Handling the Media's Tough Questions

Now, let’s assume you do decide to talk to the media. The story must now include a portion of its time to your defense. If your communication strategy is executed properly, readers and viewers will hear from you why: A) the story isn’t true, B) the customer is stretching the truth, or C) you are working to solve the problem. If you can project an image of sympathy or empathy, viewers might even feel sorry for you and give you the benefit of the doubt, knowing everyone is entitled to make a mistake in life.

But let’s be clear on this communications strategy. You are not obligated to provide video for the reporter’s story, only an interview. With negative stories on television, you need to always control the amount of video that a photographer shoots of you and your business. The fewer visuals a reporter has to work with, the more restrictions that are placed on the story.

Let me elaborate. In television there is something called B-roll and sound. B-roll is another word for video, while sound is the abbreviated term for interviews. During a TV shoot, you will frequently overhear producers telling the photographer to get more “b-roll for a package.” This insider lingo basically means that the producer needs more video for his story. “Package” is another word for story.

As a person or business in the center of a negative story, you should always try to control the amount of video or “b-roll” that a photographer shoots. Here is a good example of why this is important and how it works to your advantage.

Many cities have restaurant health reports on their local newscasts. They might be called “Eat at Your Own Risk,” “Dirty Restaurants” or the “Friday Restaurant Report.” Whatever the segment is called, it doesn’t matter because all of these stories work like a formula. The reporter focuses the story around a popular restaurant that failed its most recent health inspection. Some of the more in-depth television reports will take an undercover camera into the restaurant and shoot hidden camera video of the food or kitchen before the restaurant manager is “ambushed” outside. In almost every case involving a story like this, you should not allow cameras into your restaurant.

Remember, it doesn’t exist in television if the photographer doesn’t get it on tape. An alien could land in Times Square during the middle of the day, but if a photographer doesn’t capture it, you might as well be listening to radio. That’s a fact that won’t ever change in the visual medium of television. I cannot over-emphasize how much video drives a story in television, and why you need to control it.

Many great follow-ups to newspaper stories are killed in the morning news meetings for television because the story lacks visuals. In December 2007, producers and managers in my television newsroom kicked around a story involving a sperm donor who was ordered by a judge to pay child support for his unknown child. The story was full of controversy. A young man allows another couple to use his sperm so they could have a child, and then a judge orders him to pay child support. Our television station wanted to pursue the story, but after the biological father said he wouldn’t talk on camera, the story was killed. The father eliminated the controversy by removing himself from the story.

In many of my undercover investigations, I worried relentlessly about the hidden-camera not working until I played the tape back and saw what the camera captured. Cameras are just like any other high-tech gadget. Sometimes they fail, and they don’t capture the video needed. Sometimes, uneducated business owners improve the visuals of a negative story by inviting cameras into their establishments. Either way, good video only makes an average story better. Poor video can lead to a shorter story or in the best situation, lead to it getting killed.

Let’s stick with the example of the restaurant report, and assume the reporter didn’t get any video inside of the establishment. What do you think viewers will see on TV during this restaurant report? You’re going to see exteriors of the restaurant, and pictures of a health inspection document. The camera will zoom into words like, “rats,” “rodents,” “failed,” “feces” or any other titillating word on the health department document. But that video only lasts for so long before it turns into wallpaper. You can only show so many documents and exteriors of a restaurant before you want to change the channel.

By limiting the photographer’s access to your business or restaurant, you are controlling the story’s direction. Without video, reporters will have little to write to or show on television. And don’t be charmed into letting a reporter or producer see more of your business. Reporters will say they only want to get video of your clean kitchen. And let’s assume your kitchen is clean. Maybe you are proud of the new manager you hired in response to your last failed restaurant inspection report. What’s wrong with wanting to show off your sparkling new kitchen? Don’t you want viewers to see how you cleaned up your act?

Here’s why you can’t do that. Once the photographer is inside your kitchen, he is going to focus his camera on visual elements that the story lacks. The photographer is going to shoot video of your floor where the mice scampered around and left behind droppings. The photographer will focus on uncooked perishable food items that are outside of the refrigerator. The camera will take pictures of employees cooking food.

You have now added all of the elements for a visual story. The reporter can write to rats prancing around the kitchen floor. Sure, you won’t see rats, but you will see the kitchen floor. The reporter can talk about dangerous food temperatures left outside of the refrigerator by showing eggs on the kitchen counter. The reporter can show close-up shots of hands, as he refers to any violations your employees may have received. This story now has every ingredient to make it a great visual story, and you can thank yourself for making it happen.

Consider the alternative: video of the exterior of a building and a document. The reporter doesn’t have pictures of your kitchen floor, and he can’t show unsafe food that was left outside of the refrigerator. The reporter’s imagination is limited because he has fewer visuals. And because a story like this gets boring fast, it has a better chance of getting cut down in the edit bay, which means your negative story will be shorter.

You don’t have to own a restaurant to apply this defensive tactic to your story. If you own an auto repair shop, the TV reporter will need video of mechanics working on cars. Or if you own a clothing store, the reporter will need video of customers browsing through the clothing racks. This situation applies to almost any business that can control who walks in and out of the building, i.e. coffee shop owners, airports, hospitals, retail outlets, auto repair shops, manufacturing plants, etc.

For more advice on how to handle the media during a crisis situation, go to www.BeatthePressBook.com