Taking flack
This story from "The Hill" newspaper, a publication that mainly covers the scene around Congress, had me laughing this morning. (Via Romenesko.)
It covers the various things that press secretaries in Washington, D.C. do to deflect and absorb bad news for their bosses.
Most legislators here in Raleigh don't have press folks, the exceptions being House Speaker Jim Black and Senate Leader Marc Basnight. However, the list of tactics the Hill reporter came up with looked familiar. Legislators don't need a press secretary to do these all on their own.
- Say "I will call you back" and then don't.
- Repeat the same phrase over and over.
- Try to talk the reporter out of writing the story.
- Act brusque and distant.
- Don't return phone calls until the day after deadline.
- Talk in short sentences.
- Act as though you are in a hurry and need to get off the phone as soon as possible.
PR folks for the various executive and council of state agencies do some of the same stuff.
Let me add one or two others that I've run into over the years:
- Offer up what they think will be a more interesting story about something or someone else.
- Use language that is un-quotable, either by way of cuss words or by using such tortured syntax that a direct quote is impossible.
- Suggest that the reporter is stupid for even having to ask such a question.
- Suggest your reporting would be incomplete without talking to someone or getting a fact that they think would be hard for you to run down.
- Get "distracted" by an old friend/constituent/staffer who happens to wander by and get into a prolonged conversation hoping the reporter will get fed up and go away.
Now a quick disclaimer: Most of the legislators and other folks I deal with around here are delightful most of the time...really. They're nice folks who have normal lives and are all of a sudden thrust into this rather odd fish bowl. No one is ever happy to deal with bad news or a question that cuts too close to home, some are just more deft at dealing with them than others.
That said, neither anything on the Hill list nor mine has ever stopped bad news from coming down the track. As Brian Walsh, a one-time spokesman for Bob Barr (R-Ga.) said in the Hill piece:
"You have two choices," Walsh said. "Whether you like the story or you don’t like the story, you have to make the determination: Will it be less bad you telling it or your opponent telling it?"