News
Law Practice
Jul. 30, 2002
Under Pressure
Dicta Column - By Richard S. Levick - Welcome to the age of corporate enlightenment, where new levels of stockholder and journalistic inquiry demand heightened responsiveness from in-house counsel. The answer to, "What did you know and when did you know it?" is now the standard by which executives, including in-house counsel, are judged.
Dicta Column
By Richard S. Levick
Welcome to the age of corporate enlightenment, where new levels of stockholder and journalistic inquiry demand heightened responsiveness from in-house counsel. The answer to, "What did you know and when did you know it?" is now the standard by which executives, including in-house counsel, are judged.
In the past, those executives and lawyers didn't worry about the media because the public wasn't particularly interested in corporate governance or accounting procedures. Today, however, those executives and lawyers must learn new rules as reporters rifle through their balance sheets.
Here are 12 rules that should be mastered by general counsel in order to properly handle this onslaught of post-Enron media inquiries.
• Time is not on your side. Defending the Bastille is always easier with advanced warning. When lawyers contact their public relations people after the media has expressed interest, the media already has formed an opinion and is merely calling to fill in the blanks. They probably have chosen their good and bad guys. You will have lost the opportunity to shape the first news stories that will set the foundation for all future impressions.
Therefore, call in your media team as soon as you sense that there might be public perception problems.
• Never answer, "No comment." This is a fine way to concede the story to the opposing point of view. Once journalists have decided something is newsworthy, ignoring it will not make it go away. If you are unprepared when reporters call, tell them, "We want to respond to your request for an interview, but we want to make sure we get you the right answers from the right people. Please be patient. Let me know your questions. Give me a number where I can reach you, and we will call you back as soon as possible. What is your deadline?" Then follow through.
• You can negotiate. When negotiating with reporters for more time or to modify the story angle, understand that most reporters want to report accurate facts. Their instinct for the truth can be a tool in your arsenal. As such, you can generally advance your interest by urging that the story needs your input for balance and veracity.
• You can live with a bad news day. Sometimes the story is just going to be bad. Minimize it if you can, however, by gathering all the facts and working with your media team in determining how best to release the information and to whom.
In some cases, an exclusive to one reporter builds trust and can minimize the negative spin. It is human nature to try and help those who reveal their warts.
• Release bad news all at once. If it trickles out, you will have extended the life of the story and obliterated trust with reporters, which will invite more scrutiny and coverage.
• Funnel all media activity through a central source to eliminate multiple, and possibly contradictory, representatives. Effective crisis media management requires a believable representative. If audiences like and trust your representative, they will be more favorable to the company.
• Use word pictures. Many high-profile matters are won or lost in the minds of the public on a single mental picture, such as the 2000 Florida election recount picture of hanging chads. Your representative should develop a word picture that unequivocally articulates your position.
• Develop message points - short, on-point answers that will address any and all questions likely to be asked by reporters. Never answer questions spontaneously.
• Prepare release materials early. Depending on the crisis, you may need to give written materials to the press. If so, their window of usefulness is only several hours, as reporters will be filing their first stories soon after they call. Having them developed in advance will help you meet this deadline.
• Find more talking heads. If a story extends beyond one day, reporters will be looking for fresh angles. For that, they will go to new sources. Identify the most likely of those sources and, if they are friendly, provide support for their interviews. Supportive third parties will enforce your position.
• Go proactive. In stories with a lot of media coverage, the media will grow tired of beating up the company. In the early days of a crisis, identify positive messages so that they can be incorporated early on.
• Trust your media team. If you hold back information, they cannot determine the best strategy, and they will lose credibility with journalists, who will eventually get the bad news on their own. Because journalists are history's storytellers, losing their trust is the worst thing you can do.
Richard S. Levick is president of Levick Strategic Communications based in Washington, D.C., and can be reached at rlevick@levick.com.
By Richard S. Levick
Welcome to the age of corporate enlightenment, where new levels of stockholder and journalistic inquiry demand heightened responsiveness from in-house counsel. The answer to, "What did you know and when did you know it?" is now the standard by which executives, including in-house counsel, are judged.
In the past, those executives and lawyers didn't worry about the media because the public wasn't particularly interested in corporate governance or accounting procedures. Today, however, those executives and lawyers must learn new rules as reporters rifle through their balance sheets.
Here are 12 rules that should be mastered by general counsel in order to properly handle this onslaught of post-Enron media inquiries.
• Time is not on your side. Defending the Bastille is always easier with advanced warning. When lawyers contact their public relations people after the media has expressed interest, the media already has formed an opinion and is merely calling to fill in the blanks. They probably have chosen their good and bad guys. You will have lost the opportunity to shape the first news stories that will set the foundation for all future impressions.
Therefore, call in your media team as soon as you sense that there might be public perception problems.
• Never answer, "No comment." This is a fine way to concede the story to the opposing point of view. Once journalists have decided something is newsworthy, ignoring it will not make it go away. If you are unprepared when reporters call, tell them, "We want to respond to your request for an interview, but we want to make sure we get you the right answers from the right people. Please be patient. Let me know your questions. Give me a number where I can reach you, and we will call you back as soon as possible. What is your deadline?" Then follow through.
• You can negotiate. When negotiating with reporters for more time or to modify the story angle, understand that most reporters want to report accurate facts. Their instinct for the truth can be a tool in your arsenal. As such, you can generally advance your interest by urging that the story needs your input for balance and veracity.
• You can live with a bad news day. Sometimes the story is just going to be bad. Minimize it if you can, however, by gathering all the facts and working with your media team in determining how best to release the information and to whom.
In some cases, an exclusive to one reporter builds trust and can minimize the negative spin. It is human nature to try and help those who reveal their warts.
• Release bad news all at once. If it trickles out, you will have extended the life of the story and obliterated trust with reporters, which will invite more scrutiny and coverage.
• Funnel all media activity through a central source to eliminate multiple, and possibly contradictory, representatives. Effective crisis media management requires a believable representative. If audiences like and trust your representative, they will be more favorable to the company.
• Use word pictures. Many high-profile matters are won or lost in the minds of the public on a single mental picture, such as the 2000 Florida election recount picture of hanging chads. Your representative should develop a word picture that unequivocally articulates your position.
• Develop message points - short, on-point answers that will address any and all questions likely to be asked by reporters. Never answer questions spontaneously.
• Prepare release materials early. Depending on the crisis, you may need to give written materials to the press. If so, their window of usefulness is only several hours, as reporters will be filing their first stories soon after they call. Having them developed in advance will help you meet this deadline.
• Find more talking heads. If a story extends beyond one day, reporters will be looking for fresh angles. For that, they will go to new sources. Identify the most likely of those sources and, if they are friendly, provide support for their interviews. Supportive third parties will enforce your position.
• Go proactive. In stories with a lot of media coverage, the media will grow tired of beating up the company. In the early days of a crisis, identify positive messages so that they can be incorporated early on.
• Trust your media team. If you hold back information, they cannot determine the best strategy, and they will lose credibility with journalists, who will eventually get the bad news on their own. Because journalists are history's storytellers, losing their trust is the worst thing you can do.
Richard S. Levick is president of Levick Strategic Communications based in Washington, D.C., and can be reached at rlevick@levick.com.
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