Keep out of the detail
Posted by Kate Betts on 27th May 2020
When facing negative publicity, we usually advise clients to keep out of detail. Once you start getting into the minutiae you will tie yourself up in knots and open yourself up to more criticism. You will sound petty or like you are trying to split hairs to ‘get off’ the accusation.
And the press will only use ten seconds here and there of your 15 minute or one-hour defence. The press works in soundbites, not long detailed explanations. And by the time it gets on to Twitter your complex reasoning will have got lost.
I love media training really clever people, particularly academics. Most want to tell you all the detail, be really precise about their research or some new theory. We challenge them to turn it into a Sun headline. After all, if they don’t come up with their short version of it, the press will and the academic will then claim that version is inaccurate. It is better the clever person controls the message rather than allowing the journalist to pick and choose and shorten and change.
When dealing with a negative situation what also needs to be uppermost in your mind is how it looks to other people; how it looks to an external audience. Within your organisation your reasoning and excuses may sound very reasonable. But you are not talking to colleagues who may understand the stresses and strains of your job, but to the man or woman on the metaphorical Clapham omnibus, who doesn’t care about you, and who has had to postpone their wedding because of coronavirus, miss their friend’s funeral, find themselves furloughed or redundant or working in tough conditions cleaning hospital wards, or not seen their elderly parents for two months. Their perspective is very different.
It doesn’t matter if it is responding to criticism related to how you behaved during the lockdown, a Serious Case Review, court case or customer dissatisfaction; I actually don’t care about the detail or about you, I am seeing this from my perspective.
I don’t care about the social workers who tried their best and followed the guidance when what I see is a smiley blond child who died on my TV screen, or a grieving relative who has lost a loved one, or an elderly person I believe you ripped off. I don’t care about you when I know I have given up a lot in the current lockdown and it appears you haven’t. I just want one word from you: sorry. It is such a short word, and one that said authentically means so much more than long explanations and reasonings and excuses and justifications. For some people, including lawyers, it really is the hardest word.
Lawyers will tell you not to say sorry. In fact, what they may advise instead is to give a statement that could be used in court. That explanation may work for a legal audience but does not wash with the public. Maybe Mr Cummings should have thought about that before sitting down in the Rose Garden and going into so much detail.
