The challenge
Most public affairs firms approach the media as outsiders looking in. They pitch stories, cultivate reporters and compete for a fleeting share of public attention. But understanding how the news actually gets made — how editorial judgments are formed, which arguments gain traction and why some ideas enter the public conversation while others disappear — requires a different kind of experience.
The approach
As a media executive and editor, ORSO principal Frank Holland helped reshape some of San Francisco's best-known publications, sharpening their editorial identities, making their content more engaging and bringing a renewed focus to the interests of their readers. His leadership at the Clint Reilly Organization encompassed the San Francisco Examiner, SF Weekly, the Nob Hill Gazette and Gentry. The objective was never simply to produce more content. It was to make publications more relevant, more surprising and worth reading.
Frank has also worked on the other side of the equation, overseeing the City of Hayward's public information operation and navigating the often-complicated relationship between government, journalists and the public. He founded the Citizen Editorial Board Project, bringing civic leaders onto the editorial boards of 11 Bay Area news organizations, and launched Policy Today, a journal devoted to state government and public policy. Across these roles, the common thread has been finding better ways to connect ideas that matter with the people who need to hear them.
The impact
ORSO brings an unusually broad perspective to media and public communications: the judgment of an editor, the instincts of a publisher and the practical experience of a government communications executive. We understand how stories are made, how institutions earn credibility and why some messages resonate while others disappear. We haven't simply studied the machinery of public communication. We've helped run it.
