PR lessons from Mark Foley
October 6th, 2006 by Adam
Around the office (but never to our clients) we admit that PR is a relatively easy science (sometimes art) to practice. Most in the trade follow a process of learning everything about the client, identifying their key messages, determining their business goals/roadmap and then implementing strategies and tactics to support the goals.
That last part involves the “agency value add” – killer rolodex of contacts, great pitch writing/calls (yeah, right) and connecting our clients to journalists and decision makers. The bottom line skill is being able to communicate and promote your key messages in a truthful, timely, strategic manner. OK, pretty simple, right? Then why do so many people get it wrong, or better yet, why do so many people in politics get it horribly wrong?
Yesterday’s “Morning Edition” had a concise, informative interview with Lanny Davis, White House special counsel to President Clinton that just made so much sense.
Davis’ suggestions on what to do before bad news breaks:
Tell it all
Tell it early
Tell it yourself
After bad news breaks:
Step up, admit a misjudgement
Announce investigation
Say you’re sorry.
Again, simple stuff.
Hey politicians! We know you’re all power hungry mouthpieces for special interests and lobbyists. Some like Mark Foley are so repressed and troubled that they break voter’s trust and probably break laws too. We’re used to those behaviors since Nixon, Reagan, Clinton or Congressional eruptions and others – We might even consider forgiving some of those folks. However, it’s the coverups and PR fiascos that we don’t forgive.
Technorati Tags: politics PR Lanny+Davis Clinton Mark+Foley
This entry was posted on Friday, October 6th, 2006 at 1:05 pm and is filed under News & Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
October 9th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Adam,
Having worked for Clinton, Lanny Davis knows of what he speaks. You are right on the money in your analysis. Mark Foley’s actions are his alone. Dennis Hastert’s failure to tell what he knew and when he knew it(he’s on his 4th explanation by my count) reflect poorly on the entire party. The cover-up is always worse than the crime.
October 11th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Thanks KFW,
Hope all is well with you. Means a lot to have a post get your kudos.
Thought you’d be interested to see the role user-generated content played in the media investigation.
Good overview from Reuters