Communications as Ikor

Are You Using the 7 Cardinal Rules To Turn the Media to Friend versus Foe?

Exclusive excerpt from the PR News Crisis Management Guidebook, www.prnewsonline.com/prpress/crisisguidebook.html

By Anne Warfield, CEO, Impression Management Professionals

Tom got the call to be the spokesperson for a crisis his company was facing.  Tom felt he was prepared and ready to handle the situation.

The reporter spent an hour talking with Tom.  At the beginning of the conversation Tom was nervous so he shifted feet, looked down, and did some heavy breathing as he talked.  At one point he relaxed and the reporter asked him a questioning statement, “Tom, looking back on this, it sounds like your company has a process to handle this so it shouldn’t happen?”  Tom replied, “Well…yes, we do have a process but in this situation it was nothing we could avoid due to two occurrences that were out of our control which…”and Tom went on to explain those two occurrences.

That night Tom about croaked as he watched the news. They put on the first question the reporter asked him and they showed Tom fidgeting and breathing heavy as he answered.  Then they cut to the reporter asking Tom, “Tom, looking back on this, it sounds like your company has a process to handle this so it shouldn’t happen? They showed Tom saying, “Well. Yes” and that was it!  The reporter then said, “There you have it.  Even the company says this is something that could have been avoided.”

Sound familiar?  Tom forgot the Seven Cardinal Rules of speaking to the media.  We see this countless times as we work with executives on how to handle crises both internally and when dealing with the media.

Here are the Seven Cardinal Rules to remember so you don’t fall in to the same media trap Tom did:

1. Create YOUR STORY rather than letting the media develop their own. Remember the media is looking for a STORY.  A story means there is an interesting angle that the viewer will be intrigued with.  If you don’t provide that angle they will try to capture it with editing and trapping questions. You need to know BEFORE you meet with the media what the STORY is that you want them to share.  Think from THEIR perspective not yours.  If you only defend what happened I guarantee they will try to put you in a more negative light. 당신의 스토리를 만들어라. 미디어가 그 스토리를 만들게 하지말아라. 언론은 스토리를 찾고 있다는 것을 항상 잊지 말아라. 스토리란 시청자들이나 독자들이 흥미를 느낄 수 있는 재미있는 앵글을 뜻한다. 만약 당신이 그러한 앵글을 제공하지 않는다면, 언론은 함정이 있는 질문을 하고, 편집을 거쳐서 그 스토리를 잡아내고야 만다. 당신은 언론을 만나기 전에 당신이 그들과 공유하고 싶어하는 스토리가 무엇인지를 확실하게 알아야 한다. 당신의 시각이 아니라 그들의 시각으로 생각해라. 만약 당신이 벌어진 사건에 대해 방어만을 하려하면 장담컨데 언론은 더욱 부정적인 시각을 투영하고 말 것이다.  
2. Watch telltale nervous or combative body language signs such as fidgeting, shifting feet, and breaking eye contact. These are all signs that on TV appear to the viewer that you are HIDING something. Since body language is tied to your thoughts any thing you are thinking WILL come out in your body language.  This is why you can not be thinking about defending what happened or else your body language will be nervous or combative. fidgeting, shifting feet, 그리고 눈길을 피하는 등 긴장되거나 전투적인 보디 랭귀지를 경계해라. 이것들은 TV를 시청하는 시청자들이 당신이 무언가를 감추고 있다는 느낌을 주기때문이다. 보디 랭귀지란 것은 당신이 생각하는 어느것과 긴밀히 연결되어 있어 그것이 바로 몸을 통한 언어로 표현된다는 것이다. 이것이 바로 당신이 일어나 사건에 대해 방어하려는 생각을 하면 안되는 이유다. 그러다보면 항상 보디 랭귀지로 그 생각이 나타나게 되어있다. 
3. Avoid all “yes” or “no” answers.  Why? Because as you saw with Tom your answer can be edited down to that simple word and the rest of your explanation left out.  Always focus your answer so it can NOT be edited down. 모든 “예” “아닙니다”라는 답변을 피해라. Tom의 사례에서도 보듯이 그러한 간단한 단어들은 편집하기 쉽고 나머지 두시부분의 답변들을 버려버릴수 있다. 항상 당신의 답변이 편집되지 않도록 각별하게 주의해라.  
4. Speak in terms of sound bites.  Reporters are looking for short phrases and succinct messaging.  Therefore, if your answer is too longwinded they will opt to just NOT use it as it is too hard to edit it down.  Try to give quick concise answers.  sound bites 음절들로 말해라. 기자들은 짧은 문장들을 원하고 간단하고 핵심적인 메시지만을 원한다. 그러므로, 만약 당신의 답변이 너무 길고 복잡하다면, 언론에서는 그것을 쓰지 않을 가능성이 많다. 왜냐하면 너무 편집하기 힘들기 때문이다. 그들에게 항상 짧고 핵심적인 단변을 하기 위해 노력해라. 
5. Avoid the words “but” or “however” as they can edit out what you say before or after that message and completely turn around what you were saying. “그러나”라던가 “그러므로”라는 단어를 피해라. 그들은 그것 전이나 후의 답변들을 편집할 것이다. 결국 당신이 말한 것을 완벽히 다르게 편집해 놓을 것이다.
6. Use proactive body language that shows confidence and leadership.  This includes looking directly at the viewer (that would be the camera), have your feet firmly planted about shoulder width apart, relax your shoulders, keep your hands up by your waist or completely down at your sides,  and have your weight balanced slightly more on one hip (this will give a relaxed pose). 신뢰감과 리더쉽을 보여주는 적극적인 보디 랭귀지를 활용해라. 시청자들 (또는 카메라를)을 정확하게 바라보고, 두발은 완전히 땅에 붙여라. 어깨는 넓게 쫙 펴고, 힘을 자연스럽게 빼라. 두손은 허리높이까지 들어올려 고정하거나 양옆으로 자연스럽게 내려라.엉덩이 한쪽에 약간 힘을 더준 상태에서 전체적인 몸무게에 균형을 맞춰라. (이 포즈가 릴랙스된 모습이다.)  
7. Talk to the reporter the way you would convincingly talk to a good friend over a cup of coffee.  Keep it professional but relaxed.  Don’t try to impress them.  Instead make sure you know in your head and heart the story you wish to deliver. Then you can take each question the reporter asks you and ALIGN it with the STORY you are trying to deliver so you can put the positive spin on it. 리포터와 대화할 때는 커피 한잔을 마시면서 좋은 친구와 이야기 나누듯이 자연스러운 방식으로 해라. 기자들에게 어떤 인상을 주려 하지 말아라. 대신에 당신의 머리와 마음속에 당신이 번달하기 원하는 스토리에 대해 생각하라. 그러면 기자가 당신에게 물어보는 각각의 질문에 답변 할 수 있다. 단 그 답변들은 당신이 전달하기 원하는 그 스토리 라인에 연결시켜라. 그러면 그것이 곧 긍정적인 스핀작용을 할 것이다.

Let’s look at how using these Seven Cardinal Rules, Tom could have turned his media experience in to a positive event for his company. 

• First, he should have taken a deep breath and relaxed BEFORE he talked to the reporter to release his nervousness. He should have shifted his focus from defending what happened and why it wasn’t his company’s fault, which led him to have nervous and combative body language.
• Second, he should have thought about the STORY he wanted to convey to the viewer.  That story should have been focused on how even with two non-predictable occurrences having a solid process can mitigate the damage that could have been caused if there was NO process in place. With this focus he could have pre-empted the reporter’s question and moved the story from what his company did wrong to what companies can do when the unexpected happens.
• Third, he should have answered the reporter’s question by saying, “When you have two unusual circumstances that are out of your control as we had in this situation, the most important thing is how to use the great processes in place you have to handle the unexpected.  In this situation our team did just that by…. (List specific things here).”

You can see how no matter how they splice that sound bite you will come out looking positive and reflective.

Remember the media is looking for a story so instead of making the media SEARCH for a story deliver it confidently to them!