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What Makes Media Tick

Copyright by Arupa Tesolin Feb. 2004

Like it or not the media has become the quintessential third party in the conversation among businesses, the public, and shareholders.  Today’s managers need to move beyond last decades view of “managing” or “handling” the media to relating with them. The view of contemporary media alternately as a bad-boy to be controlled or as mechanism to be used for free publicity has to change. 

Media has become increasingly more complex and many issues under scrutiny today have never been dealt with before.  Even the media is under the scrutiny of an aware and demanding public. One has to understand the new roles, norms and realities better.

Today appetites and memories are fairly short and fickle.  Today’s blunder can be tomorrow’s “fait accompli”.  Today’s hero can be tomorrow’s fool.  Yesterday’s news is old, tired, boring.  Tomorrow’s, who knows? 

The old days (more than 5 years ago) of reporters being unaware of the nuances and activities of corporations are over.  In many ways a senior writer can have a firmer grasp of the collective issues, importance, context and ramifications than a senior manager in that company. 

In the past few years the role of media has expanded, to the point that it requires the counter-balance of public and corporate pressure. In a recent article published in The Toronto Star, David Olive, one of our best business investigative reporters, wrote about recently publicized media governance issues from so-called rogue BBC reporters writing about “sexed-up” evidence on Iraq and the consequent management shake up at the BBC.  He identified correctly, in my view, the issue where the media overstepped it’s role and needs to reign itself in.

In the article he referred to one Canadian newspaper, The National Post, as it fancied itself taking on the role of a true opposition to a majority Liberal Canadian government. 

I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more about media governance in the times to come.  The pendulum has begun a swing to the right.

What does it mean for companies right now?  It means tread carefully and know who to trust in the media.  It means not taking things lightly when a reporter calls. It means doing your homework and finding out what kind of reporting this person is known for and acting accordingly. 

If you are dealing with an up-front person then give him or her the executive tour and access to your company spokesperson(s).  If the reporter is known for sensationalizing issues make sure you, your key management and communications staff are present at the interview, and that your information is backed up by fact.  Don’t leave holes that a reporter can poke around in and uncover dirt.  Also don’t hesitate to contact the editor or write him/her a public letter or to contact the press Ombudsman if the media representative has acted outside the bounds of proper reporting.  There is the potential for very expensive libel and defamation of character proceedings, but this is better avoided or prevented with forward communication strategies.

This has even happened here, in sanitized Canada, when a newspaper reporter reported a headline that inferred that Dr. Jim Young, the Chief Coroner of Ontario interfered with evidence in a murder trial.  The fairly young reporter, doing what she believed was her duty to report, seemed to go above and beyond her role to antagonize him, including taping phone calls to him without his knowledge or consent once he confronted her with questions about her style of reporting.  It was absurd indeed that things went so far.  There was no substance to the inference, a publication ban had been imposed by the court and she was limited on what she could report. 

And Dr. Young wasn’t a person ever known for unscrupulous conduct -- quite the opposite in fact.  He was a senior civil servant of impeccable integrity, who I known and worked with.  He’s well regarded by peers, public and employees alike.  He sued over the reporting and was finally exonerated and compensated for damages by the court, a process which sapped his energy unnecessarily, and dragged his sterling reputation through the mud.  The reporting incident which questioned his credibility almost cost him his job. 

Thank God he kept it.  His subsequent handling of the SARS crises giving daily press conferences on statistics, developments, and assessments of exposure became a success benchmark and business case for how public officials ought to communicate with the media.  And there was no dry run for a media issue like this one.  It was complicated and could have escalated to a panic, not to mention a serious disease running rampant.

In another media case concerning an investigative report series on sanitation in hospitals, a hospital with a good reputation gave a reporter carte blanche to do a walk-around inspection and freely observe and report.  The reporter took advantage beyond the hospital’s invitation and went on to bring a video camera and deliver a scathing report on it’s sanitation processes.  The previously open relationship the hospital had maintained with the media over the years soured after that.  The communications director learned a good lesson - not to give an untried reporter so much freedom.  And the media trust the hospital  had developed over the years was broken that one time.  It’s much harder to build it than to break it.  

Keep in mind though that a reporter has a reputation to protect too, so if there’s nothing blatantly wrong going on, it won’t do his or her career any good to invent something.  After all, newspapers, radio stations, and television stations are corporations too and they stay in business by selling newspapers, advertisements, and generating real news.

For us here in Canada, it’s a balancing act where knowing what to balance is most important - vigilance, knowledge and relationship.

Arupa Tesolin is the founder of Intuita, a strategic learning company and "The Intuita 3-MINUTE SOLUTIONS^TM" for INTUITION, INNOVATION, VISION, & STRESS. The Intuita On-Line Learning Institute offers management & employee training programs thru your desktop. She is the recognized author of numerous international articles on intuition in business, a trainer, speaker and consultant. 905.271.7272, www.intuita.com, or email.