As people who try to help businesses appear in the news, we’d like to portray ourselves as experts whose clients come away glowing from every media experience. Well, let’s destroy that image right now.
A multimedia journalist showed up at a client’s business, appeared to enjoy a great experience and indicated when the story would air. But the story didn’t air as far as we knew.
I texted the journalist to learn if we missed the story or if it would air at a later date. I received no response. The business owner also texted him and received no response. I tried to call. No answer. I texted again the following day. I still received no response. I later emailed the producer who initially received the story idea. I received no response. Five days passed since when we assumed the story would air and I tried emailing the producer again.
Give the producer credit. This time she responded and the news was negative. Give her credit because many journalists, like many humans on this planet, would rather ignore you and pretend you don’t exist than tell you the truth.
The producer explained the story did not meet the station’s expectations. The story wasn’t as impressive as assumed. The story didn’t even convey one of the key messages.
Oh crap! What the heck happened? Had I transformed into one of those horrible PR people who trick the media into coverage and then don’t deliver? I called the business owner and shared the feedback. I heard the disappointment in her voice. She blamed herself. First, she asked one of her employees to instead provide the interview. Second, she focused on something else while the multimedia journalist shot the story.
However, I had only myself to truly blame. As a reporter, I wasn’t a fan of PR people breathing heavily down my neck while I interviewed their clients. Unless there are extenuating circumstances or someone makes a specific request, I often don’t attend the media interviews themselves. And it certainly didn’t seem necessary in this case. I had spoken previously with the journalist and we discussed his approach to the story. The business owner, a bubbly woman full of personality, had appeared on TV news before and had skillfully handled her key messages on live television. This latest story was simple. The key messages were simple. However, I didn’t anticipate the store owner would pass the interview to an employee. And I assumed she would play an active role in the shoot itself. I never imagined the scenarios that actually played out.
Now I needed to fix things. I apologized to the producer. I shared the information I gathered, explained the mistakes, called myself an idiot and relayed I was pissed. I texted the multimedia journalist twice, explaining I would look into what happened and then provided an apology. The business owner told me she apologized, too.
Next, I called the client. Some PR people spend much of the time kissing clients’ asses. Those PR folks aren’t consultants. They are yes-men and yes-women. Their top priority is ensuring the checks keep arriving. I’m not that person. I picked up the phone, knowing the words I was about to share could get us fired. I shared the latest details and explained I needed to follow-up with the producer even though the store owner didn’t want me to make a big deal of it. I explained I couldn’t burn a bridge for her benefit only. I have other clients to pitch. I went on. She and only she needed to provide interviews. And I would be present for any future media opportunities. Then after mulling over our mistakes, I asked her a yes or no question that provided little wiggle room. Does she want to continue to move forward?
There’s another factor here I can’t quite figure out. The store owner told me the multimedia journalist didn’t appear interested in the same approach to the story as he shared with me on the phone. And if the story wasn’t delivering as anticipated, why didn’t he ask questions? During the interview, why didn’t he ask about the key messages the store had promised to deliver? Why didn’t he probe? That’s what I would have done. I would have said, “Where’s that part we discussed on the phone?” The store owner told me the journalist appeared very young. Did he not ask the right questions? Did he give up too soon? Should he have spoken up and said, “This is not what you promised.” I don’t know the answers to those questions. As a reporter, I saw plenty of instances when a producer saw possibilities and a videographer arrived on scene and saw garbage. In this case, the producer candidly told me the journalist probably wasn’t comfortable raising his concerns on site.
However, in this case, I never once considered implying to the producer that the videographer’s feedback was inaccurate. I have little faith a producer, unless the producer is one I know extremely well, would take my word over a co-worker’s word on the worthiness of a story. That’s not a discussion worth starting.
In the end, the client stayed with us. We agreed to learn from our mistakes. The producer … well, I won’t know her genuine opinion until I try to pitch her a story again. And the multimedia journalist … I’m still waiting for a response.