I’m sitting in the airport setting sail for some business in south Texas. Two areas to cover while I wait for the flight.
First, I’m honored that my Brothers at Firefighter Netcast have asked me to be a guest on their program this Thursday, June 17th. John and Rhett will be interviewing me at 9:00pm EST.
To get the link to the broadcast visit http://www.firefighternetcast.com/ Call in and say hi!
Banned for Life
I tell this story to PR pros and PIO’s and it always has them laughing until I tell them I am dead serious. A couple of years ago a former consumer from the not for profit where I earn my dollars versus points at the fire house, lodged some totally erroneous and unjustified charges about the application process for services we offer. Most media outlets had the common sense to vet the story and see the accusations were unfounded and surmised that in essence this was a non story. News 12 Long Island, with obvious extra time on their hands, thought this would be a good way to look like crusading journalists. Pit the poor defenseless consumer against the large not for profit. Unfortunately with little concern for the true facts I got ambushed when I appeared for an interview. I thought the questioning would be based on an understanding of the position on both sides. I went into crisis communications mode at the line of questioning which frustrated the reporter Drew Scott. He was perturbed that I didn’t feed off his somewhat hostile probing. The piece aired, it was one sided and inaccurate. They were the only media outlet that covered the non story. I have banned News 12 for life from the grounds of my not for profit. Hard news?, justifiable coverage?, come on down, but all other access for story lines, event coverage etc. is banned. Many ask how I can do that. Nobody ever told me in my years in PR that I couldn’t, so I did.
Also on The Fire PIO…
- Press Releases are not dead in our neck of the woods – September 15, 2010
- Watch out for the Reporter who Flips the Script – October 21, 2010
- Superb Public Information from the Chile Mine Rescue – October 13, 2010
- Taking your own PR Advice – August 9, 2010
I might not declare them openly “banned for life”, but while I would share much more detailed insight with the competition and simply not inform the morons, after a while of not getting tasty leads, media reps find themselves looking for new jobs. I’ve found that in most cases, not only have they pulled that stunt on me, but on other agencies, and it’s amazing what you can do when everyone forms a “cone of silence” when that station shows up.
I’ll see about popping in on Thursday night.
Mick and Jeff,
I love, honor, obey and respect my two fellow bloggers, but this retired reporter is going to have to disagree with both of you on this one. I am not sure freezing out a reporter buys you anything except possibly making yourselves feel better that YOU are showing THEM.
I think you should do your best to insist on fairness from the reporter and the news organization, starting with the reporter and taking it as far as you can in their chain of command. I have always told people if you are complaining make sure it isn’t because your ego is bruised but that the facts were wrong or you weren’t treated fairly.
By freezing them out you lose any input in subsequent stories and it can compound the situation.
In the latter part of my TV career a fire chief absolutely refused to speak to me, personally or professionally. The chief would walk away if I was in the room. It really was the first time that has happened to me from a chief in my entire 38-year-career (I have had plenty yell at me). I can tell you with all honesty I have never been told exactly why this happened. For the life of me I can’t figure out anything good that tactic is providing the chief or his department. I still got my stories done without any problem, but they were done without his input.
I was reminded early in my career by a veteran TV reporter that unlike a network correspondent who often hits and runs I am a local reporter. I have to deal with these same people over and over. Even more reason to treat the people you deal with fairly.
That doesn’t mean I can’t be tough and do a story that makes the subject uncomfortable. To me it means giving them every chance to tell their story. If it was a “negative” story for an organization I almost always gave them a heads up it was coming so they could be ready to respond. Ambushes were extremely rare in my career and left only for those public officials who absolutely wouldn’t respond to my questions. My last interview with the chief who wouldn’t talk to me only happened because I warned his people I would be staking him out (basically I was doing my best to avoid the ambush because I don’t think it makes anyone look good).
That said, I know many reporters don’t operate that way. Do your best to teach them and hold them accountable much as they are trying to hold you accountable.
Also, in the government arena I believe there are cases where federal courts have ruled there must be a standard for the release of public information rather than based on whether you like the reporter or the story. One of those involved the DC Fire Department where the judge made it clear the department couldn’t base the release of information on the content of the story. I have it somewhere in my files.
Just some thoughts from this end.
Statter
Dave,
I’m laughing here because I just had an “aside” conversation on this with you. You are exactly right, only I assume that most reporters in the Beltway market are a little closer to what we like to think of as professional journalists in comparison with some others in smaller markets, whom I think have Geraldo and Jerry as personal idols and mentors.
I’m okay with hard questioning. I’m a big boy and I know they have a job to do and so do I. I’m even okay with the occasional ambush, and I did once have a journalist call me in for an interview and pull the ol’ switcheroo- wanted to talk about something completely different, which was drumming up support for himself on ANOTHER ambush on someone else! But I also have had to deal with “journalists” (note the quotation marks) who did everything they could do to MAKE news rather than REPORT on it.
If there’s a valid story to be had, sometimes it takes some extra work to crack that nut. Sometimes that requires some hard research, some tricky maneuvering, and some hurt feelings. I’m okay with that. But don’t try to make me look dumb so you can look good or even worse, try to create news that isn’t there.
I appreciate your taking the opportunity to provide some educational feedback.