Fishburn Hedges

28.09.2010

Any PR programme worth its salt has at its heart a programme of engagement with influential journalists and stakeholders. In positioning an organisation as having interesting things to say, relationship-building ensures you have credit in the bank so media know where to turn for reliable information and opinion when they need it. But does it mean they would be likely to shed a more favourable light upon you in a crisis?

Every man for himself

At a session entitled ‘The media are your friends’ at last week’s PR Week crisis conference, the consensus among both delegates and panellists (Jon Williams, world newsgathering editor, BBC; Julian March, executive producer, skynews.com; Martin Fewell, deputy editor, Channel 4 News) was that the title somewhat missed the point – it’s not about being in pally cahoots with one another so that when a crisis breaks you can sweep things under each other’s carpets - but about being ready to undertake the necessary transactional communications as efficiently as possible.

The point I raised with the panel was that surely these relationships can quickly be trampled on when it comes to getting the best story? For example, a car company may have spent months building relationships with the business and automotive press but if that company finds itself with a problem with the safety mechanism of its rear seat belts, it will be the consumer affairs, producers of radio phone-in shows and parenting press/bloggers that would be most likely, in the words of Russell Crowe’s Gladiator, to ‘unleash hell’ on the company.

How do the media respond to a crisis?

Jon Williams reassured me that media organisations quickly mobilise crisis units, mirroring the client/agency set up, and that knowledge, context and best practice are shared to ensure accurate and informative reporting. All contacts are exploited to ensure that no stone is left unturned and that months of lunching are not rendered worthless.

Laying the groundwork during the good times

However, lunching is one thing if you’re a household name with consumer relevance. Influential journalists will want to meet with you and to get to know your senior spokespeople whether you have any news to share or not. But smaller companies will find securing these informal meetings a more difficult task. All the more reason to have a compelling narrative up your sleeve to encourage media to meet you when times are good.

What about the ‘bulging contacts book’?

What is likely is that journalists will come knocking in a crisis whoever you are and you need to have a cool head and a clear action plan ready to ensure that you deal with the attention in the best possible way.

The ‘bulging contacts book’ remains a requirement for many jobs in PR and I’m certainly not going to throw cold water on the usefulness of maintaining a large network. Having good contacts can help you get hold of ‘influential influencers’ within media organisations quickly. However, it’s worth remembering that these days, journalists aren’t the only ones likely to create a noise around your problem. It’s much more difficult to personally get to know bloggers and those who post on online forums or tweet their thoughts about your organisation.

In my view, when it comes to the crunch in a crisis situation, it’s not who you know, but how quickly you can identify who is worth knowing, and how you talk to them, that really counts.

Posted by Jo Kwiatkowska