CLARITY
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Media relations: high returns, but higher risks, too I was working in my office in the Middle East a couple years ago when a reporter from Reuters called. He was new to the Reuters bureau in Dubai, having been transferred from London. At the time, I was head of international media relations for the world’s largest energy company, and I knew the energy reporters from Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Dow Jones and others. But this reporter had a question about a very sensitive story: an oil-futures trader in London (one of his regular, trusted sources, no doubt) had told him that the company I worked for was selling jet fuel to a foreign military force in the Persian Gulf, which was leaving the company’s home-market short of jet fuel. It was an absurd angle, because the company did no such thing, but I told him I’d get right back to him with a confirmation of my initial thought on the matter. Sure enough, research with our sales and marketing folks confirmed it was a bogus story, and I called the reporter back and gave him the company’s official position in the form of a brief statement. The next few hours saw the story run, and I was stunned. The headline screamed that we were selling fuel to the foreign military, and the information was attributed to “unnamed sources.” My quote about the whole thing being false was not placed until the fifth paragraph, and then the rest of the story continued to refute the company’s position. I fumed about it for a few hours, but the journalist that still lurks in the back of my mind pointed out the facts: this reporter was new to his bureau, had never met me, and had rarely talked with me before. His initial information came from a trusted source. The “official position” of the company came from me, a corporate spokesperson, and he had little reason to trust me or the company. I was managing editor at a couple of newspapers before moving into corporate communications, so it was clear to me what was missing. Over the next several months, I sent him a few press releases earlier than I sent it to his competitors (in the world of wire services, a head start of five minutes makes a huge difference) and trusted him with some off-the-record conversations that helped him understand how things worked in our company. Eventually, we had a solid relationship of trust, and I never got burned on a story again. Not by him, anyway. This illustrates the most important point of effective media relations, and the guiding principle of all public relations: trust is essential for it to work. The reason news organizations are such coveted channels for corporate communications and other forms of public relations is that they are trusted by the public to be fair and impartial. Reporters know this, and therefore take their responsibility to be fair very seriously. You can be reasonably assured that if you read an article in the paper, it is balanced and the facts have been checked. The same thing goes for radio and other broadcast media. So given this aura of trust, it’s no wonder companies and other organizations want their messaging disseminated by the news media. jamal.kheiry@clarity-stratcomms.com
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CLARITY STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
But then there’s the human element. This is the part that makes media relations much more art than science. Reporters and editors are not — contrary to what they might like to believe — sterile conduits of information to the public. They have their own prejudices, career ambitions and emotional baggage, just like the rest of us. They also have extremely demanding jobs that require long hours, and the pay is relatively low. I assure you, I relate this from personal experience. So if you want to incorporate media relations into your PR campaign, your number-one directive as you work to establish trust is to make the reporter’s job easier. When I was a journalist, I wish more people would have adhered to these rules: 1) Always tell the truth. If you say you’re the only tool-and-die maker capable of making doublefreemed widgets or the only restaurant in New England to win the Puffy-Hat Award, the reporter had better not find out otherwise. And if you take liberties with the truth, you will be found out; journalists have a sixth sense about this type of thing, and even if they don’t, they’ll make calls to verify. 2) Provide numbers and statistics. Reporters are always trying to contextualize their stories, and numbers help do that. For example, if your non-profit aid agency’s press release says you provided 8,000 free meals to needy families in the last eight months, how does that compare with other aid agencies that do the same work? What is the national average for similar organizations? This helps reporters determine how big a story it is. 3) Provide sidebar information. A sidebar is a sort of “story within a story” that helps to illustrate the main article. For example, if your home-builders association press release is about how your members are thriving despite the slow national market, a sidebar story could be about how you’ve paired up with the local Realtors’ association to better serve your customers. 4) List additional resources. Reporters have to fact-check and find additional information to make sure a story is balanced. Let’s say your law firm has just added intellectual property rights as a new practice area; your press release could include links to the American Bar Association’s intellectual property rights section, and a number for Professor Thomas Field of the Franklin Pierce Law Center. 5) Write well! There is nothing more frustrating — and detrimental to your credibility — than a poorly-written press release. Bad grammar and spelling, inappropriate syntax, lack of organization, glaring omissions… these are all things to avoid in a press release. The headline should be short and descriptive. Your lead sentence should summarize the entire story in a nutshell, with each successive paragraph revealing more detail. 6) Don’t expect verbatim reproduction of your press releases. Journalists are in their profession because they love finding out the truth and telling everyone about it. They’re in the business of keeping our democracy flourishing, so the last thing they want is to seem like they’re being used as an implement in your PR toolkit. So don’t expect — and for goodness’ sake don’t ask — that they use your word choice for anything, or that they should be sure to include this or that piece of information in their article. These rules, although useful, are not guarantees of good publicity. If the truth of the matter is that your product, service or announcement is not newsworthy, you’re not likely to get any columninches or air-time. Even worse, if the truth of the matter is that your product, service or announcement opens you up to criticism or liability, good journalists will find out about it and you could end up damaging your image or reputation. jamal.kheiry@clarity-stratcomms.com www.clarity-stratcomms.com
CLARITY STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
Therefore, before you undertake to include media relations as part of your communications plan, think through possible vulnerabilities. Could a competitor take issue with some of your claims and turn the story into a he-said/she-said story? Are there lawsuits pending or threatened against you? Do you have disgruntled current or former employees who might go to the reporter? Has a government agency ever fined your organization? These types of things are public record, or can quickly become so. That means reporters can find them, so be sure you’re on solid ground before you jump into media relations. The rewards can be very high in terms of credible third-party presentation of your messaging, but the risks can also be high if you don’t take steps to earn trust based on truth and respect for the journalist’s craft. Jamal Kheiry is a public relations consultant in Bethel. He can be reached at jamal.kheiry@clarity-stratcomms.com
jamal.kheiry@clarity-stratcomms.com www.clarity-stratcomms.com