Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [75]
Some reporters are better at this game than others. And some public figures are better at it than others, too.
The best illustration of this I can think of involves two men—one on either side of the fence—both of whom are very good at fulfilling their respective roles.
On one side is longtime ABC White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, who is famous for his incredibly pointed and usually unwelcome questions to several U.S. presidents. Mr. Donaldson recently left the White House beat, but during his years there he loved to shout his questions out anytime, anywhere, such as after a photo opportunity in the Rose Garden. On the other side is former President Ronald Reagan, a man who, above all, is a master at handling reporters.
A rumor once floated around Washington regarding Mr. Donaldson’s habit of shouting questions at the president across a certain stretch of White House lawn as he got off the helicopter after a weekend trip to Camp David. It was said that Mr. Reagan would often ask his pilot to rev up the engine when he saw Mr. Donaldson to drown out his shouted questions, most of which began, “Mr. President! Mr. President! Is it true that you ... ?”
Maybe Mr. Reagan never exactly ordered the motor to be revved up. Or maybe he did—to drown out not only Mr. Donaldson, but all the reporters who stood there in a hungry pack at the end of most weekends.
Whatever the truth is, there was Mr. Donaldson doing what he did so well, trying to get a story or a quote; and there was Mr. Reagan doing what he did so well, handling the press on his own terms.
A TWO-WAY STREET
You and the media need each other. You need them for those times when you want to disseminate accurate information. The press media need you as a news source. As a result, in your public life, you should always strive to have the best possible relations with the members of the press as well as the news-gathering organizations they represent.
You may have a love-hate relationship with the press. Members of the press may infiltrate your staff, misquote you, publish inaccuracies about you, or even damage your reputation. In turn, you may deliberately withhold vital information that reporters covet.
The press may follow you around and pry into your personal life both past and present or ask you questions that you may feel are insulting or none of its business.
Roughly since the time of Richard Nixon’s presidency and the Watergate affair, members of the press have indeed been prying more and more into the personal lives and past behaviors of political candidates and incumbents.
The press seems to have become much more powerful in recent years and, as a consequence, more feared by public figures. Some members of the public seem to feel that every detail of the private life of a well-known person, particularly a candidate, is fair game for investigation and should be known to the public or the voter, no matter what is revealed or by what means it was investigated. Others feel that, these days, the press is going too far—a prime example of which might be the newspaper reporters who staked out presidential-hopeful Gary Hart at his townhouse one fateful night.
Don’t think that just because you are not a political candidate you are safe from the scrutiny of the press. Increasingly, other types of public figures—from computer hackers to socialites, athletes to nominees for the Supreme Court, Wall Street wizards to several televangelists—have become the subjects of intense press investigations.
For that reason, you must always strive for a positive relationship with the media. You and your public relations people must have a media policy that works for both of you. For example, you should try to respond promptly to inquiries (since all members of the press have deadlines) and seek opportunities to give the media material they need. Above all, you have to be truthful, and yet carefully disclose only the information deemed necessary. Cooperate in every way possible without doing damage to yourself. If the