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.

Teddy Roosevelt clearly didn’t need any media coaching and was famous for knowing value the “Bully Pulpit.” He knew instinctively that a single, powerful voice heard over an often confusing sea of disparate voices could more effectively persuade the masses. Somehow that lesson has been lost over time. The most recent wrangling between the current Democratic candidates involving surrogates to deliver inflammatory messages, shows a lack of media training on the part of the campaign advisers, and has only fueled the need to rethink the process of getting out one’s message. In particular, James Carville’s comments about Gov. Bill Richardson taking on the role of Judas, is the kind of statement that any seasoned political spokesperson should know will only stir the pot and make no one look good.

When you don’t speak with a single voice, that you learn in any session of media interview coaching, and you chose to use “snipers” to do your dirty work, you relinquish control of your message. Invariably you end up doing damage control anyway. Sure, it’s acceptable to have a formal spokesperson to deliver the company line, but they are empowered with your voice, so that there are no confusing signals.

Getting others to take the heat may seem like a good short term media strategy, but in the long run it can cripple your overall plan. The best way to stay on message is to speak with one clear voice, take the hits along with the platitudes.

A client came to us last week in terror. He was excited to be booked on a national talk show, but terrified that he wouldn’t know how much to interject himself into the conversation. He naturally wanted to use his prior media interview training to contribute now that he was apparently getting his much deserved 15 minutes of fame, but didn’t want to come off as pushy or obnoxious. The best advice I could give him was to become a student of the show he was to be on. Watch it four or five times and get a sense of the feel and flow of the format. Do your homework and you will know how much, and when to speak. It’s what we used to call an open book test.

It brought to mind the subject of a new phenomena that has been creeping into producing talk shows as they have proliferated across broadcast and cable outlets. I call it getting “Graced” — a style certainly perfected by the producers of Nancy Grace on CNN, in which some of her guests are booked as authorities to utter as little as two sound bites in their appearance that fit the point that Nancy is trying to make, or to deliberately enrage the former prosecutor to launch into a tirade. It can be great television and allows the host to stay on script and in complete control of the daily circus. But for the guest it can be a shocking and disappointing experience.

The trick is to know what you are getting yourself into. Good TV time is good TV time. Even if these nano-second appearances aren’t your dream situation, make the most of it by being prepared to be interviewed. Run the potential questions with someone you trust and make sure you answer succinctly and clearly. Don’t rush your answers, they won’t cut you off in mid-sentence. Make sure that your “lower third” — those five words that will run under your face to further establish your credibility — have the name of your book, your practice, credentials, or however you want to be remembered. It is your TV billboard, make the most of it. And finally, since you know what you are getting into, cooperate with the producer. As soon as you’re booked on the show for an interview like this, the biggest upside you have is to get booked again, and perhaps your role will grow.

Times are changing and so is the types of appearances on television. Make sure you are media savvy for all formats.

Say what you will about the blatent stupidity of what Elliot Spitzer did in his private life, you have to admit that when it came to his media strategy for managing the story, he deserve high marks. With only a few days to process the collapse of his personal and private life, he stood before the media, made a short acknowledgement of his wrong doings and got off the stage without feeding the already out of control media frenzy by taking questions.

Today, in his follow-up act, that featured his continued apology to his family and the citizens of the State of New York as well as his irrevocable resignation from his position as Governor, he again took responsibility for his actions and moved on. He has obviously had some good media coaching over the years that’s resulted in his good use of the media to fuel his crusades, but when the white hot spotlight was turned on him, he put his ego aside was smart enough to only say what needed to, and then leave. People do dumb things, they should step aside, take their punishment, and let us all move on with our lives.

Let’s make a list.  MSNBC, CNBC, FOX News, Fox Business Channel, CNN, Headline News and that doesn’t include niche channels and internet broadcasts that are gaining favor.   And what do these 24/7 outlets all have in common — everyone of them wants YOU to be famous!  Or shall we say, a media trained YOU; to help them fill out the time neatly around the commercials they have to sell to keep the studio doors open.

That’s the good news.  You want to be a star and they want to make you a star, sounds like a perfect fit.   But here’s the bad news.  When you get your shot, you are only going to get ONE chance to prove that you are ready for primetime.  So, if you are at all serious about your rendezvous with fame, you have no choice but to get media coaching.

Oh, and did I mention that for whatever field producers will want you comment, advise or be an authority on, they will pit you against hundreds of others who have the same dream.  Once again, you have to be prepared to be interviewed by experts.

Oh, and don’t even think about doing it yourself.  In the legal profession they say the man (or woman) who represents themselves has a fool for a client.  The same applies here.  You can’t affectively do it on your own, unless of course you are willing to wait another 30 or 40 years for your second shot at being media savvy.

Recently President Bush held a press conference and was asked if he had heard that gasoline prices could soon hit $4 per gallon — a prediction that had been broadcast widely on news reports and splashed across front pages nationwide.  Whether he knew the answer or just hoped that the question would go away, his response was a shaky, “Oh yeah? That’s interesting, I hadn’t heard that.”  Not too media savvy.  At that point, whatever the original reason for the press conference, it was lost as the volume of that sound bite drowned out any other effort to stay on message.  This was a case where there probably should have been a bit more media interview coaching by a trusted staff.

It’s a wake up call for any encounter with the media or delivering any internal presentation.  Inevitably you will hear questions that you would rather not answer.  And pleading ignorance will only sour your entire message.  So once again the solution is preparation, but not just rehearsing your own lines, let someone be brutally honest with you by throwing out the questions that you might not want to hear.  This requires putting your ego aside and allowing you to formulate the right responses.  This is NOT something that you can do looking in a mirror by yourself.

It’s also essential that you pretend you are the one asking the questions and do some research.  You have access to all the same information that anyone else does via the internet.  We even tell people to listen to gossip.  You don’t have to react to it, just know what’s out there.  You can prepare to be interviewed and present like the pros (in some cases apparently, better than the pros) if you keep your eyes and ears open to what you can expect from others.

When historians, or just Monday morning quarterbacks, do their post script on the outcome of the fight to be the Democratic nominee this year, I predict that attention will turn to what the candidates didn’t say, as much as what they did. As Hillary Clinton continues to look for the “March Miracle” she has no doubt been told the best way to be prepared to be interviewed was to know the points you’re trying to make and get them in no matter what the cost. The problem with that strategy is that anyone runs the risk of looking combative, pushy and whiny — a distinction that Hillary in particular, has been battling throughout the campaign.

Obama’s approach to media exposure in an environment such as a debate or appearance on a news show, is to let the questioner come to him with a subject, answer the question and then stop! Granted, that is the luxury of being a front runner, but it’s also very a media savvy strategy to know when to make your points and when to shut up. This is especially the case in our sound bite obsessed world, where an out of context ramble can be deadly and can ultimately jeopardize you getting your message across.

When we do interview media training we live by the 30 second rule. There is very little you can say that is worth more than a 30 second answer. Not only does this keep you from droning on, it means that will have to stay focused on answering the question and that’s it — no time for making extra points that are off message. Sure no one is perfect and even the most rehearsed politicians, celebrities and executives can get carried away with themselves from time to time, but knowing that less is probably more, is more often than not the surest way to your win your own campaign.

Everyone needs a story (or two) .

It’s as important as what you do, what you wear or what you look like. When we do media interview coaching for an actor or actress to go on the Letterman show, the first thing we do as part of our media strategy is to ask them to start telling us stories. Stories about their families, friends, first jobs, their latest movies, whatever. Believe me not all of what we hear from the biggest stars are gems. Some are dreadfully boring with very little punchline. But it’s a game of numbers the more they come up with the greater chance that we will find one worth repeating. Sometimes it can take hours to come up with six or seven good ones, but when they hit — BAM you know it’s a homerun!!!

The same theory applies to anyone who gets up before strangers you are trying to impress, whether it’s at a cocktail party or in front of 1,000 people — you need to get your stories down. You know the ones that work time after time.

Here is a game that everyone should play who is even considering media coaching. Watch your favorite talk-show, Leno, Letterman, Ellen and try and come up with a story that you think would be a hit on one of those shows. When you find it, I’ll bet you can adapt it as your own anecdote for any presentation. Try it out on your wife, husband or a friend or better yet try it out in this blog and we’ll tell you what will probably work as a story that makes you interesting, engaging and the kind of person that someone would want to know more about. It’s the first step in getting “booked” on the road to your own presentation success.

Media Savvy is a 10 year old media training and consulting company specializing in preparing people from all walks of life to go into the spotlight and come out shining.  While there are thousands of blogs about the media out there, the Media Savvy blog is designed to put a critical eye on who is saying what and why their message is getting through or not.  We’ll take a daily assessment of how those who should know about delivering their messages, often stumble and fall flat on their public faces.  It’s perspective that you can’t get at the water cooler, but after reading our viewpoints, you might want to run back to that cooler and impress the crowd with how wise and insightful you are.So join us and talk back — the TV won’t listen, but we will.