While the pace of the news business has been exponentially accelerated by technology, the machinery of corporate deal-making has been reduced to a crawl. Not that long ago, the news business followed an orderly path. Events occurred, formal press conferences were held, and releases promptly issued. 

Today, when it comes to information, most organizations are lit up like fireworks, with text messages flashing back and forth between rival companies, PR agencies and bloggers. And no corporate secrecy mandates can inhibit the process. Instead of disclosing stories through a chain of command, most stories are now "broken" - often by bloggers or anonymous insiders. 

Since the "news" is instantly in the ether when the media start making their frantic calls to elicit comment and confirmation, a simple delay for a sip of coffee before posting a story can lead to a rival laying claim to the story. 

The constant war for content leads to a frenzy of anticipation. Nobody knows when the next cell phone photo will show up on the web, or a corporate takeover is announced on the web. This type of "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality means that marketers must constantly monitor the chatter and prepare for any eventuality. 

In a world where there are no secrets, executives must therefore rethink the way they do business. If they want to "own" the story, and control its spin, then instantaneous disclosure is the only practical course of action. If you don't get in front of a story, you'll be spending a lot of time trying to clean up the mess.