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“Access," he replied. “The government has the power to deny access. If you don’t have access, you don't get news."
I thought about it and realized that no access means no presidential press conferences, no trips on Air Force 1, no battlefield credentials no Pentagon briefings. Sans credentials, a reporter—and his news organization—are nose-to-window-pane on the outside looking in and forced to settle for pool coverage and sloppy seconds.
This week, reporters from The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald and The Charlotte Observer, along with a photographer, were sent packing from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in the wake of suicides by suspected terrorists.
A series of PR debacles associated with the Iraq War has made the Pentagon gun-shy of the media. Among recent examples: Abu Ghraib, the alleged murders of civilians at al-Haditha, the Gitmo suicides and this past Monday’s charges that three 101st Airborne Division troops killed Iraqi prisoners.
War is a high-stakes game. Worldwide passions can be inflamed by scoop-happy reporters more interested in getting the news out rather than getting it right.
When the Pentagon clamps down, it generally has good reasons. It’s imperative to get the whole story and react with a measured response, rather than allowing bits and pieces to come out, grow legs, feast on rumor and innuendo, and foul the scene.
In the private sector, denying access can backfire big time.
The Kansas City Royals vs. WHB and KCSP
Rhonda Moss of KCSP and Bob Fescoe of WHB worked for competing Kansas City, Mo., sports-talk radio stations and covered the Royals baseball team on a full-time basis. Early in June they attended a press conference held by the team’s management, where they fired questions at the owner, David Glass, who found them hostile.
As a result, their press credentials were revoked for the remainder of the season with no explanation.
Was this smart of the Royals?
Was it smart of the Royals vice president of communications and marketing, David Witty, to allow Glass to be the one to take questions?
In his past life, Glass was the president and CEO of Wal-Mart. He bought the team for $96 million in 2000. Very likely Glass’ only prior public appearances were before sycophantic Wall Street analysts and adoring stockholders and employee-stockholders. Chances are that the CEO of the largest corporation in the world wasn’t used to being on the hot seat.
Not very smart tactics by people whose business model and sales depend heavily on media coverage.
LPGA vs. Associated Press
This past February the Ladies Professional Golf Association decided to play hardball with the Associated Press—which represents 1,800 newspapers in the United States—and Canada and two local Honolulu papers. Under the direction of the new LPGA commissioner, Carolyn Bivens, restrictions were imposed on the access of reporters and photographers to the Fields Open Golf Championship in Kapolei, Hawaii. It was an attempt to halt the use of players images showing up on coffee mugs and calendars all over the world without permission. More importantly, the LPGA wanted gain control of the content.
Bivens tried to insist that all photographs could only be used for up to 48 hours after the tournament was over, whereupon the LPGA would own “unlimited perpetual rights" to the images.
The result was a two-day blackout by the AP. Bivens and the LPGA caved and rescinded the policy. The power play thoroughly irritated the sponsor, Fields Corp., as ticket sales and publicity failed to meet projections.
How Can Companies Control Media Coverage?
Quite simply, ask for it.
I write for trade publications. I’m not a news guy or a muckraker. My object in interviewing is to get inside the subject’s head, learn about the business, and find out what makes everything tick. I’m interested in the history, the business model, the thought processes, arithmetic, my subject’s prior education and career—every possible thing that can help readers be more effective in their jobs and make more money.
I don’t start with a point of view or an agenda. Rather I assume a good story exists. My job is to ferret it out.
Many professionals would turn up their noses at what I do. But I allow a certain amount of control over what I report.
Shock jock Don Imus allegedly once said that the only point of interviewing people was to get them to say something that they’ll regret for the rest of their lives. That’s not what I’m about.
I show up with a laptop and lay out the following ground rules:
*I have no tape recorder running. That’s because I can operate a QWERTY keyboard at the rate of 65-75 wpm and can maintain eye contact throughout the interview as I enter data by touch-typing. I have no problem if a reporter uses a tape recorder. I happen not to like sitting through the entire interview all over again—with all the pauses—when I can get it down accurately the first go-round.
*If something is off the record or “on background," my hands come off the keyboard until such time as I’m told we’re back on the record. I’m not interested in getting people fired. At the same time, the person must tell me when something is off the record.
*I always allow the subject to review an early draft of the story before it sees print. Two reasons:
—Accuracy. I don’t want to make inadvertent errors and have to print a correction.
—Deletions of anything that the interviewee wishes he hadn’t said that could prove embarrassing, detrimental or give away too much information to the competition.
Did I miss anything that should be included? Here’s a chance to answer questions that I failed to ask in order to present a more complete picture.
How Not to Manage the Media
A number of years ago a public relations woman in Boston with a long Greek name bugged me for months to do a Target Marketing cover story about a business-to-business data whiz. A slot opened up, and I spent a several hours in his booth at a trade show in Orlando, Fla., where he spilled his guts—told me fascinating details about how he figured out a way to help a client clean the clock of the competitor.
Was I sure that the client would OK my using all this proprietary information? I asked repeatedly.
Absolutely, said the guy.
Absolutely, said the Boston PR hustler with the long Greek name.
I wrote most of the story and then called the client to confirm the accuracy of what I was told.
“You want me to tell you WHAAAT?" the client shrieked over the phone.
I repeated the question and told him where the story was going.
“If you print that, I’ll sue you."
The story was scrubbed.
Needless to say, I felt very abused.
I will never mention this guy again, nor have anything to do with the Greek PR woman or any of her clients.
Takeaway Points to Consider:
*Denying access can cost you.
*Establish ground rules with the interviewer up front.
*Control a press conference. Don’t let reporters shout questions. Instead, have them raise their hands and acknowledge each one in turn.
*Except in a Denny Hatch interview, assume nothing is off the record.
*Chances are that the writer won’t let you see the story before it runs, but you can always ask.
*The publisher or broadcaster is the copyright holder and owns the story and the images. If you want to use any of the material for your own purposes—even though it is about you and your company—you must negotiate permission.
*If you’re featured on the cover of a magazine, you can probably use a photograph that shows you reading the magazine with your portrait on the cover without seeking permission of the copyright holder. But check with your lawyer.
*Likewise, you probably can use a few short blurbs from the story without permission. Again, check with your intellectual property attorney.
*Just as you would work with a lawyer prior to giving a legal deposition, do likewise in preparing for an interview or press conference. Have one or more people from your organization pepper you with questions—all kinds of possible questions—so that you’ll have ready answers. The president of the United States rehearses intensely before interviews and press conferences. So should you. You don’t want surprises.
*If your CEO isn’t a terrific public speaker, find someone in the organization who is comfortable and upbeat in front of a crowd—or in a one-on-one conversation—and tap into those talents.
*Beware of the taped TV interview. A suck-up reporter will show up with a camera crew and will ask a lot of questions that make you feel very important. The result will be a one-sentence sound bite taken out of context designed to buttress the producer’s biased agenda or be the one dissenting opinion amidst a blizzard of verbiage from the other side. Either way, you’ll look like a jerk. When asked to do a TV interview, I always reply, “I don’t do sound bites." The TV taped interview is truly the one area where you have zero control. |
