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Media Coach Training Tip: Fight for your Reputation! How to Respond to Negative Media Attention

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I find it unbelievable that in the 21st century we still find executives who don’t want to take on a reporter or news outlet that has wrongly damaged their reputation.

The traditional way of responding to a media outlet that makes a factual error is to ask the management for a retraction. But sometimes the issue is not always factual but a difference in your point of view. If a newspaper does a hatchet job on you, the correct way to respond is to always write a letter to the editor. The letter should be short and to the point, with about 200-400 words. In some cases, you may want to ask 3rd party supporters to also write short letters on your behalf.

Yet, I still find executives who say, “We’re not going to respond. Just let it die. You can’t get in a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.” That statement was wrong 50 years ago and it is even more wrong today.

In the past, a negative story may have run on TV or radio once or twice for 60-90 seconds, and then it was gone. In the past, a negative story appeared in the newspaper for just one day, and then the paper was thrown out, never to be seen again.Braud Communications Training web photo

But the internet has changed all of that. Today, those negative stories live on in archives on the internet forever. Additionally, media websites are among the highest ranked websites on the internet because their information is deep, the site is constantly updated, and it is perceived by search engines as highly credible. The media sites are so highly ranked that if your organization or name is mentioned in a news report, the media website could come up as a higher ranked site on the internet than your own site.

What this means is that if I do an internet search for your name, or that of your organization, I may see and read the negative things written about you on a media website before I read the positive stuff about you on your own web site.

So what do you do?

Well, just as always, if it is a newspaper that has damaged your reputation, you should write a letter to the editor as I’ve outlined above. That letter to the editor now becomes part of the online archive linked to the story. That way, in the future, when people stumble across the story they will immediately find your point of view as well.

In the case of radio and TV, you should place your comments on the media outlet’s blog on their website. Please be aware that other web users and opponents may verbally attack you and your comments once they are on the media outlet’s blog. You need to be ready to clearly state your case.

Additionally, you may wish to place a response on your own website and blog. Blogs are highly valued by search engines and will help counter the negative comments from the original story.

Finally, don’t take it personally. Your response is as important as a business decision. Hire professional PR writers to help if necessary. They will take the issue less personally and likely choose better words that may temper any anger you are feeling.

Media Coach Training Tip: Control the Interview Questions with Leading Answers

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I want you to think for a moment about the last interview you did with a reporter. The reporter asks you a question then you start talking. Think very carefully now – what were you wondering the entire time you were answering the question?

In most cases, my media training students will confess that the entire time they were talking, they were thinking, “I wonder what the reporter is going to ask me next.”

Well here’s a little confession – Most of the time while I was a reporter, the entire time people were answering my question I was wondering what I was going to ask them next.

This means that in most interviews, both people are distracted, wondering what the next question will be and therefore neither is really concentrating on what the current answer is.

Therein lies the biggest problem in most interviews and therefore the greatest opportunity.

Gerard Braud media trainingHere is what you need to know about reporters to fully understand how the interview will go down. In most cases, the reporter has no written, prepared questions before the interview. And chances are the reporter has not done an extensive amount of advanced research.

If you are dealing with an investigative reporter or a television network news magazine, you can expect the reporter has done more research and has some specific questions to ask. But in your average interview for your average story I would estimate that 80-90% of the time, the reporter is going to make up the questions on the spot when the interview begins.

The interview will start with “soft” questions, designed to help you relax and get into your comfort zone. As the interview progresses, the questions will become more direct and possibly more negative.

But here is the big secret – How you answer the current question will dictate what the next question is. Even more specifically, the words you use at the end of your answer will often be used by the reporter to craft the next question.

In other words, the reporter will mirror your language right back to you in a form of a question. For example, if my final words are, “…the challenges we’ll face next year will eclipse the challenges we face this year…” what do you think the next question will be?  The reporter will ask, “What are the challenges you expect to face next year?”

To test this theory, watch a TV news anchor talking to the reporter who is live on the scene of an event. The anchor will ask a question and the reporter will repeat part of the question back to the anchor as part of their answer.

Mary the Anchor: “Bob, it sure looks like a disaster zone out there…”

Bob the Reporter: “It sure is a disaster zone out here Mary…”

I’ve developed a system for crafting answers that foreshadows the things that I want to talk about in an interview, followed by a “cliff hanger” or a sentence that creates some suspense. The trick is to always stop short of giving all of the details about something and to make the reporter want to know more. You want to make the reporter ask you a logical follow up question.

Observe news anchors tossing questions to reporters on live locations and in your next interview try to create a few “cliff hangers” that will make the reporter ask you the logical follow up question that you want.

This technique makes life easy for the reporter because they never have to think very hard about their next question. You, therefore, are controlling the interview and the questions. The reporter is just following along.

Media Training Coach Tip: The #1 Technique to Shut Down Reporter Speculation

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As a media training speaker and media training coach, my clients can sometimes find themselves asking, “What’s the worst that could happen? How much worse could it get? But what if…?”Braud Communications media training tip

Oh, those great “what if” questions – reporters love those.  Why?  Well, reporters love a great story and sometimes the story doesn’t materialize the way they hoped it would.

Such questions indicate that the reporter is as disappointed as a 4-year-old who was hoping you would stop to buy them ice cream, but you didn’t.  Beware of reporters who ask you to speculate, because you are heading into very dangerous territory. If you do speculate, you’ve made the story bigger than what it is.

The most important phrase you can use when addressing such questions is to say, “I couldn’t speculate on that, but what I can tell you is…”  Another variation of that answer is to say, “It would be inappropriate for me to speculate on that, but what I can tell you is…”

In my media training work, I often recommend that when you’re asked to speculate, apply the Block, Bridge and Hook Technique:

  • Block: “It would be inappropriate for me to speculate…”
  • Bridge: “But what I can tell you is…”
  • Hook: Redirect the reporter back to one of your key messages and one of the facts that you have previously confirmed.

Ideally, you should create an additional hook that keeps the reporter from asking another speculative question as a follow up. But the most important thing that you are doing is immediately putting an end to the speculation and sticking to the facts.

Use the Block, Bridge and Hook Technique when a reporter asks you to speak for someone else.  The block response should be, “I can’t speak for them, but what I can tell you is…”

One more media training lesson we should address here is how to handle the reporter that misstates certain key facts in their question.  It has been my experience that most spokespeople try to gingerly work their way back to a key message and then correct facts without ever clearly telling the reporter they are wrong. Well my friends, that seldom works.

If a reporter misstates a fact in their question you have permission to stop them dead in their tracks if necessary and say, “I’m sorry, but you misstated a key fact in your question.” At that time you should give them the correct fact. Another variation is to use the phrase, “I can’t agree with the premise of your questions.”

Over the years many spokespeople have confessed to me that they are afraid that such an approach could be perceived by the reporter as hostile. I personally think you can do it without being hostile.

In fact, I have found that the dynamics of the interview or news conference will change in your favor because the reporter sees that you are in charge and that you are holding them accountable. The reporter will not only choose their words more carefully in the remainder of the interview, but they will also choose their words more carefully when writing their script.

Final media training tip: In the end, you must realize that YOU are in charge of the interview. Don’t relinquish control to the reporter. Tell your story your way and you win!

Media Training of the Future for Your Emergency Operations Center, Emergency Manager, and Public Information Officer

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How to Improve Your Crisis Communication During a Disaster

It was a surprise to many Emergency Managers and Public Information Officers. After being in demand for telephone interviews during Tropical Storm Lee on September 3-5, 2011 near New Orleans, The Weather Channel opted to start taking live reports from a resident on the front porch of his home on Lake Pontchartrain in Mandeville, LA. In some instances, the live reports from this citizen were more compelling and ran higher in the broadcast than The Weather Channel’s own reporter in New Orleans.

That resident is Gerard Braud (Jared Bro). Yes, I’m that Gerard Braud — a former storm chaser and television reporter turned media trainer and crisis communications trainer.

So how and why did the Weather Channel select me. Well, I knew I was seeing something more compelling than anyone else was offering to the network and my journalistic instincts kicked in. I could show images of waves crashing out of Lake Pontchartrain, flooding streets and yards.

I was also able to use the newest technology to bring viewers across the nation directly into the rising floodwaters, while Emergency Managers and Public Information Offices were locked inside Emergency Operations Centers using old technology, otherwise known as the telephone.Braud Communications Plan Flood

Every Emergency Manger and Public Information Officer needs to recognize times are changing and they must change with those times. They must adopt a combination of new Media Training techniques that also teach how to use new technology such as iPhones, iPads and Skype software, in order to report live on the scene for the media.

If you would like to learn more, please download this article that explains how Emergency Managers, Emergency Operations Centers and Public Information Officers can master this new technology as part of their Crisis Communications Plan.

Social Media Revolutions & How to Write a Social Media Policy

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How to Write Your Social Media Policy
March 1st Webinar

Plus the Social Media Revolution – What You Can Learn from Global Events

The time is NOW. Social Media is changing nations. But are you watching from the sidelines or digging in and learning how this affects your communications where you work and with your audience. For all the benefits of Social Media, there is an ugly flip side most people won’t talk about, or fail to recognize, or turn a blind eye to. I’m ready to talk about it.

Join me March 1st for a powerful teleseminar that will cover 2 aspects of the dangers of Social Media. First, learn how to write a Social Media policy that is perfect for your company.  Then we discuss the impact of Social Media during a Crisis, what your leaders don’t understand about Social Media, and what you need to be aware of from this day forward.

Join us for this thought provoking webinar.

Just $79 for your entire team to listen and learn.

Register with this link

Top 3 Goals for Communicators in 2011

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When we look back at the last year and look ahead to this year, I see 3 things that every communicator should do in order to be successful.

The 3 things are:

1) Be strategic

2) Be opportunistic, and

3) Be Persistent

When communicators ask for advice, I often tell them to know the difference between your job and your purpose.

Why is this important? Because everything you do in your job each day should lead you in the direction of your strategic purpose. If it doesn’t lead to your strategic purpose, you shouldn’t be doing it.

One of the best corporate communications departments I’ve ever seen was at Best Buy. For a short time I stepped in as a Vice President and got to see the machine at work.

Each year the team built its strategic communications plans around the company’s strategies for customer service, employee relations, and corporate growth. Hence, all communications was built toward those goals.

Inevitably, during the year, people would rush in asking us to crank out a news release for something they thought was special. My sarcastic reply was, “ask them if they want a burger, fries and large drink with that news release.” In other words, we were not order takers, cranking out releases on demand. We were strategists who helped achieve corporate goals through communications.  We had a plan and we were sticking to it. We were not publicists.

So, #1 is, be strategic. Your job is not to take orders to write news releases. Your job is to know your strategic purpose and communicate toward that purpose.

# 2 is to be opportunistic.  Every year communicators want advice on “how to get a seat at the corporate table.” The answer is to always be opportunistic. So when something big happens in the news, that is the time to contact your leaders and ask for a meeting to discuss how a crisis might affect your company and what strategic communications tools need to be in place.

You’ll be shocked when you read this month’s article about a survey I conducted with IABC following the BP Oil Spill in 2010. It shows just how un-opportunistic communicators are.

For example, there was no better opportunity to get the time or money to write your crisis communications plan or to run your executives through media training, or to conduct a crisis drill, than during and after the BP oil spill. Yet, as you’ll see in the survey, most communicators missed the chance to be opportunistic and get a seat at the table to review long term crisis strategies, strategies that should be part of your annual communications plan.

Most people fail to realize that the crisis communications plan you wrote last year is obsolete or out of date if you don’t update it this year. And your spokespeople will perform as poorly as Tony Hayward if they don’t strategically set aside time in their schedule for media training, at least once a year.

Many communicators think some day they will be magically invited to take a seat at the corporate table. Don’t hold your breath. The only way to get a seat at the table is to be opportunistic and take it. Take the opportunity to show your leader you are looking out for them. Take the opportunity to let them see your face, hear your thoughts and realize you are a strategic thinker and not just an order taker. There are more tips in the article.

And #3 is to be persistent. Because of the recession, many people have had their budgets cut. But just because you are told “no” at the beginning of your calendar year or at the beginning of your budget year, doesn’t mean you can’t go back and ask for funds again later in the year, provided you have a good reason.  For example, if you are told at the beginning of your year that you can’t have funds for media training or a crisis communications plan or drill, go back and ask again while a big crisis is in the news. You see… this ties back to being strategic… and being opportunistic. Wise communicators who do this tell me their bosses almost always free up special funds for special training. Likewise, many CEOs have told me “no” doesn’t mean “no” forever. It only means “no” for right now, under the current conditions with the current reasons.

If you have questions about implementing these strategies, just give me a call at 985-624-9976 and we can talk further.

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Don’t Repeat the Negative – Media Training Expert Tips

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You would think that in 2010, spokespeople would be smart enough not to repeat a negative phrase as part of an interview or as a phrase in an advertising campaign. Surprisingly, it still goes on.

This month, the country of Colombia has launched a new tourism campaign. So what do you think of when you think of Columbia? Do you think about the risk of cocaine drug lords, the risk of hostage taking and killings? Do you think about how you might be risking your life if you travel there?

The new Colombian tourism ads use the word “risk.” It’s a nice try at a play on words, but someone should fire the agency that agreed to write and produce these spots.

The commercials are beautiful and enticing on their own. But as soon as you hear the phrase “risk,” it makes you remember the danger, and causes you to second guess any notion of falling in love with the enticing images of the commercial.

This latest example comes on the heels of Christine O’Donnell’s failed run for the U.S. Senate from Delaware. After announcing on cable TV that she dabbled in witchcraft, she tried to defend her candidacy by repeating the phrase, “I’m not a witch” in countless interviews and even used it as the opening phrase in her TV commercials. Dumb, dumb, dumb. If you do a Google search for “I’m not a witch,” O’Donnell comes up several million times.

The rule is, you never repeat a negative word or phrase. As you prepare for your next interview or media training class, purge your answers of the negatives and learn how to answer questions without adding negative phrases.

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Free Teleseminar May 10-14 with Gerard Braud

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If you have to talk to the media or train people who have to talk to the media, here is a free teleseminar opportunity for you.

May 10-14, a group of All-Star A-Lists hosts will be interviewing author Gerard Braud (Jared Bro) about his new book, Don’t Talk to the Media: 29 Secrets You Need to Know Before You Open Your Mouth to a Reporter. The hosts will also be taking your questions for Gerard. All you have to do is register and call in at 11 a.m. CDT on the day of the seminar that you select. Limit 1 registration per person please. All 5 are reserved FREE for those who make an advanced purchase of the book.

Here are details about the day, topics and hosts… plus your registration links

Monday, May 10th – Christine Bragale interviews Gerard about dealing with the media regarding advocacy, public affairs and legislative issues.

Tuesday, May 11th – Paul Ladd interviews Gerard on all things media related.

Wednesday, May 12th – Michael Schwartzberg interviews Gerard about how to prepare spokespeople who come from a technical background, such as doctors, lawyers and engineers.

Thursday, May 13th – Pam Walker interviews Gerard about how to deal with small town media.

Friday, May 14th – Tom Keefe interviews Gerard about the corporate side of media relations, including media relations in large multi-national companies.

Below are the sign up links. Sign up for just one:

May 10 Sign Up

May 11 Sign Up

May 12 Sign Up

May 13 Sign Up

May 14 Sign Up

Feel free to share the links with colleagues and associations who may want to join in. We simply need each person to register so we have enough phone lines available.

If you would like to know more about Gerard or his new book, please visit:
http://www.DontTalkTotheMedia.com/

Don’t Talk to the Media – Gerard Braud’s New Media Training Book

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Gerard Braud outlines the 29 Secrets you need to know before you open your mouth to a reporter. Get more details at: http://www.donttalktothemedia.com/

Executive Media Training – Gerard Braud – New Orleans Saints – Super Bowl Parade

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In the Executive Media Training classes I teach, I always emphasize the power of a verbatim quote as a key message, rather than relying on talking points and the ad lib problems associated with talking points. So to prove the power of a pre-planned, verbatim quote, I recently set out to literally be the one-in-a-million quote.

My beloved New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. Hence, a Super Bowl parade was planned and one million people turned out to watch. As my daughter and I drove into the city that day, we saw the media gathering to cover the euphoria. So I told her, “I think dad needs to be on the front page in the morning.”

She gave that uneasy laugh, knowing I’m a man of my word and knowing I’m always willing to do something extreme to make a point. Finally she asked, “So what’s your quote going to be.”

I replied, “We’ve suffered the American nightmare… no… we’ve endured the American nightmare… it’s our turn to… no… it’s our time to share in the American dream.”

She laughed. Several hours later while waiting for the parade to begin I saw a reporter I know. I called him over and asked if he needed a quote for his story. He rolled his eyes, then asked, “What is it?” as though he expected something lame.

“We’ve endured the American nightmare. It’s our time to share in the American dream.” Read more