Anyone with PR experience knows the best strategy usually is to be honest and upfront. Server populations are low and that is negatively impacting player experience for many of the players. While the PR for merging servers may initially be bad it will be forgotten over time if the player base is satisfied with the merger. Not merging servers will just cause continued angst among the active player base and continue to feed a negative perception over a longer duration. Don't forget, word of mouth can be just as powerful as a magazine article.