Over the past several weeks, Nevada GOP Senate Candidate Sharron Angle has taken increasingly drastic steps to avoid speaking to the press.
When asked by the Fox News Channel’s Carl Cameron earlier this week why she’s avoiding the press, she said, “We needed the press to be our friend…We wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported.”
It’s tough to know where to begin. First, Ms. Angle, you can’t control reporters’ questions or their coverage. You can help influence their coverage through a more positive media relations effort, but there are no guarantees.
What you do have total control over are your words. You should answer a reporter’s questions by first directly addressing the substance of the question, transitioning to your main messages, and articulating your most important points. You might even be able to sneak your web address in a time or two during the interview.
Finally, where in the world did Ms. Angle get the impression reporters were supposed to be her friends? It’s a staggeringly uninformed view – one that no serious contender for high political office should hold.
Come to think of it, if this is what she says when she gives a media interview, perhaps her media people have the right idea by shielding her from the press.
