Since moving into product management, I’ve become initiated into the world of PR and national press. I stumbled into this article today and thought that some would find it interesting to see how this wacky world works. One footnote from me–who you are (or who you work for *cough*cough*microsoft) can have a radical effect on how you are treated and (mis)quoted by the press. They really are looking for controversy or “fear” as the author states. I recently watched from the sidelines as a major online news presence built an entirely false paragraph around a quote of *two words* from a colleague. They then proceeded to make that erroneous paragraph the central theme of the article and to go so far as to title the article around it. Amazing. This is why the author talks about picking your quote ahead of time and just repeating it over and over to the press.
apophenia: On Being a Press Expert
Comments
One response to “On Being a Press Expert”
Very interesting insider view of things.
I knew there was more behind the scenes than people in little boxes trying to get their speech in before the other side drowns them out. But I didn’t know there was so much time involved.
I imagine the tech world has an even greater problem since most of the people reporting on its issues don’t have sufficient knowledge of the subjects to judge what’s real. It’s hard to explain to others what you don’t really understand yourself.
Now I know why the “talking points” of politicians are so annoyingly repetitive. If they don’t stick to the message, the reporters might not know what to latch on to.
Good luck avoiding the pitfalls of PR.