Increasingly in recent years, companies have slid into a pattern of hiding from the news media when managing critical news reporting.
More often than not, we read and hear reports containing the now familiar phrase, “We have reached out to [the subject of this story] and they have not gotten back to us.” Alternatively, some subjects of critical news coverage will produce a written statement that largely ignores the issue raised by the news media in an attempt to change the subject.
This avoidance strategy is rooted in the belief that today’s news media is so diffuse any single negative story or difficult news cycle can be survived by hunkering down, taking your hits, and moving on.
There are some instances when this is a sustainable approach, but in most cases, and over the long term, avoidance does not make negative coverage go away. In some cases, it will embolden the news media and your critics.
Engagement is almost always a better long-term strategy. When we say engagement, we mean engaging with the news media across all platforms and in the platform’s native story-telling format.
If a reporter asks for an interview, provide the interview.
If a television reporter or web-caster asks for on-camera comment, say yes.
There are at least two benefits to this approach:
It increases the odds of obtaining balanced coverage.
It provides an extra opportunity for you to shape the conversation in your favor.
Hiding from critical coverage, or engaging only on your terms, tends to tilt the coverage in the direction of your critics. It is a short-lived victory.
Most stories today are published on the internet where they live forever. It means that today’s “no comment” is tomorrow’s first impression.
Bottom Line: There are times when the avoidance technique is a winning news media strategy, but over the life of your company the smarter approach is to engage on a platform by platform basis in that platform’s native story-telling format.