Deborah Smith has been trying to get a dangerous tree cut down for the past two years.
The St. Louis woman has regularly asked Roberts Brothers Properties—which owns the property next to her house—to chop it down.
The company was unresponsive, so Ms. Smith contacted KSDK reporter Mike Rush, who paid a visit to Roberts Brothers. And what happened next was rather stunning.
The receptionist not only refused to buzz the reporter in, but hid under her desk for half an hour, occasionally peeking up to see if the reporter was still there. In so doing, she gave the reporter exactly what he wanted—a great visual that made his piece that much more interesting.
It’s a good reminder of why I always remind companies to provide their receptionists with basic media training, especially when they know that a reporter is working on a story in which they’re involved.
Making matters worse, a Roberts Brothers representative named Michael States showed up and made even more damaging comments on camera (he returned a short time later with the chastened tone he should have employed from the start).
The most unfortunate part of this video is that the punishment was much more severe than the crime. If Roberts Brothers had chopped down the tree two years ago—or even the same day the reporter started working on this story—this wouldn’t have made the news.
Instead, the company let a minor issue become a referendum on its overall competence, all for the price of chopping down a tree.
Do you tweet? If so, please connect with me at @MrMediaTraining.
h/t:Chris Syme, Poynter.org
February 19th, 2013 at 11:47 am
Wow… what a great piece of video! Had to show that to a number of my coworkers as well. I feel badly for the receptionist, who was obviously put in a position she was not prepared to handle…but at the same time, you have to wonder why she thought hiding under her desk would be the best way of dealing with the situation.
Even those with media training/experience can make some odd decisions as well. Not sure if you’ve seen this one or not, but Canadian Senator Mike Duffy (who was himself a broadcast journalist known for roasting politicians before he was appointed to the Senate) is facing questions about whether he actually resides in the province he’s supposed to represent. After giving a speech, he decided to try and sneak out through the kitchen to avoid his former colleagues. Of course, that didn’t work and we see the Senator doing the exact same thing he would have ranted on his show about years ago.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/senator-mike-duffy-takes-kitchen-exit-reporters-seek-021615401.html
February 19th, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Brett —
It seems like this is becoming an epidemic! Thank you very much for sharing the link with me and this blog’s readers.
Cheers,
Brad