Old beliefs die slowly and that’s unfortunate; many journalism and PR tenets should go the way of the horse and buggy.
Practices that many PR people believe will generate positive press or protect their clients from negative coverage haven’t been true since the advent of 24/7 cable TV networks, talk radio and all-news radio programs. More important are the outdated practices of many journalists. That’s my perspective as a former journalist and editor at New York City newspapers prior to entering the PR business where I filled key roles at Burson-Marsteller.
What I consider one of the most outdated journalism tenets was again brought to life on Jan. 4, when Katy Tur of MSNBC questioned the journalism ethics of author Michael Wolff during a discussion of his tell-all book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
It’s Off the Record
Tur implied that if a reporter is told that something is off the record it shouldn’t be used. That’s an opinion that I’ve always disagreed with. I believe a reporter should decline off- the-record information. As a journalist, I always interrupted people when they said, “This is off the record” by saying, “If it’s not for attribution don’t tell me because I can’t guarantee that at some future time the information might have to go on the record, and if the information is important enough, my responsibility as a reporter is to report on it.”
Many reporters agree to off-the-record conversations because, in their words, “It puts things in perspective for us.” Reporters have also told me that people will not speak freely if the reporter won’t agree to off-the-record conversations. In my opinion, there would be two good outcomes from that scenario: Less spinning from sources and more investigative reporting, instead of acting like secretaries and writing what unnamed sources say.
I’ve always believed that journalists who play “I’ve got a secret” prevent essential insights from being published and withhold information that the public needs to know to make important decisions. With few exceptions, the only discussions that should be off the record are ones that can affect lives, like briefings about a military or police operation, if identifying a source might result in bodily harm to the source or others, or during investigative reporting about nefarious governmental decisions that are deliberately being kept from the public.
Ordinary political reporting and reporting on relatively non-important subjects like sports, show biz, fashion, etc. should never be off the record.
An Outdated Journalism Play Book
Ms. Tur’s comment about Wolff using off-the-record material is from the traditional journalism play book written decades ago, when reporters and their publishers played footsie with politicians and sports reporters wouldn’t write anything negative about athletes. But even in those days courageous journalists and authors, known as muckrakers, defied the norm as they exposed corruption and scandal in all aspects of American life.
Because of the 24/7 cable news networks and radio programs, politics today has evolved into a new national pastime. Journalists who defend off-the-record conversations at all costs remind me of the 19th century Luddites who fought to keep things as they were instead of acknowledging change.
Journalism is supposed to make subjects transparent. Too often it doesn’t. And off-the-record conversations contribute to fuzzy, misleading and, to many people, unbelievable journalism.
PR should not be complicit in the off-the-record charade. PR should train corporate executives that everything they say and do is on-the-record. Executives should never ask to go off-the-record. Expect everything said to a journalist to come out eventually. With cell phones ubiquitous, executives should expect everything they say in any public forum or private meeting to be broadcast or repeated in some way, especially on social media.
A Different Situation: Anonymous Sources
Journalists attribute many important news stories to anonymous sources because of various circumstances. But at least those informants provide on-the-record information that otherwise might never reach the public. In addition, the sources at major publications are known to supervising editors. That’s completely different from reporters keeping information off the record.
However, many partisans believe what former White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on the Feb. 4 “Media Buzz” TV show: When reporters don’t mention names, the reporters are just making things up. That opinion can be debated, but it is a belief shared by many. While I don’t believe reporters at major news outlets report fiction, I do believe naming sources is the better way.
PR Can’t Hide Negative News
There are so many outdated tenets that remain in the PR playbook that it’s difficult to choose the worst. One ludicrous example: Releasing bad news late Friday, Saturday or during a long-weekend will result in less negative coverage. That’s a strategy that should have been shredded decades ago.
Releasing bad news late Friday might have made sense when newspapers were the prime source of information and Saturday papers were historically thin with a smaller news budget. That all changed with the advent of the all news radio stations and 24/7 cable TV news shows.
Today it’s impossible to hide bad news. A bad news story is now covered around the clock and diced, sliced, analyzed and repeated by hard news outlets, cable TV programs, radio talk shows and social media. Nevertheless, the practice of releasing bad news on weekends or holidays still occurs. Usually, it results in even more negative reactions, including accusations of trying to hide bad news.
There’s only one sure way that a bad news story will be ignored by the media. That’s for PR people to use the famous “fingers crossed” technique and hope that a more important story breaks the same day.
Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at arthursolomon4pr@juno.com or artsolomon4pr@optimum.net.
