In PR Essentials #1, I shared my thoughts about "framing" the issue that is under public scrutiny. Framing is most effective when it is used as part of a proactive, rather than reactive, media strategy.
Sooner or later, there will come the day when you or your client is under attack in the court of public opinion. Unfortunately, too many executives react in a press environment much as infantrymen do during an artillery shelling... that is, they dive into the foxhole, curl up in the fetal position and hope for the best.
Time and again, experience has demonstrated the folly of retreating into a no comment, or "foxhole" posture during a hostile media exchange. This is usually the result of executive timidity, often aided and abetted by the advice of lawyers who reflexively cringe at the prospect of client comments living on in print.
It is an unfortunate and axiomatic reality that today's media reaction to the "no comment" stance is much like a teenage boy who gets snubbed by the girl of his dreams at the high school dance... a mixture of "how dare they" followed by "I'll show them”! That's why you often see newspaper accounts that include nuggets like this: "Mr. Smith's office was asked for comment, but declined to return a reporter’s repeated phone calls”.
Let’s face it…”no comment” is a non starter in today’s media environment. Invariably, it brands the individual or organization as, at best, having something to hide or, at worst, guilty as hell.
So, I always advise my clients to stay out of the foxhole. There is safe ground available…so long as you have crafted a message that safely delivers your side of the story without sending your attorney scrambling for his/her bottle of Xanax. Trust me…there is ALWAYS something that can and should be said publicly, no matter how dire the matter nor how terrified the management team may be.
Remember, that 40 column inch front page news story that the nreporter is preparing is a spatial reality…you can choose to fight to “own” as much of that space as possible by commenting, or you can surrender it ingloriously to the other side.
And, you need to come out to “play” when the game starts…not two days or two weeks later. If you wait, you annoy the news media, give every conspiracy theorist in your market new fodder for speculation and, in general, you forfeit the match.
Finally, the willingness to stand and speak to the media cannot be a spot decision made under the pressure of a breaking crisis or development. The organization needs to have a standing policy that it will always respond to the media…always!
For more on this topic, see my series of posts on crisis communications here: SpeakEasy: Crisis Management Keys
Till next time...
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