Guard what you say around reporters, it’s just good crisis management
There hasn’t been much news from the Mars rover in a while, so when the chief scientist for the project proclaimed that the latest discovery picked up through Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, essentially an on-board chemistry lab, was “one for the history books” it raised quite a hubbub. Media outlets the world over picked up the story and a rumor that life had been discovered began to gather up a serious head of steam.
So, after a tenuous wait, what was this amazing discovery? Well, apparently the stuff that looks and behaves very much like sand on Mars is in fact…sand. Following the announcement, the scientist who made the initial comment did some furious backpedaling but in the end it was quite clear to all that he’d simply over-spoken.
In a recent Monday Morning Media Minute, Jerry Brown covered the scientist’s reaction and offered up a bit of priceless communications advice:
“I think certainly what I’ve learned from this is that you have to be careful about what you say and even more careful about how you say it,” the scientist was quoted as saying. Let me add one more: Be careful about who you say it to.
Did the scientist really believe three weeks ago that NASA would soon have a big announcement from Mars? Or did he simply make an offhand comment to a reporter not realizing his tantalizing hint would lead to headlines? Either way, he shouldn’t have said anything to the reporter. The story wasn’t ready to be told.
That’s the lesson for the rest of us from this incident: Anything you say to or within earshot of a reporter is potential fodder for a news story.
Some more specific lessons:
If you don’t want to see it in print or hear it on the air, don’t say it to or around a reporter. Speculating about a major announcement you’re not ready to make is usually something you don’t want to see in print or hear on the air.
Don’t get ahead of your headlights when talking to reporters. We all love to share secrets or big news. We like being the one who lets the rest of our world in on what’s happening. Unfortunately, people have a tendency to share rumors and speculation as well as hard news. If you do that with reporters,you may end up having to backtrack when a big development you thought was going to happen doesn’t. That may be what happened here. Did NASA have some preliminary data that on further examination wasn’t as exciting as originally believed? We’ll probably never know for sure. But I think that’s a possibility. The bottom line remains: The scientist should have kept his mouth shut.
Violating these two rules has caused trouble in more situations than we could possibly list here. Remember, you won’t only encounter reporters in public places rushing around with cameras and boom mics, but also in a wide variety of social circumstances and even private events. A good reporter is never “off duty” and there is a very good chance that anything story-worthy uttered within earshot will end up in print the next day. While, of course, virtually everyone has the potential to be an amateur reporter these days, using his/her smartphone.
Now, there is at least one crisis management scenario that we would recommend informing reporters that you will have a story for them shortly – immediately after a crisis breaks, but before you have enough information to put together a quality response. In that case it is a good idea to let them know that an announcement is coming soon, but absolutely DO NOT make promises of how “big” or “name clearing” it will be. Your tone should remain as neutral as possible in order to not encourage any rumor or innuendo.
Don’t create crisis management concerns by letting details slip before their time, or attempting to pump up your organization by teasing reporters. The media doesn’t like being played, and any games you try to pull are all but guaranteed to rear up and bite you in the behind.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/