Monday Morning Media Minute

Remember Sarah Palin?  The one running for vice president.

After delivering an acceptance speech that turned her into something of a political rock star, Palin’s largely disappeared from public and media view.  And the few interviews she’s done have been – to put it kindly – less than rousing successes.

From outside, it looks like the McCain campaign has put their VP candidate under wraps because they’re afraid she’s not ready to handle questions from the media.  Understandable at first since she hasn’t been on the national political stage before.  But at some point it becomes an issue.

I’ll leave it to you to make up your own mind about Palin and whether she should be talking more often to reporters.

But the media fortress that’s been built around her reminds me of a problem I see too often within companies and agencies who see themselves as besieged by a hostile media.  They simply quit talking to reporters except when they feel they have no choice.  And they go into the few interviews they do with a chip on their shoulder, assuming the reporter’s only there to do them harm.

The problem with this kind fortress mentality is that it fosters the kind of negative coverage it’s designed to protect against.

Some reporters do practice gotcha journalism.  Most don’t.  But reporters are human.  And, like all of us, they draw conclusions about the people they come in touch with based on how those people react around them.

Most of us assume that people who are constantly on the defensive have something to hide.  Reporters do, too.  And they’ll reflect that in the stories they write.  Most of us assume that people who defend the indefensible or say things that are misleading or untrue are untrustworthy.  Reporters do, too.  And they’ll reflect that in the stories they write.  And that’s the very behavior that seems to go with a fortress mentality when it comes to dealing with the media.

You don’t have to answer every question a reporter asks – or even agree to every interview.  But if you’re too evasive at some point it becomes an issue.  And if you have a chip on your shoulder every time you do an interview because you assume the reporter’s only out to “get” you, you’re not going to like most of the stories written about you.

Talking to reporters is different than talking to your neighbor.  You need to understand how to tell your story effectively and stay on message.  That’s one reason why good media training is so important.

But if you know the rules of engagement, have a solid story to tell and tell it clearly you’ll do just fine most of the time.  Or at least that’s been my experience.

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.

Are you passing up opportunities to tell your story because you’re afraid the positive story you want to tell will turn negative?

Any story, no matter how positive, can go into the ditch. So, it’s important to consider the potential negative consequences before pitching a story to the media. But don’t be so afraid of the negatives that you don’t tell your story — because if you don’t tell your story no one else will.

There are times when the risks of ending up with a negative story are high enough to skip the pitch.  But my experience is that clients often talk themselves out of telling their story because of what I call the what-if-the-sun-rises-in-the-west syndrome.  They talk themselves out of telling their story by “what iffing” it to death.  In fact, sometimes it seems like the more potential a story has for making a big impact the more likely it is that someone will argue against telling it.

And the “negatives” can be self-fulfilling.  We once succeeded after several weeks of hard work in selling a reporter on writing a major story that got excellent placement, with a headline and lead that were perfect.  As I was enjoying the article, my phone rang.  It was our client, upset because there was a minor factual error deep into the story — something that didn’t really matter.  He wanted me to call the reporter and demand a correction.  He was so focused on the factual mistake that he totally lost sight of the fact that the story was a huge plus.  All he could see was the mistake that no one but us would even notice.

With that experience (and others like it) in mind, I’d love to know whether the leaders of China feel good about the news coverage of the current Olympics.  They should.  But I’m willing to bet that somewhere in Beijing at least a few Chinese leaders are fretting about the negative publicity that’s gone along with all the good.  And, if I’m right, they have no idea just how positive the Olympics coverage has been.

Nobody will tell your story if you don’t.  More often than not, you can’t tell it without taking a few hits with it.  The question is:  Do the positives outweigh the negatives.  If so, that’s a win.

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.

Interviews are the most important tool for telling your story to the media.  And the most dangerous.  For the past few weeks, I’ve been discussing some of the most common mistakes people make during interviews.  Here’s a list summarizing eight of the most common ones:

1. Being unprepared:  Without question, the most common mistake people make when talking to reporters.  Sometimes it’s because they’re overconfident – executives who are good speakers and think they can wing it, for example.  Sometimes it comes from not realizing the importance of being prepared.  And sometimes it happens because the person being interviewed doesn’t know what s/he wants to say.  You should know what your objective is (why you’re talking to the reporter), who your audience is and what your message is before beginning any interview.
2. Overselling the story:  Reporters interview people every day who oversell their stories by being too optimistic and refusing to acknowledge obvious problems.  Think about the people you know who do that when talking to you.  You don’t believe them.  Reporters won’t believe you, either, if you oversell your story.  Do it too often and your credibility will be ruined for good.
3. Saying too much:  If you have more than three messages (including one primary one) for any given interview, you aren’t focused enough.  Throw too many messages at a reporter and the one you care about may not be the one that ends up in the story.  And failing to stick to your message is a formula for saying things you shouldn’t.
4. Saying too little:  There are times when it’s perfectly okay to remain silent when reporters want to talk to you. But when the public health and safety are at stake, you’ll be expected to disclose information and answer reporters’ questions.  The stronger reporters and the public feel that you owe them an answer, the more likely you are to pay a price for remaining silent or limiting what you say.
5. Speaking hypothetically:  Reporters love to ask hypothetical questions to get people to say more than they should.  Any time a reporter asks you a question that includes a variation of “what if,” alarm bells should go off in your head.  Don’t speculate or respond to the hypothetical scenario described by the reporter.  Stick to facts you know.
6. No line in the sand:  If you change your position on a topic or situation to fit what’s convenient on any given day reporters will learn to distrust you.  Be consistent in speaking your truth, even if that feels inconvenient at times.
7. Being combative:  We’ve all seen news stories where the person being interviewed becomes angry and argumentative.  Have you ever seen one where the person being combative won the argument?  Me, neither.
8. Being dishonest:  As obvious as it is, it requires repeating.  You’re entitled to a point of view and to make the case for your point of view.  Most reporters won’t fault you for that.  They will fault you for being dishonest.  Being dishonest includes being misleading by saying something that may be “true” but is designed to mislead.  One lie can destroy your credibility forever.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?  Next week:  More mistakes people make during interviews.

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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.

Don’t let the facts get in the way of your story.

Every good storyteller follows this rule.  So should you.  No, I’m not suggesting you play fast and loose with the truth.  Far from it.

This is about boiling your story down to its essence.

You don’t memorize the morning newspaper or the evening news.  Your audience won’t memorize what you say, either.

One of the most common mistakes people make when talking to reporters is sharing too much information.  Most of the time, too many details will blur your message — the real nuggets of what you have to say.

Assume reporters will ignore 98 percent of what you say and everyone else will forget 98 percent of what you say.  Focus on the two percent that matters.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?  Next week:  More mistakes people make during interviews.

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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.

What if you could rule the universe for a day, with your every whim coming true? Would you end world poverty? Bring peace to the Middle East? Give yourself a trillion dollars? All that and more?

A fun parlor game, perhaps. But if it’s a question from a reporter, beware. Any time a reporter asks you any question with “what if” or some variation in it an alarm bell should go off in your head.

Reporters use hypothetical questions a lot. Almost always, they do it to get people to say things they wouldn’t — and shouldn’t — say otherwise.

The problem? A reporter can ask a hypothetical question in a way that the only logical answer is the one s/he wants you give: “If the toxic chemicals stored in your building got into that river over there, would that be bad for people living downstream in Podunk?” Well, yes it would. And if you answer the question as asked to say there’s a hypothetical threat you may find yourself being quoted as saying the chemicals stored in your building are a real threat to people living in Podunk – even if you know there’s no way those chemicals can get into that river and there’s no real threat.

Reporters on deadline frequently ask hypothetical questions during the early stages of a breaking story when there are few hard facts available. They need to write a story or go on the air with a live report. That’s hard to do if you don’t have anything to say. So, they look for someone who’ll speculate. If the speculation turns out to be wrong, it’s your mistake — not theirs.

Here’s my recommendation: Don’t answer hypothetical questions. If a reporter asks you a hypothetical question, either tell the reporter you can’t speculate on hypothetical situations or restrict your answer to what you know — even if that’s little or nothing. And stand your ground. It’s almost always a mistake to speculate for the benefit of reporters looking for a story.

That’s my two cents’ worth. What’s yours? Next week: More mistakes people make during interviews.

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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.

Just as you can say too much when talking to reporters (see last week’s Media Minute), you can also say too little.

There are times when you don’t want to say anything. And, despite some media trainers who claim you should never say “no comment,” sometimes no comment is a perfectly acceptable answer. In fact, sometimes it’s your only sensible answer.

Reporters are fond of referring to the “public’s right to know.” And serving our collective right to know is what makes being a reporter a worthy profession. But the public doesn’t always have a right to know.

For example, if you work for a company with publicly traded stock, you can’t give previously undisclosed material information to a reporter without issuing a news release disclosing the same information to everyone else. Some information’s private – personal medical information and personnel information, for example. Some information’s propriety. And some things simply aren’t anyone else’s business.

If it’s okay to say nothing, how can you say too little?

There’s a simple rule of thumb I’ve found works almost every time: How strongly will reporters and the people who see their stories feel that you owe them a response? The stronger they’ll feel about that, the more likely you are to pay a price for remaining silent or limiting what you say.

If the public health and safety are at stake, you’ll be expected to respond to reporters’ questions – or even volunteer information without being asked. And you’ll be expected to tell everything you know if it’s information the rest of us believe we need to know it.

Another rule of thumb: Answer a reporter’s question unless you have a legitimate reason not to – it’s propriety or private, for example. And it’s generally a good idea to give your reason for not responding if you’re not going to answer the question.

That my two cents’ worth. What’s yours? Next week: More mistakes people make during interviews.

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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.

One of the most common mistakes people make when talking to reporters is trying to say too much. It happens in a couple ways:

Too many messages: If you have more than three messages for an interview, you’re not focused enough. You won’t get more than three messages into a story. Usually, you’ll be doing good to get one or two messages into the story. If you throw too many messages at a reporter, s/he may choose one of the ones you don’t care about. And no one, including the reporter, will remember them all. Say too much and your message will get lost.

You should have a primary message — your “headline” — and at most two secondary messages. Focus on your headline. That’s the one thing you want the reporter to hear if s/he misses or ignores everything else you say and the one thing you want people who see the story to hear, understand and remember.

Opening too many doors: I like to think of interviews as happening in a room with a lot of doors. Your job is to open the door that leads to your story. Every time you answer a question, you potentially open another door. If you open too many doors, the reporter may find a find a more interesting story behind one of them than the one you want to tell. Try not to open any doors except the one that leads to your story. Then make it interesting enough that the reporter will be willing to stay there.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours? Next week: More mistakes people make during interviews.

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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.

Preparation is the key to successful media interviews. That’s a message I’ve preached for years in media training and conversations with clients. But can you be over prepared? And, if so, what does that look like?

As I see it, the issue is being misprepared rather than over prepared. There was a time when I told media training clients that if a reporter asks you what day of the week it is, you shouldn’t just say it’s Monday; you should also work your message into your answer.

In fact, a lot of media trainers will tell you that. And sometimes you should. If you’re doing a one or two minute live broadcast interview, you need to get to your message right out of the starting gate or you probably won’t get to it at all.

Even if you’re doing a taped interview, you may only get one soundbite into the story. If that’s likely to happen, you’ll want to get your message into every answer, if you can, because only one of your answers — or part of one of your answers — will make it into the story.

But most of the time, there’s more give and take than that during an interview.

Being well prepared means you’ll be able to deliver your message clearly — and make it interesting enough to get into the story. But overselling your message can be as bad as not having a clear message. If you oversell your message, you’ll lose credibility and likeability. Instead of selling your message, you may have exactly the opposite effect. You’ll be like any other salesperson who doesn’t know when to back off.

So, be prepared to deliver your message whenever you can. But be realistic about it. And don’t oversell your story.

That’s my two cents’ worth. What’s yours? Next week: More mistakes people make during interviews.

I’ve always thought of Tim Russert as a perfect example of why media training is so important.

Russert always prepared for his interviews. He prepared for Meet the Press by researching the positions of his guests and then taking the opposite side with his questions. His goal was to elicit information while pressing his guests hard enough to expose weaknesses or contradictions in their positions.

Successful media interviews come from good preparation — knowing what your message is and delivering it clearly enough to be heard, understood and remembered. You also have to know what your vulnerabilities are and how you’ll deal with them.

Tim Russert was an exceptional journalist. You won’t run into many like him. But if you prepare for a Tim Russert, you’ll be ready for whoever is asking the questions.

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.