|
There
seems to be no end today to examples of glaring public
relation mistakes made by companies. In fact, a
large measure of the recent stock market decline
reflects loss of confidence in business at large –
much of it because of poor PR.
In
today’s society there really is no such thing as
“plausible deniability.” There is simply too
much information available to try to weasel out of
mistakes or errors. Instead of trying to deny
problems, companies today are much better off
confronting them head-on.
In
other words, ‘fess up! If a problem is looming
and there is no way around it becoming public, then be
the first to get it out in the open. If confronted
by the media, be honest. Either admit to the
mistake and identify solutions, or if you are not aware
of the problem, admit that and find out what you don’t
know as soon as you can. Then contact the media
and provide your view on the problem and what you intend
to do to solve it.
Nothing
gets the media more upset than feeling a sense of
betrayal from company executives. The largest
mistake we see in our industry is the mistrust that
exists between corporate executives and the media.
Let’s face facts – journalists are charged with
providing interesting news. They are also charged
with getting down to the facts
|
