Mary noticed, is the pace of change. While the war moved quickly, this virus seems faster than any Scud missile. No supersonic jet could keep up with this news cycle.
Vanguard, like other businesses, has felt this accelerated pace.
On a Thursday, we asked our employees to avoid all travel. The next day, a Friday, we made plans for everyone to work remotely. By Monday, two days earlier than planned, our newly renovated office in the heart of Portland, Maine, was vacant.
In the week that followed, it felt like the country sat down for a breather. Then, the week after, businesses started responding, Congress took action, and we all settled into a new, less comfortable world. That second week was when we decided to support the corporate legal community however we could.
Normally, we only publish stories that involve cobranding. Clients provide a list of vendors, and these vendors advertise alongside the story, getting valuable exposure, as well as the opportunity to support their partners with SEO-optimized content.
We are still using this model. However, we have also asked each of our writers to report one original news story each week, to be shared on our LinkedIn feed.
This separate news coverage will show how the corporate legal community is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, from how attorneys are filing insurance claims to how they’re helping create new hand sanitizers (from hemp).
These stories will be posted on our new LinkedIn page; all followers of the current LinkedIn page will be migrated to the new one, as part of a rebranding initiative.
It’s a large investment for us, but it’s also a considerable ask of the attorneys we’ll interview, who will receive no compensation for their time, as well as very limited review of the stories.
During a time when the news confuses as much as clarifies, we hope these stories will be well worth the effort.
To all our readers and clients, please share these stories on LinkedIn. Comment with your thoughts and experiences. If you have a story idea, contact me directly through LinkedIn.
Stay safe out there, and stay tuned.