By Karen Y. Stinneford

When I was a newspaper reporter, I once got a call from a family whose home had burned to the ground the day before. They were upset because they just learned their homeowner’s insurance had been canceled several months before the fire.

Since they paid on the policy through their mortgage, and their payments never changed in price, they didn’t realize anything was wrong. Until they needed the coverage.

I called their insurance agent to get his perspective on the situation. He said, “No comment,” and hung up on me.

The next day, the newspaper ran a front-page article about the family’s plight, complete with an enormous photo of them standing, looking forlorn, in front of the charred remains of their house. The headline screamed “X Insurance Won’t Cover Family’s Losses.”

The insurance agent called back that day, desperately eager to talk because other customers were canceling policies right and left. But the damage was done.

Never say ‘no comment’

Now I work for an advertising and marketing communications agency, where my responsibilities include conducting media training for clients. I frequently recount this story because it is a perfect cautionary tale about the power the media wields and how every company must be able to protect its reputation through effective communication.

So I tell clients lesson number one is never say “No comment” to the media. Despite what corporate lawyers tell you, it never hurts a company to express empathy for affected parties or commit to understanding the truth. You can express concern without accepting responsibility.

In the case above, the insurance agent could have said: “I just learned about the Johnsons’ tragedy today, so unfortunately, I don’t know enough to explain what happened to their policy or why. X Insurance is investigating that matter now. In the meantime, we are very concerned about the family, which is why X Insurance is…(paying for them to stay in a hotel / giving them a credit card / etc.).”

Even if X Insurance determined the family was at fault, surely it would have cost less for the company to pick up their hotel bill than the price it ultimately paid in reputation damage and policy losses.

Impart your message

The media is a conduit through which a company disseminates its message to the public – it’s as though you are standing on a stage and the media is the microphone. You want to successfully impart your message.

Here’s an example – let’s say your company just received new venture capital funding. You can approach it by distributing a news release that says, “ACME BioLab receives $4 million in venture capital funding” – which is what most companies would do. Or you could say, “ACME BioLab receives $4 million in new funding to accelerate development of cutting-edge technology.”

Obviously, the latter expresses in a stronger way a key message your company wants to communicate.

Media training tips
Here are some other tips our agency offers clients during media training:

· Don’t necessarily answer questions exactly as they are posed.

Blindly parroting responses to questions exactly as they are posed gives the media complete control over the direction the conversation takes – as well as the subsequent story. Take back some measure of control by carefully considering questions and formulating responses that impart a key corporate message.

· When reporters call, don’t speak to them right then.

Ask why they are calling, find out their deadlines and say you are tied up at the moment but want to get back to them quickly. Then hang up and take a few moments to actually write down your thoughts and key messages. Speak to the reporter knowing what it is you want to say.

· Respect deadlines.

Print reporters rarely work on stories more than a day or two in advance, and broadcast reporters almost always are looking for an immediate response. While you should never respond off-the-cuff, you should respond within the reporter’s deadline. If you cannot gather the needed information within his or her deadline, alert the reporter right away. (These rules apply to lay media outlets; industry trade publications may have longer deadlines. But again, ask.)

· Be honest and never lie.

Being honest and never lying is not the same as revealing everything you know – not every tidbit of information about your company has to be shared.

· Never speak off the record.

Such conversations usually benefit the media only. Rarely do they do anything to advance your organization.

· Never ask to review a draft of the story.

Reporters hate that. They will always say no and it will only make them more wary of you and the information you have shared with them. Instead, tell them you are more than happy to address any follow-up questions that might arise when they are writing their stories, and offer to make yourself available to them.

[Note: Some industry trade publications allow sources to review stories for accuracy in advance of publication. If you get this opportunity, make suggestions related to the facts of the article only – do not comment on the reporter’s writing style or try to edit matters of opinion or analysis.]

Finally, make an effort to speak the same language reporters speak. Buy an Associated Press stylebook and use it.

Unlike advertising, wherein companies completely control their message, media relations involves risk and stress because companies can only hope to influence – not control – the resulting message. But in exchange for relinquishing control, by working with the media companies can gain visibility and credibility that thousands of ads couldn’t buy them. With the right preparation, a strong media relations program will advance your business interests.

Karen Stinneford, MBA, is public relations manager at Sinclair & Co., a full-service branding, advertising and marketing communications agency in Raleigh, N.C. With nearly 20 years of professional communications experience, Stinneford has worked “both sides” of the news media, first as an award-winning newspaper reporter and later handling media relations for a leading public university, an academic medical center and a Fortune 250 energy company. To learn more, visit www.sinclair-co.com.

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