Feb 03 2009
Tirades Mean Trouble in Media
My Thirtieth Rule of Media Relations is Don’t bring knives to a gunfight, bring nukes. End confrontations quickly, cleanly and permanently. Don’t let unpleasant situations linger. Don’t allow information to be leaked slowly. Disclose everything as soon as feasible.
It’s better to tear a Band-Aid off your cut than to slowly peel it from your finger. Resolve negative situations completely. President Obama did a good job of that today. He did a couple of photo-ops and some interviews. Anything to spin the news cycle away from the tax issues of some of his high-ranking appointees and toward the policies he wants to implement.
Barry Bonds is having that problem now. We’ve been hearing about his possible connection to steroids for almost a decade. It’s great to have friends like Greg Anderson, Bonds’ personal trainer. I wish I had buddies who would rather spend 15 months in federal prison than divulge my secrets before a grand jury.
The downside is that the public is hearing leaked details very slowly. Just enough at a time to keep the story going. You don’t want that.
Tell your side of things first and fully. Then you don’t have to worry about changing your story later. If you have to change details, the court of public opinion will find you guilty of bad judgment. Like criminal verdicts, public opinion is overturned on appeal. Often forgiven but not forgotten.
By now, you know how to deal with the media. Let’s hope you handle the press better than Tom Daschle managed his taxes or Christian Bale dealt with movie crew members. If you do, you’ll do well in politics, advocacy and popular culture. Thank you for reading this series.
