Media Minute: Get ahead of bad news
Media Minute: Get ahead of bad news
By Jerry Brown, APR
www.JerryBrownPR.com
Is this the week Lance Armstrong finally comes clean about doping? And will he do it during an interview with Oprah Winfrey to be taped today and aired on Thursday?
One of the basic tenets of crisis communication is that you should get ahead of bad news. If you know a bad story about you is inevitable, it’s often best to tell it first.
You’ll have a better chance of getting your version included in the first — and, with luck, only — round of coverage. And it’s hard to avoid looking defensive when you’re responding to a story that paints you in a bad light.
Armstrong, of course, hasn’t done that. A recent New York Times story quoted sources as saying Armstrong’s considering coming clean because it’s his only hope of resuming his career as an athlete.
Since then, he’s scheduled an interview with Oprah that will air later this week.
Armstrong’s in a tight spot. If he finally confesses to doping while he was winning all those bicycles races, he’s handed damning evidence to prosecutors and plaintiffs in several civil lawsuits against him.
But if he uses his interview with Oprah for another denial or he tries to have it both ways by not quite admitting but not quite denying his guilt, he’ll dig the hole he’s in even deeper.
What will he do? We’ll find that out later this week. With leaks and promotions from Oprah, we probably won’t have to wait until Thursday.
In the meantime, some advice: It’s usually best to get ahead of bad news whenever you can. And denying the undeniable just makes things worse.
That’s my two cents’ worth. What’s yours?
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Listen to Jerry’s Tips for Telling Your Story every Tuesday at 11:05 a.m., Mountain Time, on the Experience Pros radio show, KLZ 560AM in Denver or at www.560thesource.com on the Internet. Missed it on the air? Listen to the archives. And check out Jerry’s new content-focused blog at www.JerryBrownPR.com.
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January 14th, 2013 at 9:42 am
This whole story has been very sad. Unfortunately the pressures and money of professional sports are driving naturally gifted athletes to do stupid things. If memory serves me, I believe Lance left a family with his wife having breast cancer. I think he did the same thing to Sheryl Crow. Actions speak louder than words don’t they? That’s my take.
January 14th, 2013 at 7:01 pm
It’s been a year or more since I sent in a comment, Jerry. But now that I’m passing 85 years, I seem to be getting more and more amused at peoples’ follies, like the AIG shareholders who want to sue the US for return of $22 billion in interest charges for the huge loan that AIG has repaid in full and that set up its survival in the face of certain “death.”
Reminds me of the Good Samaritan that pulled a day dreaming pedestrian out of the way of a speeding oncoming train. The Samaritan did such a good job that the day dreamer had no injuries but did experience a ruined, torn $1000 suit.
So the day dreamer sued the GS for damages.
The good news here is that AIG management decided NOT to join in any such lawsuiit.
(I sent a similar note to Daily Dog a couple weeks ago.)
January 14th, 2013 at 7:47 pm
It is sad, indeed, Ken. You make a good point about how someone’s character shows more than once.
January 14th, 2013 at 7:48 pm
Nice to hear from you, Lorry. It was good to see that someone at AIG had the good sense to pull them back from their oncoming train wreck.