If you have a communications or public relations department, let them take the lead in handling the media. This especially holds true during a crisis. Insist that journalists contact your communications or public relations department first, for the simple reason that it gives you time to find out vital information such as:
- Who the journalist is
- Which media outlet the journalist works for
- Why the journalist is seeking your input
If your company does not have a communications or PR department or an outside PR agency, make sure you ask the journalist those questions yourself before proceeding. No responsible, professional journalist will refuse to answer such basic questions.
Know ahead of time what you want to say and have a written document of “Talking Points” in front of you. This is your opportunity to communicate a positive message about your company and how it is handling an admittedly negative situation.
The typical interviewee simply waits for the journalist to ask the questions and hopes for the best. But the journalist has no interest in delivering your message for you, unprompted. Instead, ask yourself who will read, hear or see the story, and what message you want to convey to them. Then take control of the interview.
Make no mistake about it: the media has an insatiable hunger for stories with negative or disastrous implications. How you handle yourself during the interview or in front of the cameras will make all the difference in the world. Keep your sense of humor, do not let anyone goad you into an angry response and stay humble. The media carries a bigger stick than you do.
It is not enough to know what you want to say; you must also practice how you want to say it. If you give journalists the choice, they will almost always go for the snappy quote or “sound byte” over the carefully chosen, detailed explanation every time. Distilling your points down to their bare essence takes some practice, but unless you want the journalist to do it for you, you will have to be succinct.
Use a hook to grab the interest of the journalist and subsequently the public, something easy to remember. Sometimes this is called a “tagline,” which is a pithy play on words or a saying that describes the situation in a nutshell and resonates strongly with your audience. The public tends to remember what they hear first out of your mouth and what they hear last. Let your concern show. For example, Duke University Health System’s message regarding the hydraulic fluid fiasco could have been something as simple as, “We made a mistake, but we will stop at nothing to make it right.”
The rules of the “elevator pitch” come into play here. Imagine that your time with the journalist equates with the time you might spend riding an elevator. If you only have up from one to three minutes to pitch your side of the story, what exactly will you say? This is your key message. Consider supplementing your words with images and other media tools. A picture or a video can trump words.
Rehearse your key message and ask someone in your company to throw “tough” questions at you to prepare yourself for what you may face from the media. Otherwise, during the actual interview, you might get caught up in the moment and say something you may regret.
Stay On Message
Do not repeat your sound byte more than twice, because you do not want to alienate your listeners. Know when to stop talking. Media interviews are not conversations. Say what you mean to say and then stop talking.
Do not volunteer unnecessary information and do not talk “off the record.” There is no such thing as off the record. It is all the explanations, qualifications and “by the ways” that often get a spokesperson into trouble. In politics, this is called “staying on message.” The spokesperson who stays on message is far less likely to be drawn into trouble.
Do not try to finesse your way out of answering questions you would rather not answer. If there are areas you will not discuss, tell the journalist immediately what they are and why. Never say: “No comment.” Instead say, “I cannot talk about that because there is a lawsuit pending, but here is what I can tell you.”
Know The Media’s Boundaries
Be ethical in your dealings with journalists. For example, you should never send a gift to a journalist, offer him special treatment in any way or try to obtain an advance copy of the story. The media is in the business of reporting events as they actually happen, and this is to everyone’s advantage. Never stand in the way.
Journalism ethics do include the principle of "limitation of harm," which means that ethical journalists should treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.
Knowing the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics will help you in a crisis PR situation where the media must balance the public’s right-to-know with the limits of taste and decency.
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