Avoid Embarrassing Silences

A news conference may be jeopardized if no reporter is willing to as the opening question, or if the press—through ignorance or laziness-fails to explore all of the available topics. Some organizations routinely' seat one or two members of their own public relations staff or the editor of the organization's magazine with the working press to raise additional questions at the appropriate time, and generally to "keep the ball rolling." Of course, such a maneuver must be handled in a way that is perceived as helpful by the news media, not as a heavy-handed job of "shilling." It probably is better to prepare your speaker to raise and answer his or her own questions if the press is remiss.

If your organization provides a spokesperson who is not adequately prepared, or who does not know how to handle questions from the press, the conference quickly falls apart. Until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission appointed a qualified "point man" to brief reporters covering the Three Mile Island incident, the press complained of "conflicting and contradictory statements" about the nuclear emergency and the result was confusing and incomplete news coverage.

You must be prepared, too, for reporters who refuse to attend a press conference because, in the words of one journalism news-writing textbook, they "dislike working with precisely the same clay their competitors are using." Some print reporters flatly refuse to raise questions while television cameras are running, saying, "Why should I let my questions get answered on TV before I can put them in print?" If coverage by the reporters who complain is important to you, be prepared to make special arrangements so that they can interview your speaker or obtain the information in another manner.

How to Issue the Invitation

An editor who is contacted the day before a press conference: "Look, all my reporters are busy. You've got to give me greater lead time if you want coverage."

An editor who is contacted well in advance: "Two weeks from now? You know we work on a day-to-day basis. Give me a call the day before."

Thus, it is difficult to time an invitation, To that, add this dilemma: for every editor who insists on a written record, another runs his entire operation verbally over the phone. The only compromise seems to be sending out a press release (combined with an "invitation" and an RSVP postal card, if you wish) about ten days before the event. Then, plan to call the editor the day before to confirm whether or not a reporter will be sent. Some PR practitioners who feel that their personal persuasive abili­ties are their main strength may reverse the process, making the phone contact ten days ahead to alert the editor about the upcoming event, then timing the written reminder to arrive just a day or two ahead of the workshift in which the reporter will be assigned.

Ask any PRSA or IABC program chair: the best-attended chapter meet­ing of the year is the session where a panel of newspaper business edi­tors and trade magazine reporters tell public relations people how to increase their chances of making successful media placements. Here are some of the suggestions—most of them of the "no-no" variety:

• Don't look at the sending out of a release as the end of the pro­cess. For us it's the beginning—we look at your story as a lead into the story that we want to do.

• Don't bombard us with stories about how wonderful your corporation is. These days we're asking, "What does this mean to the consumer?" So pitch us with a consumer-oriented angle.

• Don't send us the same news release two or three times. It's annoying!

• Don't fax anything we haven't requested or given our ap­proval to send. And then send us a page or two, not fifteen pages. Don't tie up our machine!

• Don't send us gifts. We aren't allowed to keep them, so food goes to the local food bank and everything else goes to char­ity.

• Instead of pitching your stories to us, introduce us to people in your organization who are good story sources. We'd rather have Rolodex cards than news releases.

• Don't send us a huge press kit with a videotape. We don't have time to drop everything and watch your videotape.

• Don't call us the next day to see if we got your release. It just wastes our time.

• Don't hide your news—in fact, summarize it at the top of your release so we can tell at a glance if it interests us.

• Read our publication to know what we publish. Then you won't send us material we don't even use.

• Don't shoot for a major article every time. Your chances are better if you give us a short item we can fit into a department or a listing.

• We read the PR Newswire and the Business Wire. Trust us to find your story there.

John Skalko, Director of Corporate Public Relations for AT&T, uses his office computer system to keep on top of his press contacts. He main­tains a directory of all the media people with whom he has dealt in the past. When he receives a call, during the opening moments of the con­versation he punches in the reporter's name. Up comes a list of what the reporter has written in the past—short takes, unless the comments were hostile, in which case the entire document may be in the file. That way Skalko knows how to handle the caller and he has some idea of what to anticipate.

In the same computer system, he stores information that he can have ready at the press of a key:

• A list of all AT&T facilities and names of public relations peo­ple at each location to which a reporter might want to talk.

• Position statements on current AT&T stories, so that he or members of his staff can give consistent answers when contacted.

• Memos from other AT&T public relations people that might help him handle a press contact.

Used this way, the computer can be the media relations special­ist's best friend when the telephone rings.