PioneersGetShot.doc December 20, 2003
Media Attention
No one really ‘handles’ the media, or at least, not for long. In many parts of the world, the strategy of the media is to ‘comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable’. That means that while you are seen as an underdog, you will probably get favourable or sympathetic media attention but once you are successful, they could turn on you.
It is impossible to conduct your business in the full glare of the media spotlight. Things that are in the normal course of business can become distorted through the lens of the press.
“Sir, did you beat your wife?”
“No I didn’t beat my wife.” The headline then reads: “So and So Denies Beating Wife”.
Entrepreneurs, those who Stick out from the Crowd, are
Mighty Tempting Targets for the Media (Far Side Comic)
If you’re in divorce proceedings, all a person has to do is accuse her or his partner of child abuse or spousal abuse and almost automatically they have the upper hand. I have known lawyers advise their clients to be deceptive like this to strengthen their hand in settlement negotiations.
Candidate Jimmy Carter’s admission to Playboy Magazine that he did in fact have lust in his heart for women not his wife almost led to his failure to become President despite the fact that Jimmy was loyal to his wife Roslyn and that this is a question that practically no male on the planet could answer in any other way.
In the commercial office (real estate) business, leasing inducements are normal course—they go to pay for TIs (Tenant Improvements). I have seen press reports labeling these as ‘bribes’.
In an Offering Memorandum, standard legal language describes the risks associated with the offering in often bleak terms; basically, ‘If you invest here, YOU COULD LOSE ALL YOUR MONEY.’ Or ‘You should be prepared to lose your ENTIRE INVESTMENT if you make do this.’ Or ‘Don’t invest here unless YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE YOUR ENTIRE INVESTMENT AND NOT MISS IT.’
To an investigative reporter, who may know next to nothing about business, this is tantalizing; the headline could read: “So and So Peddles Worthless Investment.”
People, who buy professional sports teams often, in retrospect, describe their purchase of the team as the ‘second happiest business day of their lives’, the first happiest being the day they sell it.
And usually it isn’t because they have lost money on the team; it is because they have suddenly become a focus of media attention that hugely damages their other business interests, their personal lives, friends and family.
So, if you stick your neck out, watch out… jealousy can be prevalent and some of the media will be only too happy to take you down a peg or two. Remember, journalists can get promoted when they produce a good ‘gotcha’ story; they win prizes for their detective work, sometimes even if it proves out to be untrue later on.
The idea that a journalist needs to have two independent sources before they print something is seen in some quarters today as a quaint concept. Now they may need only wait for the tabloids or the Internet to report something before they publish it as ‘fact’ in the mainstream press.
And it doesn’t matter if you are the most ethical person since Mother Théresa, you are in a no win situation.
What can you do about it? KEEP A LOW PROFILE. Remember that the media builds you up only to tear you down. Using the media to garner attention, to promote your business, to gain ‘earned media’ through GM (Guerrilla Marketing) works for you for a while and then it doesn’t.
Other than keeping a low profile, the only other thing that seems to work for most people is telling the smart truth. I learned this from litigation lawyer Scott McLean. Politicians know how to do this or they are not long for the political world.
A few years ago, Coca Cola announced that they had invented a soda dispenser that hiked the price whenever the weather got warmer. This was truthful but awfully dumb. Coca Cola looked like a heartless corporation overcharging you just when you need to quench your thirst the most; i.e., when it is hot. The smart truth would have been that they had invented a machine to lower prices whenever the weather got cold. The effect is the same (that is, they are using differential pricing algorithms to maximize profitability) but the PR impact is vastly different.
Media and public reaction to their dumb truth was so bad that they had to withdraw the new algorithm.
I’ll bet there was an engineer involved in this press announcement—engineers tend to be linear thinkers and can’t believe that this type of thing can actually be important. It is.
There are exceptions, of course. Ted “Mouth of the South” Turner seems to have pulled it off as has Richard Branson at Virgin. But again I tell my students that this is like reading about the two pals who sketch an idea on a napkin, set up a business with no revenues and sell it for $300m 18 months later to some foolish large company. It happens, except not to you. It is more like winning the lottery—you can’t count on it. There aren’t too many Ted Turners or Richard Bransons who by their very nature, charisma, luck, charm, whatever, seem to get away with outrageous statements and behaviour and still be successful entrepreneurs.
Dr. Bruce M. Firestone,