Media-Savvy

Claiming that the media has been unfair to a candidate is usually a a recipe for disaster, or at least what is destined to be a self fulfilling prophecy.

The formerly media savvy Bill Clinton, in his Monday morning quarterbacking on the subject of why his wife Hillary’s failure to get the Democratic nomination, partly blames the “unfair treatment of his wife by the media.” This is the kind of fruitless accusation that doesn’t make sense in any well thought out media strategy, whether that be in the political arena or in the general press. Even a moment of emotionless thought would show anyone that accusing the press of a bias or being unfair can’t work in your favor, as they will always have the last word and you will always be on the defensive.

The only way to combat to what you believe is an unfair portrayal of yourself in the media is to be proactive. Get media interview coaching, get media training, go on the offensive with your positive profile. Attacking the messenger will never get you the desired result.

While Barack Obama was in the midst of taking his bows for a brilliantly run campaign against the relentless Hillary Clinton, John McCain lobbed a smoke bomb into the Obama camp by inviting him to accompany McCain on a trip to visit the troops in Iraq. Talk about media savvy, this was the perfect “call out” that didn’t attack Obama with some insinuation about an association with an out of control preacher or playing up a former advisor’s contacts with a foreign government from the great white north. This was a pointed attack designed to embarrass the candidate and no amount of media coaching could save this hit.

First off, the invitation to accompany McCain, allowed the presumptive Republican candidate to highlight the fact that Obama hadn’t been to Iraq since 2006. Then the notion that their “joint” appearance would depoliticize the event, just added fuel to the fire. The image of the older, war veteran McCain standing next to a more slight, youthful Obama both reviewing and talking with the troops, would conjure images of John Kerry duck hunting or worse, Michael Dukakis riding around with his head sticking out of a tank.

So what did the Obama campaign do? They had to adopt a new media strategy on the subject. Number one, they rejected the “joint” trip. Then they had to admit that they are reviewing the prospects of a Summertime visit to that war torn country of their own. Either way you look at it, it was a “swiftboat” worthy McCain coup that was only disrupted by the annoying release of the Scott McClellan’s tell-all tome this week.