Richard Kaplan, mayor of the South Florida town of Lauderhill is refusing to speak with media because, based on his interpretation of the new code of ethics in Broward County, he claims reporters are lobbyists.
Consequently, the mayor wants all journalists to register as lobbyists.
Kaplan’s reasoning is creative, but he’s not the first politician to refuse to speak to reporters. He is however, misguided to think, as he says, that “his decision will have a chilling effect.” It’s more likely the only thing that will end up on ice is his political career.
It reminds me of the kid who refused to eat his vegetables. He sat stubbornly until his sister was served dessert, upon which time he reluctantly choked down cold string beans to get to the cake.
Not speaking with media is a huge risk for so little gain when the other option, developing and using media skills effectively, can harvest you so much more.
Trust me Mr. Mayor, you will eventually talk to the media.
UPDATE: It didn’t take long for Mayor Kaplan to answer his detractors. The very next day he claimed his motive for not speaking to media is to force the new ethics code to be fixed because he states it is poorly written and falls into the Law of Unintended Consequences. Ironically, he responded to the reporter who wrote the article and he did so on the newspaper’s blog.
See? I told you. Eat your beans Mr. Mayor before they get cold.
Here’s another head-turner. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina head football coach refused to speak at a press conference while sports columnist Ron Morris of The Columbia State newspaper was present. Instead, Spurrier led reporters from room to room as he tried to shake Morris. Sports spokespeople and athletes are notorious for refusing to speak with media, which is ironic because sports is more aligned with entertainment than it is real news.
Mainstream sports media have historically assumed the role of ramping fans up to a feverish pitch, but it’s obvious by the increasing number of athletes refusing to speak to media, the sports industry no longer feels mainstream media is the hand that feeds them. It’s a dangerous mistake because support from a third party like news media has substantially more influence on people than anything found on a web site, or a social media network owned and controlled by the sports franchise.
It sounds like pro wrestling hi-jinks
The moral here is to learn to handle media effectively, not fight them.
According to The Independent (a UK publication), “Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United manager) has launched an astonishing attack on the BBC, saying that the national broadcaster is “arrogant beyond belief”, has an “inability to apologise”, and does not care about being sued “because they are so huge and have insurance.”"
The irony regarding his arrogance boggles the mind. Sports spokespeople are now arguing in public about who needs whom more, instead of improving media skills and working together to ratchet fan fever up a notch.
Here’s a more mainstream example of media being barred from what they perceive to be rightful access to an event that uses public funds and resources. This example is a little different in that Horseback, an equestrian magazine in Houston, reported that the federal Bureau of Land Management refused reporters access to their new BLM director who was present at a small controversial event gathering, but physically shielded by Land Management officials. The issue is about protecting and rounding up wild horses, but the BLM strategy is straight out of a fantasy football playbook. Since when did executives need blockers in a media scrum? PR pros on the sidelines definitely, but not running plays on the field during the game. It’s asking for trouble because it implies the executive is not capable of speaking independently.
The episode is also caught on camera in this video. The video is quite long, but at the very beginning you can see how the BLM runs interference while the director is, at first, present, but then disappears when more serious questions are asked.
Why are all these people so distrustful of news media?
Here’s one reason – confusion.
People are inherently distrustful of anyone they feel has potential to harm them – whether it is justified or not, and it’s no secret media are sometimes complicit in creating mistrust and confusion. For example, on his blog, New York Times Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman lends support to Occupy Wall Street, but he refused to address or join protesters at the event because he stated he did not want to cross the line between “advocate” and “activist.” This fine distinction is very hard for most people to understand.
Whose side is he on? Is he even supposed to be on anyone’s side? According to his blog, Krugman supports the protesters, but it appears he doesn’t want to be trapped by colleagues at other news companies who might ask him to speak to them on the record, because after all … they are media.
Another reason average people are scared of reporters is due to a lack of understanding of how journalists do their jobs, plus, unprepared spokespersons also do not know how to get their point across effectively. Quite literally, they are not media literate.
If you know you will eventually become embroiled in controversy (and what company or politician isn’t these days), you should at least know which end of the cow produces the milk. You don’t have to be the aggressor or take the first shot, in fact this strategy is not recommended. It would however be prudent to at least have enough media relations skill so you know enough not to step in a cow pie or get kicked in the head when you sit on the little stool to milk your story for all its worth.
All the examples I’ve used here seem so negative and frightening that you might be thinking, the heck with it, I’m running for cover. But keep this in mind, some spokespeople are fearless and incredibly effective in front of a microphone or TV camera. Why? Well, they know how to handle the media. It’s as simple as that. Know your job.
Bill Clinton was constantly in hot water, but he knew how to engage a reporter head on and tell his story effectively. He didn’t come by this skill naturally. He learned to do it!
Silently sticking your head in the sand is only going to get you one thing – a kicked butt.
If you don’t speak for yourself, someone will do it for you
and you probably won’t like what they say.
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RADIO vs TV – my latest VIDEO
I came from radio and ended up on television at CityTV Toronto.
Learning to be a TV news producer on the fly was very stressful, so much so that I started smoking cigarettes again after quitting for five years.
I knew nothing about TV news production when I arrived at CityTV from radio.
Cameramen and editors taught me on the fly.
Thankfully, I quickly moved to becoming a TV news jounalist when a reporter left and I took over his position.
Relatively speaking, radio is a one man show, while television needs a team.
CityTV was a valuable education for me.
Watch the video clip here …
