New Zealand businesses have suffered reputational damage during the last few years because of the changing needs of the news media, according to the author of a new book.
The need for business leaders to understand these new requirements are the focus of Media Training for Modern Leaders.
Author and media trainer, Pete Burdon says the need to respond to news media requests within minutes is often not understood. “In the old days, people either got their news from tonight’s TV news or tomorrow’s newspaper, so there was no urgency for reporter to get their stories completed,” he says.
“Now, stories are often on websites and social media channels within minutes. If it’s a serious issue and you don’t get back to the reporter in time, the comment will merely say something like ‘Mr Blogs refused to comment’, which implies some sort of guilt.”
Pete Burdon, a former reporter and government press secretary, says this also means that businesses should have media statements ready to send out on serious issues before they are needed.
“This is often the only way of getting yourself into the story, even if it’s just saying you are aware of the situation and are doing everything to resolve it. If you don’t comment quickly in these scenarios, you look incompetent or uncaring.
“Many businesses have been hit by this over recent years and are likely to be hit more if they don’t take action to protect their reputations from media scrutiny.”
He says the amount of time media spokespeople have to make their points has also been cut as sound bite lengths have fallen consistently, with the average length about seven seconds.
“If you don’t cut what you want to say to its absolute core and make it interesting to the reporter, you’ve got a high chance of being quoted out of context, or misquoted when the reporter tries to paraphrase. It’s important to know that if this happens, you are usually responsible, not the reporter.”
