Great resource, or powerful enemy?
In crisis management, the media is a double-edged sword. While they can be a great help in transmitting your desired message, journalists are in the business of delivering subscriptions (or, more likely these days, page views) and want a scoop regardless of whether it damages your reputation or not.
In a recent article for EvanCarmichael.com, PR pro Georgina Dunkley gave her advice on how to make sure the relationship between business and media is beneficial to both parties:
Maintain a relationship with the journalist – if you have promised a statement or an interview with a journalist by a certain date or time, then ensure that you get it to them in that time. You will certainly lose brownie points for not supplying the right detail to them for the deadline. If you work within their parameters they are certainly likely to be fairer with you.
Nurture the journalist relationship – most journalists will write a balanced story, provided they have been given sufficient insight into the crisis. In this case, all that you can hope for is a balanced argument which puts forward both sides of the story. Once the story has aired contact the journalist and thank them for the piece. This is a great way to form a relationship with a journalist for when you have some good news to share.
As with most relationships, the one between business and reporter is based on honesty and good etiquette. Cause a reporter to take a reaming at the office for missing a deadline, and you’ve likely made a powerful enemy. Pass on an exclusive interview explaining your side of a crisis situation, and guess who will be ready to write up your next charity event?
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]
Jonathan,
No truer words could be spoken. They can be both especially if they don’t know you.
I was a public affairs officer in the Air Force for a number of years. In addition to being a command spokesperson, I even trained other Air Force officers in the “care and feeding of the international media” in Panama. The media when they understand you will listen when you tell them there are good reasons why you can’t tell them something, but it’s important to always give them a reason for being there.
Having that relationship beforehand really helps. In my Panama training, I set up my trainees with a situation they would have had to plan for since they really didn’t have time to develop a relationship with the media. My “media” were actually role-played by some guys from special ops and I had some question my trainees in Spanish or Portuguese. My training guys learned crisis management also involves some preparation (at least in realizing a media situation is not handled solely in the moment.
Jack
BTW, I am also the Training and Development Blog host for the Free Management Library.