Five Tips to Deal With Negative Press

I recently had the opportunity to work with a client on a high profile public event. The event was designed to make a significant difference in the communities in which we live, play and work featuring a well-known celebrity and some of his friends and fellow celebrities.

During the planning phase I was brought in to help with the public relations (PR) efforts, specifically to create awareness about the event and the cause behind it. As part of the PR strategy, the celebrity driving the event committed his time to any and all media interview opportunities. In fact, he flew in to town for one full day to do all the media interviews I could secure.

All of the interviews I set up that day were great and highly positive with praise from the media outlets as well as the general public. During one of the pre-taped broadcast interviews, the reporter conducting the interview asked my clients to “talk” so they could test the microphone. As they spoke the reporter asked a couple questions that were for “background” only and said they wouldn’t include these in the report that would air later that day.

Later that day when the interview was published on the TV channel’s website they included the background questions they promised wouldn’t be included.  When my client saw it, he was upset. He wasn’t upset because he said anything wrong but because he was doing other things to get ready for the interview as they talked. He didn’t want it to look like he was being rude or not taking the interview seriously.

His assistant reached out to me demanding that the piece be taken down. I told him I’d reach out to the reporter and get it taken care of. The assistant said if they wouldn’t change it that they wouldn’t give them press passes to the event and allow their station to come cover it.

This exchange brought up an interesting discussion and I counseled him on the best ways to handle a situation like this. The advice I provided is relevant and worth sharing with a much larger audience.  My advice included five key points.

• Don’t threaten the media: Regardless of how angry you are, don’t make threats. Nobody, including the media responds well to threats. Threats will put the other party on the defensive and escalate the situation to a point where both parties act irrationally and do or say things they normally wouldn’t.
• Stick to the facts: In this instance, it was easy to point out the facts. On the video you could clearly hear the reporter say that they were asking background questions only and that these questions wouldn’t be included in the final piece. You could also hear my client ask if they were still checking the mic or if the actual interview had begun.
• Go to the source: When I called the media outlet, I went straight to the source. I spoke to the person I set the interview up with and discussed the issue with him. I spoke to him clearly and calmly and expressed my clients concern over the video. I explained why we had an issue and what my client’s expectation was based on their conversation. As this person watched the video, the facts were clear and he appreciated me reaching out to him to discuss it.
• Have a solution in mind: When I made my call to my contact, I knew what I wanted. I wanted the video to be edited to not include the background questions. I told him what I wanted and expected and we discussed it calmly. He said he understood and agreed to fix it.
• Work together to come to a mutual resolution: The story was still a great story and my client was happy. We worked together through the process to ensure that it was fixed quickly. Upon fixing it, my client shared it on his social media channels which brought even more visibility to the piece. In the end, the reporter and I had greater respect for each other and our relationship was stronger as a result.

Had I approached the situation as my client’s assistant wanted when he called me there would have been a far different resolution.  The reporter would have been mad, a bridge would have been burned and we would have been forced to deny them access to the event. Nobody would have won in that situation.

Following these five steps will allow you to build better, stronger relationships with the media as opposed to creating an adversarial relationship that doesn’t benefit anybody involved.