As a PR practitioner, I’ve long recoiled at hearing the term “spin” being applied to my profession. I don’t think of myself as a “spin artist,” nor do I advocate that companies and executives master the art of “spin” when dealing with the media and constituents. Rather, I prefer they speak in plain English. Audiences are people, too, after all.
Stephen Sondheim has written music and lyrics for some of the most enduring musicals of the last half a century. I have no idea if he has ever written a press release, yet the lines he wrote could have emerged in whole from the textbook for PR 101:
On a daily basis, PR professionals decide which story ideas to share with media, when to pull the trigger and which publication/reporter would make the most sense for the angle. Appropriately acting on these issues is the difference between your story or client hitting in the media or becoming the PR pro who always annoys media.
Here are some simple things to consider to avoid the latter:
If you’ve ever been interviewed by the media, chances are you one time or another looked at the final article in print and wondered, “Where did that quote come from? I didn’t say that.” I’m not referring to a damaging, libelous misquote…just the run-of-the-mill what I meant to say doesn’t match the what the reporter said I said. The instinctive reaction is to blame the reporter. They got it wrong! But consider another possibility: We didn’t make it very easy on the reporter to get it right.
Media training can cure a lot of ills…including the chronic misquote. If you engage in an in-depth media training session, you can expect to work on some critical exercises, designed among other things to ensure accuracy in quoting…
Cable news has made viewers more accustomed to flashy sets complete with digital touch screens showcasing detailed geographic locations mixed with plenty of multimedia. In more ways than one, 24-hour accessibility of cable news changed the look of the television landscape for the better by incorporating new ways to keep viewers engaged while showing various demographics that news broadcasts can be cool — think Will.i.am interviewing with CNN via virtual hologram minutes before the 2008 election results were announced.
