Posts Tagged ‘journalists’

MAC Strategies President Addresses Dan Rather’s Comments About Public Relations

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Public relations specialists and journalists have often been perceived as at odds with each other while both frequently helping each other out. Dan Rather, the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News, spoke about the role of public relations recently to the New York City chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Rather called for public relations specialists to act ultimately in the interest of the public.

Scott Sobel, president and founder of Media and Communication Strategies, addressed Rather’s comments:

“Dan’s reasonable comments come from a reporter who has worked the field and knows the reality of enterprising or being tipped to a story. Any good reporter worth his salt should appreciate getting good information from any and every source. As a former journalist, I’ve always appreciated a smart, savvy and honest PR person who helps advance the story he or she is pitching or supporting. As a PR pro and agency owner, I will help a journalist to the benefit of our clients and the benefit of the story. Lying, spinning, being an adversary to good journalism is a self fulfilling prophecy of failure for everyone. I’m as proud of helping reporters break stories and win awards as I am proud of doing the same when I was a reporter. Rather understands all of the above and I applaud his frankness in the face of a good number of his holier-than-thou journalist colleagues who see all PR as the dark side. And, I’ll bet those faux Big-J journalists are likely to be the follow-the-pack wimps who dispassionately collect their checks, rewrite their wire copy and punch out at 4:59 every day.”

 

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Dealing With a Nasty Reporter Who Writes Fair Stories

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

Recently, we handled a query from another senior public relations professional who had a client who was verbally abused by a nasty reporter during interviews. The reporter might be nasty but wrote fair stories. The question: Should a complaint be lodged with an editor or other action taken?”

Our response: Tough call, but if handled right you can leverage this for a better relationship and help the client and even the reporter.

I’ll preface my response by saying I’m a former major market police and investigative reporter, still belong to IRE, have talked the likes of 60 Minutes, Brian Ross’ group, the NY Times out of coverage sometimes through Ed Boards but usually without going over anyone’s head and even hurting the reporter relationship … Law firms or corporate clients want us to be aggressive but prudent with the purpose of continuing good relations with the reporter. There is never any reason to take a scorched earth position.

I would ask to personally meet the reporter explaining the client is really happy with his fair coverage. When you see him relate that the client is happy to work with him, his coverage of the topic is important and the client wants to take even more time to give the reporter context when he is not on deadline. The discussion would be on background.

You want to get the relationship into an empathetic and collegial place. All that said, if it goes well, then the client can gently express some, some of his concerns, emphasizing he wants what the reporter wants … to work more in a collegial fashion for a great and balanced story.

Of course, you will have to media train the client with some role playing. You may want to go along on the meeting, maybe not. You want to set up the meeting with a “gift” meaning some kind of story hook or info the reporter will appreciate.

If that doesn’t work, then you either ignore the situation and pray or go to a more complex plan B that will involve an editor and the reporter but still will not be accusatory. A little media knowledge and media psychology goes a long way here.

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