Communications/PR/Corporate Affairs practitioners will tell you that one of their challenges is disabusing their bosses and colleagues of the belief that media folk, especially reporters, are their chums simply because they exchanged mobile numbers or once knocked back a cocktail or two together.
In fact, if a reporter has your mobile number, it means he or she can contact you anytime about developments in the business without going through your communications team. You only have to open the WhatsApp to give credibility to the story because the reporter will say “at the time of going to press the CEO had not responded to the question sent via WhatsApp which he/she read as it was blue ticked.” This leaves the communications team in a state of despair as it would have been bypassed, more often than not deliberately.
Employees sometimes share inside goings-on with reporters thinking that by doing so their “friendship” will be solidified. You simply cannot “vent” about office politics or gossip to your reporter friend thinking you are impressing them. Reporters are not therapists, friends, or priests to whom one gives confessionals in confidence. Even then, confessionals find their way into the public domain as a recent WhatsApp voice note between a local politician and his pastor educates us. I have many reporter friends. There are personal and other matters that I may discuss with these friends without the fear that I will see them in papers the following day, or online. However, having been a reporter myself, I know that when it comes to my work, I must exercise the utmost discretion when engaging with them because they can “forget” that they are talking to a friend in order to break a story via a surrogate.
Years ago, I was frantically pulled out of an evening class at the University of Botswana by an SMS, there was no WhatsApp then, from my boss at one of the leading companies in Botswana with a global footprint. I had said something work related to a friend thinking that I was talking to him as such not in his capacity as a journalist. After all, we covered a lot of stories together during my days as a reporter. Anyway, he called my boss to verify this “scoop.” The paper would be coming out the following day. I left class before it could finish, lost my appetite that evening, and had the longest night. First thing in the morning I rushed to buy the paper. There was no time to wait for the official copy. To my relief, there was no story. They had agreed between themselves to play a crazy joke on me that the reporter friend was insisting on authoring the story. Lesson learned!
So, it is important for employees to know that generally there is no such thing as an “off the record” discussion with a reporter because while they may not write about the issue to avoid souring relations, they will likely pass it on to a colleague. Always assume that a reporter is “on the beat” even if you bump into him or her on the most religious of days. If you must make an “off the record” comment, be sure that it is agreed to by both you and the reporter. You must not declare it unilaterally.
Social media has now complicated matters. If you are a public figure or you work for an entity that is constantly in the news, a prominent company, or a normally obscure business that is all of a sudden in the news for the wrong reasons, chances are that reporters will search for you online, if you do not already follow each other on some social media platform and find you. Any of your unguarded posts, some unrelated to work, will make the news.
Throwing media cocktail parties or inviting reporters to events and plying them with the best of hospitality does not turn them into your friends nor should it be the expectation. Reporters have a job to do and they must be given the necessary respect and space. I know many a PR practitioner who, during such parties, would regularly be keeping their bosses and colleagues in check lest they reveal too much to reporters thinking everyone is merry-making and not working. If a PR person happens to be away from the chit-chat, chances are that such loose talk will be in the press soon resulting in panic with no one owning up to the remarks. PR people would, naturally, now be expected to make it go away.
Even in terms of personal behavior, sometimes business leaders and other employees become so comfortable around their reporter “friends” that even during functions they become too unguarded only to be shocked when they are referred to in subtle terms in gossip columns days later! So, comportment is important when dealing with reporters, even those that are friendly.
As seasoned corporate affairs specialists, they know when, why, and how to drop scoops to reporters for publication. They also know what words to use for effect.
However, if you struggle to keep your mouth controlled around reporters, be prepared for the ensuing reputational train wreck. We are here at LumenPRC to help repair the damage done!
Seize the light.
