Just The Facts

Yesterday I joined a reputation management seminar run by a leading London law firm, with support from a partner at a City PR agency and a director of an online reputation company.  The scenario was a hotel company caught up in litigation and facing some pretty damaging claims, no doubt from the party being sued. As usual with these simulations, there are all sorts of things that are not quite how they might be in real life.

The pedant in me would challenge:

1. The company being advised is owned by private equity. In my experience the PE investor’s communications advisors would be called in pretty quickly (whether the investee company likes it or not) – and they might have some good ideas and connections;

2. The timeframes were too long – the company was on the end of a call from a journalist on the Financial Times, who gave them 24 hours to respond. My experience is that you could shave 20-22 hours off that;

3. There was an issue about other media following up – and it was said online articles were appearing 72 hours after the original article. Again, I’d say you’d receive a call from other media within minutes, and respected online services, such as Reuters or Bloomberg, would run at least a snap quoting the FT within an hour of the original article going online.

There are other issues but the most important to me – as someone who has advised on a fair few crisis situations – would be to find out what the truth of the matter is. I would say a critical part of the PR advisor’s role is to be the in-house “journalist”. As someone who doesn’t have to deal with the CEO every day, as the head of communications might, I can ask the difficult questions. And I’d want honest answers.

Once I have the answers, I will know how to respond.

It may be by:

1. An on the record statement. This is necessary. Saying “no comment” simply doesn’t work in the current media world. You have to decide what you say but it must be:

a: Verifiably true. Never, ever, ever try to mislead the media. It not only ethically wrong but also will come back to bite you when the facts come out (as Lord Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten Windsor have found to their cost);

b. Deal with the accusations. You may have to opportunity to add more to your statement later, but you must deal with what’s in front of you. And please don't say “we are taking the matter very seriously” – it means nothing;

c. As tightly written as it can be. The media will only quote one or two sentences of a rambling statement;

d. Rapidly delivered to any journalist who asks;

e. Disseminated internally so everyone in the company knows what to say if they are asked;

2: This may be backed up with some background briefing but be careful:

a. Firstly, only go on background if you know you can trust the journalist. If they are from an American publication or a respected news wire you are pretty safe and most national “broadsheet” media in the UK are reliable (though I was once quoted by a Sunday Times journalist when I said it was “on background”). Other media, treat with upmost care;

b.  Secondly, make sure what you say is true. The same rules on accuracy apply to on background briefings as on the record;

3. There will be some pressure for the lawyers to get involved. Resist as strongly as possible. I know from my 20 years as a journalist that a legal letter immediately makes the media think they are on to something. Most publications have excellent in-house lawyers who are very use to dealing with legal threats, and will immediately put their body armour on and go into battle. Once the lawyers are deployed, there’s no going back. Also, I know of at least two high profile examples where the legal threats became the story.

There are many other factors that may come into play, but my fundamental advice is deal with the first enquiry with all the facts that you can get hold of. It’s just like a Premier League defender heading the ball out of the penalty area before it can reach any of the attackers. As soon as the story is published, all your legal actions and online wizardry won’t put the genie back into the bottle.