Leadership Tomorrow Workshop #5

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Communicating With Media

In dealing with the media, Mr. Johnson was very frank in saying that bad publicity is better than no publicity. However he made that point that often organizations are, themselves, responsible for their own bad publicity by refusing to talk with the media when a crisis arises. When a spokesperson for an organization responds no comment, he/she effectively gives up their opportunity to put a more positive "spin" on whatever the story might be. There is always two sides to every story, generally the press will print both if they have the information.

Mr. Johnson then went into great detail on what makes an effective ad in the newspaper. He brought several examples of good layouts as well as some poor ones. Following that presentation he provided our group with some Effective Ad Layout Guidelines.

editorial "hole"...."What will go here?"

Valerie Mitchell and Mark Andrews from Media One cable in Costa Mesa were next on the agenda. These two prepared a simulation of a crisis in order that the class may be able to get a "feel" for what it is like to be both a reporter covering the story and the spokesperson briefing the press.

SCENARIO

Ms. Mitchell asked for three volunteers to act as spokespersons and they were told to leave the room and re-entered when called. The rest of the class was to pose as reporters and ask questions with respect to the damage and loss of life to the spokespersons. The spokespersons were left to ad-lib the answers.

Surprisingly the spokespersons did a remarkably good job. Ms. Mitchell, a seasoned reporter initiated the questions and when the class seemed content with the information, she always came up with another probing question than inevitably spurred a whole new line of questions from the rest of us. It was all video-taped and played back for us for a critique and discussion.

Some of the issues raised in the discussion were

It was interesting for me to experience the anxiety of whether or not my question would be answered. I began holding up my hand trying to be recognized by the spokesperson, but the spokesperson was being "peppered" with questions band soon I found myself just interrupting in order to get my question answered.

Next was a Panel Discussion moderated my Mr. Johnson on accessing the media. The panelist were Joan Springbetti, Times Orange County; Patrick Mott, Orange Coast Magazine; Craig Reem, OC Metro; and Tony Dodero, Daily Pilot.

Again, the topic was accessing the media so many of the panelists comments were centered on the best way to access these four publications. Since many in our group are closely aligned with not-for-profit organizations, many of the questions advanced  focused on how organizations of this type might be able to get better media coverage.

Mr. Mott mentioned that his publication Orange Coast Magazine is themed therefore feature stories are planned well in advance. All on the panel agreed that a phone call is not necessarily the best way to access the media. Mr. Reem indicated that he allots approximately 15 seconds for a phone call. Prior to contact, one should know the publication well, the category that their organization might best fit, and send an e-mail or FAX with a "compelling" story and then follow-up with a phone call. Remember to include who, what, when, where, and a contact number.

Stories about not-for-profits often occur if the organization is "trend setting" or that if a interesting story can be told referred to as the "Gee Whiz!" factor. The organization should also keep in mind the line between a story that creates general interest among the publication's readers and a self-serving effort to expand the organization outreach. "If its been done already", it is very unlikely that the story will be written again for a different organization.

After lunch we relocated to the Times Orange County Building and were treated to an Internet presentation of Calendar Live, the new web site for the arts and activities in Orange County From the Los Angeles Times Orange County.   According to the presenters, Rick Alger and Jeff Perlman, it is estimated that there will be 150 million web users by the year 2000. There will be approximately 5 million adults "surfing" the Internet and 79 per cent of all business will have World Wide Web Sites. The LA Times Internet Web Site has been up just over 3 years and is rated among the top five newspaper Internet Sites in the country.

"vertical markets"...categories or classification units (i.e. the vertical layout that is possible with html) on a web page that is impossible on a printed page

The thinking behind the development of the web site was explained, but the thrust of the discussion centered on what the site could provide for the advertisers. Tracking allows for the accumulation of data that can allow advertisers to be exposed to their target groups. For, example if a computer user accesses the page and selects restaurants, the next time that computer user access the site, those ads placed by restaurants will appear on the page that user accesses.

Direct links to advertisers homepages are provided at the Calendar Live site so that persons interested in that product can get more detailed information and in some cases order it with a click of the "mouse". Calendar Live graphic artists will develop the electronic layout of the ad, or change the format from hard copy to html. They Times will also assist, if desired, in developing a web site for an advertiser. There are, of course, fees associated with this, but the service is available.

Rates for advertising are based on the number of "hits" the site has. This is very similar to ratings calculations for radio and television except they are infinitely more accurate. Ratings are estimates based on a statistical sample. The number of "hits" by computer users to an internet web site is exact. The time the user spends at the site and where they browse can all be tracked making the "bang for the buck" spent on advertising at an internet site substantially higher.

Mr. Alger and Mr. Perlman spent sometime demonstrating the technical sophistication that was possible for advertisers at this site. It was impressive. In education we are debating the issue now as to how technologically sophisticated are web sites should be. Our concern is whether or not the hardware is available in the typical college student's home to maximize the use of intense graphics, video, sound etc. I asked the question if the Calendar Live was concerned about the number of people who, for lack of both computer hardware and software, may not be able to maximize what advertisers are paying for in terms or presentation.

Their response to my question was that they are are able to determine them speed of hook-up (kbps) of each hit and the version of browser that the computer user has installed. That data "drives" decision-making as to the technical sophistication of Calendar live. Their data shows that well over half (67%) of the computer users accessing Calendar live, access with the most recent version of browser available (usually Netscape 4.5 or Explorer 4.0) and are using a 56,600 kbps modem. However Mr. Alger and Mr. Perlman pointed out that most of their "hits" occur during the day from office computer network systems.

In education, we don't have that dynamic and we must take a slightly different approach because students will be accessing our sites from computers at home.. We must create are sites to the lowest common denominator which limits the technical sophistication of our delivery. It might be to our advantage to install tracking capabilities as the Times Calendar Live has done so that we can more precisely monitor the level of computer hardware and software of our students accessing the class web sites. This would allow us to more closely match what we deliver to the users hardware and software capabilities. Perhaps we can do more than we think.

It was mentioned, that like the Chicago Tribune's Digital Cities, there will soon be available at Calendar Live a "Community Bulletin Board" where not-for-profit organizations can promote  their upcoming events. For our group that was of particular interest.

The next speaker was Joan Gladstone from Gladstone Public Relations. She was one of the most dynamic speakers to address our group yet. Ms. Gladstone's public relations firm specializes in crisis management.

"sudden crisis"....any kind of unstable condition that causes an interruption without warning

"simmering crisis"....any unstable condition where some preemptive action was called for but ignored

Ms. Gladstone asserts that most business crisis are simmering. Some examples are persistent violations of regulations, ongoing investigations (i.e newspaper investigative reporting). threats by disgruntled employees, sexual harassment and discrimination.

"crisis management"...it is happening

"crisis intervention"... you can see it coming

The first 12-24 hours is the most critical period of time in crisis management according to Ms. Gladstone. She offers the following plan of action in such cases:

• develop a factual statement about the situation
• analyze the situation carefully and thoughtfully
• formulate a strategic plan in order to intervene
• define the key audiences (internal-typically employees, external-possibly the media)
• decide on modes of communication
• develop communication materials...what is your message? (accepting or rejecting blame, plan of action, apology, speeches, news releases)
• designate crisis intervention team members
• establish a timeline for resolution (keep in mind media deadlines)

I was surprised to see that communication within this large facility is still handled by pneumatic tubes. With technology being what it is today and that instant messages can take place between any networked computers, I would have never expected to see those tubes with those little canisters that look like containers for tennis balls still being used. I did not see any conventional typewriters though. Everyone seemed to be using computer and word processing software to write their stories. I noticed that the network of computers were Apples.

Probably the most interesting part of the tour was the printing presses. They are four stories high. Unfortunately, we were just a bit to early in the afternoon to see them actually running, but we got a closer look at how they work because they were shut down so all was not lost. At the end of the tour we were all given actual reporters notebooks...like the pneumatic tubes...those too have changed little over the years.

The last speaker of the day was Lennie La Guire an editor with the Times Orange County and her topic was Viewpoints and Ethics in Journalism.

"Improving performance of society by seeking truth and sharing understanding".....Mission Statement Times Orange County

Ms. Le Guire felt more comfortable engaging our group in dialogue as opposed to a more formal presentation. She began by talking about her newspaper's coverage of the OJ Simpson trial and seemed to be soliciting comments as to our impressions of the intense media coverage of this event. Most of us felt  that it was sensationalized and Ms. Le Guire seemed to agree, but felt the Times Orange County covered the story accurately, fairly and truthfully.

It wasn't long before the expected question came up and that was relative to the competition between the Times and The Orange County Register. Ms. Le Guire admitted that it would disturb her if the Register "beat" them to a story and said that all or most who work at either publication feel that it is competitive. She downplayed the intensity of that competition however, and pointed out that a reporter from the Times is married to a reporter at the Register and that she doubted whether the two were engaged espionage.

There are very few communities left that have two newspapers. One thing that Ms. Le Guire commented on surprised me and that was she felt the two newspapers in Orange County were similar than alike. It seems to me, when there are two newspapers,  one or the other would work hard at separating itself from the other in a similar way that politicians do. In my own personal opinion, the OC Register covers events in Orange County more in-depth than does the Times.

I brought up the issue of anonymous sources (leaks) used for stories and that by virtue of their anoniminity, it makes the story less reliable. Ms. Le Giure agreed and said that it is the editorial policy at the Times not to use anonymous sources unless the story can be verified by at least two or three other sources and even then, not to run the story unless it is believed to be in the compelling interests of the public.

The day ended with a wrap-up and evaluation. The question was asked of us, "Of those that have addressed are group so far this year, who demonstrated the most admirable leadership skills? Each of us was expected to respond in turn. I was not surprised at many of the responses. Paul Snyder from Coast ROP was often mentioned and I would certainly agree. Tom Johnson from the Daily Pilot was also recognized by quite a few. He impressed me as well. Keith Greer former executive with the Irvine Ranch company was mentioned as was Bill Vardoulis of BV Engineering who spoke with us about the Toll Roads. Peggy Ducey, Assistant City Manager of Newport Beach was also mentioned for participation in a Panel Discussion on Dredging the Bay. In my view all of these display admirable Leadership skills.

This was the first opportunity since Workshop #1 that we, as a class, have had the opportunity to remark on what we have had the good fortune to have been exposed to in this program. I would like us to continue to have these opportunities just before the workshop ends, I think it is a good way to "defuse" after what can sometimes seem to be a day of  overwhelming information. Also, we are group of leaders in our own right, our backgrounds are diverse and I think that we can learn much from each other.