Monday Morning Media Minute

The answers you get often depend on the questions you ask.  So, if you ask the wrong questions, you’re likely to get the wrong answers.

The current brouhaha over the appointment of a new senator from Illinois to replace that guy with the funny name who quit because he got a better job is a good example.

Gov. Blagojevich’s in-your-face appointment of Roland Burris is hardball politics by someone who appears to be asking:  How do I stay out of prison?  He’s reminding prosecutors and everyone else that he’s still governor.  My guess is he wants something — his freedom — in return for resigning.

There’s been talk in Springfield of speeding up impeachment proceedings against Blagojevich by legislators asking:  How do we get rid of the political awkwardness caused by the Burris appointment?  They’re asking the wrong question.  Blagojevich may deserve to be impeached, but speeding it up to scuttle the Burris appointment is the wrong answer because they asked the wrong question.  The right question is should Blagojevich be removed from office because he’s corrupt, not should he be removed from office quickly because he embarrassed other politicians by making an appointment he’s legally entitled to make.  Moving quickly to impeach Blagojevich for the wrong reason will cause more problems than the one it’s intended to solve.

And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced before the Burris appointment that the Senate would refuse to seat anyone appointed by Blagojevich — something he’s repeated since the appointment was announced.  Experts disagree over whether the law is on the side of Reid and other senators who want to keep Burris out of the Senate.  Regardless of how that issue is resolved, the effort to keep Burris from being seated promises to create a political circus that can only cause further embarrassment for Senate Democrats.

Reid and others like him asked the wrong question:  How can we show our disapproval of Blagojevich?  They should be asking whether Blagojevich got any kind of illegal payoff for naming Burris to the job (no one’s credibly suggested that’s the case) and whether Burris is qualified to be a senator (clearly he is).

The Blagojevich mess will take care of itself over time.  I have my guesses about what will happen.  You probably do, too.  We won’t resolve that here.

So, what’s the point?  People and organizations in the public eye frequently create problems for themselves by asking the wrong question, sometimes in the name of doing the right thing.

Make sure you ask the right questions.  You’ll have a better chance of getting the right answers if you do.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My new eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

Some stories just keep on giving if you’re a reporter.  And it’s usually a crisis — a situation where the participants would like to shut down news coverage — that produces the best fodder for ongoing coverage.

The Blagojevich political train wreck is a great example.  In this case there are at least four common mistakes being made by four different participants in this saga.  They are:

• Build a fortress.  Gov. Blagojevich has adopted this strategy.  He’s basically gone into hiding since his arrest and release on bail.  Of all the participants, he’s the one with the biggest problem.  He may also be the only one who’s adopted the right strategy for dealing with the media.  If Blagojevich has any hope of salvaging his political career, the fortress strategy is a disaster.  But if all he’s trying to do is protect his legal position, it’s the only option open to him.  The fortress strategy is often adopted by people/companies who are guilty of major wrongdoing.  It’s also used by people/companies who simply don’t walk to talk about difficult or embarrassing situations.  If you build a fortress, know why you’re doing it.  And understand it comes at a high price to your credibility – regardless of why you’re doing it.

• Overselling your innocence.  Some people/companies have a really hard time admitting mistakes — even when they’ve messed up big time.  Jesse Jackson Jr. appears to be one of those people.  Instead of simply explaining what happened (or didn’t happen) in his role as Candidate Number 5, Jackson’s pressing way too hard to campaign for a job he almost certainly won’t get — and damaging his reputation in the process.  A rule that’s almost always true during a crisis:  Skip the sales pitch.  Just state the truth as clearly as you know how and leave the value judgments to the rest of us.

• Hide ‘n Hope.  Barack Obama has fallen into this trap, at least for now.  By failing to explain quickly and fully just who from his staff talked to Blagojevich and what was said Obama’s kept speculation about potential problems alive in the media.  He’s promising to lay it all out this week.  But, if there’s anything in what he has to say that’s problematic, then taking as long as he has to say it will make it look like he was trying to cover it up.  This is one of the most common mistakes people make when it comes to dealing with a crisis that’s being covered by the media.  Get all the facts out as fast as you can — especially the facts you don’t want to talk about.  Delaying bad news just keeps the story alive and makes the bad news even worse once it comes out.

• Caught with your message down.  Like his boss, Rahm Emanuel has kept quiet on the Blagojevich mess.  No surprise there.  He’s not going to get out ahead of his boss on an issue like this one.  But he seemed genuinely unprepared for a reporter who pressed for a comment at an event at his kids’ school:  “I’m not going to say a word to you.  I’m going to do this with my children.  Don’t do that.  I’m a father.  I have two kids.  I’m not going to do it.”  Given the stance of the Obama camp, Emanuel had no real choice about refusing to answer this reporter’s questions.  But he needed to be prepared and offer his no comment more elegantly than he did.  If you’re not going to answer reporters’ questions, say so.  Give a reason if you can.  But don’t be defensive.  And don’t make excuses.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

This is the final Monday Morning Media Minute of 2008.  As is my custom, there won’t be an MMMM for the last two weeks of the year.  Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and Happy New Year.  I’ll check in with you in January.

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My new eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

President-elect Obama is playing to the middle so far.  And it’s a good lesson for the rest of us.

In almost any situation calling for you to communicate with the public, a certain number of people will support you no matter what, a certain number will oppose you no matter what and the vast majority will be somewhere in the middle.

The folks in the middle are the ones you’re trying to reach because they’re the ones you need to convince.  All too often, people waste way too much time trying to convince the inconvincible or preaching to the already converted.

People who will support you no matter what need to hear from you enough to be able to argue your case for you.  So, don’t ignore them.  But don’t make them the focus of your communication efforts — unless you’re counting on them to be major advocates for your cause.  If you’re counting on strong advocacy from them, then step up the attention you pay to them.

Ignore the inconvincible.  They won’t support you.  So, don’t waste your time trying to change their minds.  One important caveat:  Sometimes opponents look like they’re inconvincible when, in fact, they can be persuaded to move to your side.  How can you tell?  Listen to your opponents.  If they’re asking for something you can agree to, then it’s worth exploring whether accommodating what they want will bring them over to your side.  The inconvincible will always find a new objection if you answer one of their demands.  If that happens, move on.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My new eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

It’s usually easier to come up with the right answers if you know in advance what the questions are.

Most reporters won’t give you a list of questions before an interview.  But you can – and should – come up with your own list as you prepare.

With a little thought, you should be able to figure out most of the questions you’ll be asked most of the time.  Much of the time, you’ll be able to figure out all of the questions you’ll be asked.  And then you can figure out what your answers are before you find yourself face-to-face with the reporter.

Last week, I heard a BBC radio story about “salary transparency” – the idea that all employees should know how much their fellow employees are paid.

There’s an obvious question for every interview on that topic:  How much money do you make?

That question came at the end of the story I heard.  And both of the spokespeople promoting salary transparency refused to say.

After a little hemming and hawing, the first one to respond said he’d have to check to find out what his company’s policy is before he could say.  He clearly hadn’t given any thought to the possibility this question would come up.

His colleague, who had the benefit of hearing his stumble, said other employees within her own company knew the answer but she wasn’t free to tell people outside the company.  Why not?  And I’m not sure I believe her since she wouldn’t give a more transparent response.

With those responses, these two spokespeople negated everything they’d said during the interview about salary transparency.  And it sounded like neither of them had anticipated the question.

That kind of stumble can negate the success of any interview.  Don’t let it happen to you.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My new eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

I stumbled across this item last week in the Los Angeles Times: “Leaders of the campaign against Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, raised nearly $40 million and ran a careful, disciplined campaign with messages tested by focus groups and with only a few people authorized to speak to the media. They lost.”

The failure of the “professional” campaign has led more vocal opponents of the gay-marriage to take up the battle on their own with rowdier, noisier and more emotional efforts that include street demonstrations and other tactics reminiscent of the civil rights and antiwar campaigns of the 1960s and1970s.

Whether you think that’s a good idea or not will depend at least in part how you feel about Proposition 8 and other proposals like it.

Regardless of how you feel about this specific issue, it’s a good reminder for PR professionals that doing things by the book isn’t always enough to win – or enough to maintain a united front when you have supporters who feel strongly about your issue.

President-elect Obama will face a similar challenge when he takes office. Some Democrats in Congress already are talking about pushing their own proposals for things like health care without waiting to take their lead from the White House.

It’s a frequent problem for PR professionals. We work in a profession where the shortest distance between two points isn’t always a straight line.

I’m a strong proponent of having a clear message and sticking to it. But it’s important to give your supporters a chance to be involved — even if they aren’t on exactly the same page as you.

If you can’t keep everyone on the same page, control what you can. But be willing to let go of the need to control every message and every action by every supporter. There are many paths to building support for an idea or cause. The important thing is getting the result you want, not controlling the path people use to get there.

That’s my two cents’ worth. What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook. My new eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute. To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often. The eBooks come as PDF files. You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

Consider the difference in these two statements:

“Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy.”

“Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests our next president . . . and Barack Obama is the candidate who has the brains and judgment to meet that test.”

If you were paying attention to the presidential race even a little bit last week, you recognize the first version as coming from Joe Biden.  It was a mistake because it supported one of the key messages of John McCain — that Obama doesn’t have the experience to be President of the United States.

With a very small change in wording, along the lines of the second version, Biden could have stayed on message and out of trouble.

Two points.

Point Number 1: Anyone who talks to or within earshot of reporters regularly should know immediately that Biden’s statement was a problem.  Anyone who doesn’t understand how to avoid this kind of mistake shouldn’t be speaking on behalf of your organization in any setting that could lead to news coverage.  If you have an executive or spokesperson person prone to gaffes like this one, get them media trained.  And make sure they understand the difference between the two statements that appear above:  The first one points to your guy as having a problem and the second points to your guy as the one who can stand up to the inevitable challenges ahead.  There’s a big difference.

Point Number 2: If you have an executive or spokesperson who continues to make gaffes like this one even after being media trained, try to find a way to keep that person from talking to reporters – even if it’s your CEO.  Joe Biden’s a U.S. senator and a candidate for vice president.  He’s going to say things that are quoted by reporters.  But he’s famous for this kind of mistake.  If they could, Obama’s media handlers would never let Biden talk in public without a script.  If your CEO repeatedly makes this kind of mistake and isn’t trainable, you may have to live with it.  But look for strategies to have someone else talk to reporters instead, if you can.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

Joe the Plumber and Colin the General both made political splashes during the past week.

When all’s said and done, the general’s a better spokesperson for his candidate than the plumber because his message is more consistent with the messages of his candidate.

Just because of who he is, Powell’s endorsement supports Obama on key themes of the campaign — that he’s ready to be commander-in-chief and that he isn’t a terrorist or a pal of terrorists.  Joe the Plumber’s credentials supporting the idea that McCain’s tax plan helps small businesses and Obama’s doesn’t is a little more suspect because Joe the Plumber’s identity is more suspect.

And every reason Powell gave for endorsing Obama reinforced one of Obama’s campaign messages.  Joe the Plumber wasn’t as clearly on message for McCain.

Politics aside, the general and the plumber are good examples of the strengths and weaknesses of third-party advocates.

The benefits of using third-party advocates is well known to PR professionals.  But they can be hard to keep on message — your message, at least — because they have own messages, their own identity and their own strengths and weaknesses.

So, use third-party advocates when you can.  But make sure they’ll support your message, not interfere with it.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

With politics and the financial mess getting wall-to-wall coverage, it seems like there isn’t much other news these days.

And that means it’s time to lay low for a while if you have a story that will get drowned out by them.

That doesn’t mean you can’t tell any other story, of course.  But it does mean you may be better off putting some stories on the shelf for a while — until there’s less competition.

The political news will die down after the election.  The financial mess?  That may take a little longer.

In the meantime, you may want to consider holding on to stories that can wait to be pitched.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

Rosanne Gain of Colorado Springs sent me a link to a blog entry last week encouraging speakers not to emulate Barack Obama.  Not because he’s a bad speaker.  But because he’s good enough to get away with things the rest of us shouldn’t do.

“If Barack Obama is indeed elected President, he will turn out to be one of the most articulate Presidents ever,” says Blogger Jon Greer.

But, Greer notes: “Since he’s so articulate, he can get away with things other speakers can’t and shouldn’t try.”

That’s good advice when it comes to working with reporters, too.  Some people are better at pitching stories and doing interviews than others.  If you have a choice, pick the person who will do the best job of telling your story.  Sometimes that’s the CEO or the executive in charge of whatever your story is about.  But not always.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.

How important is media training?  How important is your job to you?

Don’t take my word for it.  Ask Carly Fiorina.  She was unceremoniously dumped last week as a spokesperson for John McCain after she told a radio interviewer Sarah Palin isn’t qualified to run a major corporation and later clarified her statement to say McCain isn’t, either.

Apparently realizing her mistake, Fiorina quickly added that Barack Obama and Joe Biden aren’t up to the job, either.  But too late.  The damage was already done.

A few folks suggested Fiorina obviously wasn’t qualified to run a major corporation, either.  She was fired as CEO of HP several years ago before being hired — and subsequently fired — as a spokesperson for McCain.

I committed journalism for 20 years before changing places 25 years ago to spend part of my time answering questions from reporters.  I assume I’m putting my job on the line every time I do.

Screwing up a single interview probably won’t cost you your job — unless you stumble as badly as Fiorina did.  But one bad interview — or even one inadvertent comment overheard by a reporter you didn’t know was around — can hurt your career.

And most of the time it isn’t lying or factual mistakes that get people into trouble.  The damage comes from getting off message.  More often than not people get into trouble for saying something that’s “true” but embarrassing.

Does that mean you should lie to reporters?  No.  But it’s important to stay on message.  And it’s important to recognize when a reporter has asked you a no-win question and to know how to respond without falling into the trap of saying something you shouldn’t.

Good media training — and regular refreshers — will help you keep on message.  How important is that?  How important is your job to you?

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

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The Monday Morning Media Minute is now available as an eBook.  My eStore features five eBooks based on the Media Minute.  To check them out, visit my eStore and buy early and often.  The eBooks come as PDF files.  You don’t need special eBook software to read them.