If something happens twice in a short period of time, maybe it’s a trend?
Recently, two clients asked the same question, one that I haven’t heard in a long time. One that I would have considered naive, if not insulting, even a year ago. But now we are living in a much different environment, one dictated, as has been written here recently, by fear.
“Can we see the article before it’s published?”
These are good clients with strong organizations and stories of leadership to tell. Both of these instances were with respected, credible news organizations that influence opinion among target business audiences. But both clients felt so uncomfortable, so outside their zone of comfort and control, that they asked the same question. They both received the same answer.
No.
Not with a credible news organization. They get to write, edit and publish the story. It’s up to us to communicate clearly. Yes, it’s a risk to leave your story in the hands of humans from outside your organization. But the tradeoff is the credibility with the audience and they would lose credibility if they ceded any editorial control to the subject of the story.
Both clients accepted the counsel. At least one may have had some sleepless nights between the interview and the story publishing. But there was no way I was going to embarrass them, or Tanner Friedman, by asking a journalist a question to which I already knew the answer by heart.
The stories turned out well, in that they met the clients’ objectives and were reported accurately. They are both illustrations of how important it is to be prepared, to stay in message, to answer questions thoughtfully and trust the journalists with whom we maintain relationships.
As PR counsel, it’s imperative for us not to give into the same sorts of fears that are gnawing at our clients. When it’s time to say “no,” we have to just say “no” but do it with all of the context we should understand.
There are exceptions, of course. Trade publications operate with a different code and will sometimes offer review for accuracy. Certain journalists will read back quotes, before publishing, to ensure proper context. Fact checking often occurs. But if you believe news coverage is important to your business, you have to not only work at the speed of news, you must work within its professional rules.