Strategic PR Tips For Developing A Media Policy For Responding To Media Inquiries

Everyday there are examples of how businesses and organization are ill-prepared if someone from the media called or showed up at the office or home and started asking you questions related to their business and some event that has great potential to bring positive or negative publicity to the business, the owners of the business, management and even employees. Many people will admit that they do not know how to respond to media when they come with their inquiries. And being unprepared or ill-prepared to media inquiries can have serious consequences to an organization and its reputation. All businesses and organizations with more than one employee should have a well-written media policy that clearly defines who within the organization may respond to media inquiries, what kinds of information can or should be released to the media, and what information must be kept confidential.

Furthermore, a proactive approach is always prescribed for dealing with the media. It is important to commit to establishing good relationships with members of the media because it can help to establish an accurate public perception of who you are and what you do. Another important thing to remember is that you do not need to feel intimidated when being approached by the media to ask you questions. It is good to remember that members of the media do need you as a source of news and background information as much as you need them to give you publicity and clarify your point of view. The development of a clearly written and well thought out media policy is an essential part of doing business today. Here are eighteen (18) prescribed elements for inclusion in your media policy for responding to media inquiries.

1. Designate a company spokesperson to respond to media inquiries and ensure that all employees know the name and contact information for the person so they know where they should direct media inquiries.

2. Research and become familiar with the print and electronic broadcast media outlets and the reporters and editors that you are likely to encounter.

3. Clearly define in your media relation's policy what kinds of data and information must remain confidential.

4. Always be honest. Never knowingly tell an untruth or exaggerate. Trust is a critical ingredient in developing positive and enduring media relations and if you violate that trust it will have very negative results.

5. NEVER EVER say those fateful words, "No Comment." This immediately makes you look like you are hiding something. Instead you might say something like: "I'm sorry but this matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation or lawsuit and I am unable to respond to that question at this time."

6. Never speculate. Stick to what you know and your area of expertise. If you do not know the answer to a reporter's question say you don't know. Do not try to "fake it" because that will come back to haunt you. Instead, try to help the reporter reach a source who is able to answer the question. Members of the media remember who provides reliable resources and by helping them you will enhance your credibility and they will likely come back to you in the future.

7. Always speak clearly in plain English that average readers and listeners can understand. Avoid the use of any jargon or bureaucratic language.

8. Treat reporters, editors, and program directors courteously. Their impression of you and your firm will affect their impression of the entire organization, and that may possibly influence how they decide to write and broadcast stories about you and your company.

9. Always return calls from the media in a timely manner that is sensitive to their deadlines, if possible. Reporters are typically on tight deadlines and will appreciate your promptness. If they leave a message for someone who is not available or can't be reached, have someone else return the call. This is very important since you will not create a favorable and positive impression if you hear on the evening newscast or read in the newspaper that your company or organization "could not be reached for comment."

10. If you do not have the information you need to answer a question and you need time to research or think about how to answer a question, the you should tell the reporter that you need some time. You should also inquire what his or her deadline is, and then promise them you'll call back with an answer before that time.

11. Never argue with the reporter. Be persuasive, but never be confrontational.

12. Do not hesitate to ask the reporter questions about the story they are doing. You might ask about the theme, the point of view, and who else is being interviewed?

13. Do not hesitate to share information that is already a matter of public record. Remember that if you withhold such information, the reporter to develop other sources and get the information anyway.

14. A great guide to help you frame the answers to questions from the media is always remember that whenever you speak to a reporter, you are really speaking

to the public.

15. It is best to assume that everything you say to a reporter is "on the record" and can be reported or broadcast. Your best advice is to remember that if you don't want to see it in print or hear it on the air, then don't say it.

16. Never try to do the media's job and never assume that the media is there to do the story "your way" or with the "news angle" you want.

17. Never ask the reporter if you can review the story before it's published. This will let the reporter know that he or she is dealing with an uninformed or ill informed and non-media savvy person. However, it is okay for you to ask the reporter during the interview to read back your quotes to confirm accuracy.

18. Always be very selective in any challenges to the reporter's end product. A basic guideline to consider is that if the published story contains minor factual errors or omissions, do not make a big deal of it. On the other hand, if the story seriously misrepresents your position or misstates an important fact, then you can call it to the reporter's attention in a polite communication, requesting a correction. This is an extremely sensitive area in media relations and the best advice is that unless the timeliness of the correction is critical, do not call to complain. And avoid the most serious of transgressions in media relations by never going over the reporter's head to complain to his or her editor or news executive unless the reporter's response is wholly unsatisfactory. Again, be careful in this area since you never want to alienate reporters.

Glenn Ebersole, Jr. is a multi-faceted professional, who is recognized as a visionary, guide and facilitator in the fields of business coaching, marketing, public relations, management, strategic planning and engineering. Glenn is the Founder and Chief Executive of two Lancaster, PA based consulting practices: The Renaissance Group, a creative marketing, public relations, strategic planning and business development consulting firm and J. G. Ebersole Associates, an independent professional engineering, marketing, and management consulting firm. He is a Certified Facilitator and serves as a business coach and a strategic planning facilitator and consultant to a diverse list of clients. Glenn is also the author of a monthly newsletter, "Glenn's Guiding Lines - Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach" and has published more than 325 articles on business.

If you would like to learn more about how "The PR Doctor" can facilitate and guide you in developing your media policy and how to effectively work with the media, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his website at [http://www.prdoctor4u.com] or by email at jgeprman@aol.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Rajan Plays Calvinball on Monetary Policy

Raghuram Rajan has a post on monetary policy and QE2 at Project Syndicate titled Money Magic (h/t Reihan Salam). A friend pointed out that post-crisis conservative economists talking about monetary policy in general, and QE2 specifically, is like watching a game of Calvinball – they appear to be making up the rules and the specifics of how to score points in the debate on the fly.

If I read this correctly, it’s an argument against monetary policy in general. Rajan:

Some Americans view Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke as a modern-day wizard, able to revive the economy through a swish of his monetary wand – first ultra-low interest rates, then quantitative easing, and perhaps eventually money-printing. If inflation is low, they want the Fed to use every spell it knows to revive the economy. Like the World War I generals who reacted to every slaughter of their men by sending even more over the top of their trenches in a vain attempt to overwhelm the enemy, “free money” types react with “More!” if their policy does not seem to be working.

More than any other policy action, monetary policy suffers from the sense that there is a free lunch to be had. Yet the interest rate is a price for the savings that are transferred to spenders. To the extent that the Fed manages to push this price down (and some economists will dispute its ability to push any meaningful interest rate down), it taxes the producers of savings and subsidizes the spenders of savings. Clearly, no government considers pushing down the price of any real good an effective way to stimulate the economy – any gain to consumers is a loss to producers, and the loss typically will outweigh the gain if the market price is a fair one. So why are savings different?…

A second view is that households are scared and saving too much – they need to be pushed into consuming by lowering the returns to savings. It is hard to imagine, though, that with the US household savings rate at about 5%, and with households severely indebted, they are saving too much. While it might be nice to get them to spend a little more now, and save more later, it is hard to engineer this easily….

Clearly, someone is paying a price for ultra-low interest rates: the patient and uncomplaining saver….

Here’s a thought exercise I encourage people to do when they dissect what people think about monetary policy at the zero bound, where we are now.  Imagine short-term interest rates were actually at 2% right now.  Somebody forgot to actually go ahead and push them down to zero. Whoops.  If you looked out at the economy, would you lower interest rates?  Given unemployment, inflation, off-trend GDP and all the other conditions of the economy, do you think the economy is heating up too fast or too slow?  If you would lower short-term interest rates at 2% now, which you probably should, why don’t you do it at zero, other than the fact that you can’t?

Rajan, who previously argued that there was something special about being at zero that made the market go sideways, apparently wouldn’t reduce the short-term rates given the state of the economy. Even worse, he’s gone from creating arguments that the zero-bound encourages too much speculation to a morality play.  There’s Ben Bernanke, a WWI general pushing soldiers over the trenches.  Inflation taxes producers and subsidizes spenders is the main result.  Would the phrase that inflation taxes hoarders, provides incentives to do transactions, relieves the debt burden of the past and balances the relationship between creditors and debtors (and debt and the entire economy) be equally acceptable?

There’s a reason people either look to employment and inflation or a level or inflation target to determine what is the best course of action in monetary policy.  It’s so that the goal of monetary policy is clear.  It’s not about rewarding the good people and punishing the wicked, it’s about stabilizing growth, prices and maximum employment without overheating the system or letting it choke to death from a lack of oxygen.  And it isn’t clear to me what rules or rough guidelines are motivating the argument here.  Hence, Calvinball.

We’ll have more on this next week, but as for severely indebted households, remember that QE kicked off a refinancing boom that was important for repairing balance sheets. As Joe Gagnon noted at the Roosevelt Institute’s Federal Reserve conference ”one of the biggest goals of QEI was to push down the mortgage rate to spark a refinancing boom to encourage households and enable households to reduce their expenditures and repair their balance sheets and be able to spend again. That worked not quite as well as we hoped because the administration’s program for getting underwater borrowers to borrow didn’t work and I think that’s a true disaster that has no excuse.” Getting the GSEs to allow refinancing of underwater homes on more favorable terms would constitute another wave of immediate stimulus.

Generated by BlogIt

BlogIt - Auto Blogging Software for YOU!