By Tracy Schario, APR
The profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Rolling Stone magazine is instructive for anyone trying to manage his or her media image. The lesson chief among the takeaways is that denigrating your superiors are unprofessional and can get you fired.
When I conduct media training, I draw upon several examples of politicians and business leaders who forgot “the mic is always on” during a TV or radio interview. Helen Thomas and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown being among the most recent victims. Gen. McChrystal’s Rolling Stone interview now tops my list of how not to engage the media.
There are several lessons in media management that can be gleaned from this fatal error of reputation management.
1) Reporters are not your friends; they are image makers. It’s important to remain consistent in your messaging and presentation.
2) You — and everyone of your staff aids attending the interview — should always behave and speak as if they are “on the record.” Even if you’ve establish ground rules for “off the record” or “on background” comment, these are difficult to retract if the reporter prints or airs comments that you thought were “off the record.”
3) Define your messages and objectives. Know what you want the outcome to be and plan accordingly.
4) Rehearse. We don’t call media role playing a murder board for nothing.
5) Stay positive. (Or “Never let them see you sweat.”) It doesn’t matter if you’re fighting a war, deflecting criticism for an environmental disaster or answering questions about a new product launch that isn’t meeting expectations. Showing your crankiness and criticizing others isn’t effective. Leaders take responsibility regardless.
Finally, remember that controversy is the heart of compelling news headlines.
Tracy Schario, APR, is a former president
of the National Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America
www.schariojohnson.com/blog