If you’re involved in a news story and you’re afraid the media will misrepresent you, slant the news, or write it according to their own agenda, don’t refuse comment, thinking they’ll just go away and leave you alone. As I’ve said so many times before, refusing an interview is akin to screaming “we’re guilty,” even if… Read More
How to Interview
Spokesperson media training for geeks
When news breaks at your company or nonprofit, sometimes the only expert you can find to appear in front of the TV cameras is a geek. Usually, it’s somebody who wears a white lab coat and talks in industry lingo that only other geeks can understand. For example, let’s say you do PR for a pharmaceutical… Read More
Monday Morning Media Minute resumes
PR guy Jerry Brown’s excellent Monday Morning Media Minute ezine resumes after a two-year hiatus. It’s a quick one-minute read, delivered to your email box each Monday morning, that gives you a quick tip about how to work with the media. Today’s topic, for example, is how to frame an issue to control the debate. The… Read More
Media bias: The ugly truth
It’s amazing how clearly you can see things in hindsight. Like media bias, for instance. During the 22 years I worked as a newspaper reporter and editor, if you had told me the media were biased, I’d have wanted to arm-wrestle you. But here we are, 12 years later. In the column I wrote for Bulldog Reporter… Read More
Crisis management: Learn from the best
Crisis manager Jonathan Bernstein, one of the very best in the business, has been teaching companies how to get out of trouble—or stay out of it—for more than 20 years. Today, he’s dealing with the most unusual crisis he’s ever seen. In an email message this afternoon to subscribers of his electronic newsletter, he writes: “I am probably,… Read More
Mr. Shell Oil, wipe that smile off your face
Whoever trained Shell Oil President John Hofmeister on how to do media interviews, particularly on TV, forgot to tell the client that when discussing high gasoline prices, don’t smile and look like you’re having a good time. On “Meet the Press” this morning, Hofmeister had an ear-to-ear grin on his face while he was answering Tim Russert’s questions… Read More
TV talk show guest wannabes make these critical mistakes
Here are the biggest mistakes people make when they pitch TV talk show producers. They pitch a producer whose name they added to their Rolodex four years ago, but they haven’t contacted the producer since then. They contact the wrong producer at the show and don’t know who’s the correct one for their topic. The lead the… Read More
Radio talk show guests have two more items to add to their pre-show checklist
Publicity Hound Carol White of RLI Press in Wilson, Oregon adds to last week’s item about things to do before you do your stint as a guest on a radio talk show. “I’ve had some similar bone-head incidents,” she says. They include: “While doing an hour-long NPR show in Dallas, TX (we were in Hawaii!)… Read More
Radio talk show guests need checklist of things to do before the show begins
I just got off the phone with Pam Newman, who interviewed me for one hour on her program “Unlocking the Secrets of Your Small Business” on Hot Talk 1510 AM Radio in Kansas City about how small business people can generate free publicity. I called in about 5 minutes before the hour, as instructed, then listened… Read More
Dole shrivels by not responding to ‘Dateline’ story on bagged lettuce
Dole, the world’s largest producer and marketer of fresh vegetables, is hiding behind its attorneys, while a scathing report on tonight’s “Dateline” most likely will send sales of its bagged lettuce heading south. Attorneys apparently told the company not to allow executives to be interviewed for the story on how at least 26 people in three states have gotten sick after eating Dole bagged lettuce… Read More