Keep Media on Message, Former Reporter Advises
By: Edward P. Kelly
Philadelphia Bar Association
When speaking to reporters, it's important to boil your message down to
the basics, a communications expert and
former Action News reporter recently
told members of the Bar-News Media
Committee.
Karen Friedman, founder of Karen
Friedman Enterprises, Inc., talked about
how to speak to the media when the
stakes are high. She shared advice about
building a more effective relationship
with the media and how to help the media
tell the story that you want told.
It is important to remember that
reporters are not your friends, Friedman said. They have a job to do and that
job is to tell the story. Reporters gather
facts and condense them into digestible
nuggets for public consumption, known
as sound bites. Another concept to keep
in mind is that sometimes the court of
public opinion is as important, if not
more important, than the court of law.
Human beings feel first, and think second.
Therefore, reporters go after stories
that are emotional.
In a crisis situation, there are two questions
that a reporter will ask: "When did
you know about it?" and "What did you
do about it?" In that situation, Friedman advised a "gut check" before responding
since usually one knows intuitively what's
right and what's wrong. She also advised
removing the words "no comment" from
your vocabulary. If you are unable to offer
a comment, explain why.
When speaking to a reporter, you must
boil your message down to the basics. As Friedman put it, in "media land" less is
more so narrow your focus. Think about
the "headline" and figure out your top
three messages based on that headline.
Do not leave it up to the reporter to get
your message out, but instead try to insert
your points into the conversation. Acknowledge
the question, give an answer,
and then bridge in order to communicate
your message. Avoid repeating a reporter's
words, and instead be positive and
upfront with your own message, Good
communicators facilitate understanding
so keep things as simple as possible.
On the topic of apologies, Friedman believes they are overrated because everybody
apologizes. It is her opinion that the
general public does not believe apologies
like they did a decade or two ago. If you
need to apologize, the apology needs to
be sincere and your actions must back
up the apology. Friedman's take on social
media is that while it has made it easier to
reach people, it has also made it harder to
control the message. And she emphasized
that "You are the message," not only with
what you say, but how you say it.
