Mr. Media Training

By now, you may have already seen the hidden video of Rutgers head men’s basketball coach Mike Rice physically assaulting his players. The video quickly went viral after airing on ESPN yesterday.

After watching this video, there’s no doubt in my mind that Rice should be fired. Immediately. (Editor’s note: Rice was fired shortly after this story posted.) He probably should have been fired when Rutgers officials first learned of the video last November. But Rice may be somewhat irrelevant at this point, assuming he will be fired in the next few days.

What’s much more relevant is the failure of the officials at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, who knew they had a problem on their hands and failed to take appropriate action. (They suspended Rice for three games, fined him $50,000, and ordered him to take anger management classes. That’s more than nothing, but not commensurate with the seriousness of his infractions.)

Below, you’ll find ten questions I’d pose to the president and athletic director of Rutgers right now. If I was their media trainer, I’d insist that they develop credible answers to all 10 of these questions before doing any interviews.

1. 1. What did you know, and when did you know it?
2. 2. In December, you decided to suspend Mr. Rice for three games. Why didn’t you feel that his firing was warranted at that time?
3. 3. If calling players “fucking faggots,” physically assaulting them, and throwing basketballs at their heads isn’t a fireable offense, what is?
4. 4. A player could have been seriously injured or killed as a result of having a basketball thrown at his head. Again, why didn’t you view that as a fireable offense?
5. 5. You’re now reconsidering your decision to retain Mr. Rice. If you feel you took the appropriate action by suspending him, why are you suddenly changing your mind? It looks like you’re just bowing to pressure because ESPN released a story you had hoped remained hidden.
6. 6. After Penn State’s scandal, it became clear that athletic departments could no longer treat out-of-control coaches too leniently. Weren’t you nervous that your decision to keep Rice employed could bring all of you down?
7. 7. How would you have treated, say, a humanities professor or a provost who hurled a basketball at a student’s head at high speed? 
9. 
10. 8. What would you say to the parents of these athletes who trusted Rutgers coaches to treat their children with respect?
11. 9. Your University Code of Student Conduct says: “All members of the Rutgers University community are expected to behave in an ethical and moral fashion, respecting the human dignity of all members of the community and resisting behavior that may cause danger or harm to others through violence, theft, or bigotry.” How would you respond to those who say you appear to have two sets of rules: one for high-profile university leaders, and the other for students and more lowly staff?
12. 10. Why should students, faculty, and the community trust you to retain your positions?

What questions would you ask? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

UPDATE: April 3, 2013, 10:10 a.m.: Rutgers University just announced that it terminated Rice’s contract. The questions posed above remain just as relevant now as they were before his firing, since it took the University months — and public pressure — to take that action.

UPDATE 2: April 3, 2013: 11:23 a.m.: Rutgers’ Athletic Director, Tim Pernetti, issued a reasonable statement this morning, in which he took responsibility for the delayed firing. His statement, and my response, can be found on PR Daily here.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Last Saturday, NASCAR driver Jeremy Clements made a racist remark during an interview with MTV (his comment was not recorded). NASCAR handled the incident swiftly, suspending him indefinitely and reportedly insisting that he attend sensitivity training as a condition of his eventual return.  

Clements and NASCAR may have been able to get away without the public ever learning about this story. The only two people who heard the comment were an MTV reporter (who said he had no intent to make the comment public) and a NASCAR publicist.

Despite that—and to its great credit—NASCAR acted anyway, releasing a statement saying that Clements’s comment was “intolerable.” But it’s what NASCAR didn’t put in its statement that caught my eye.

NASCAR released the following statement on Wednesday:

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jeremy Clements, a driver in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for violating the sanctioning body’s Code of Conduct.

On Feb. 23 at Daytona International Speedway, Clements was found to have violated Sections 7-5 (NASCAR’s Code of Conduct) and 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing).

“During the course of an interview, Jeremy Clements made an intolerable and insensitive remark,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. “NASCAR has a Code of Conduct that’s explicitly spelled out in the 2013 NASCAR Rule Book. We fully expect our entire industry to adhere to that Code.”

Clements simultaneously released his own statement:

“I apologize and regret what I said to the NASCAR writer and to NASCAR, my sponsors, my fans, and my team. NASCAR has a Code of Conduct that everyone must follow and I unintentionally violated that code. I will not get into specifics of what I said but my comment to the writer was in no way meant to be disrespectful or insensitive to anyone or to be detrimental to NASCAR or the NASCAR Nationwide Series. I will do what I need to do in order to atone for my error in judgment.”

Both of those statements left a gaping hole: What did he say?!?

Journalists, who weren’t satisfied by the vague statements, started digging. And sure enough, they started finding answers within 48 hours. This morning, Marty Beckerman, the producer who was present during those comments, said on MTV:

“I was there to do a fish-out-of-water story about going to NASCAR and having a wild, crazy weekend. And, we were doing interviews with many of the drivers, and I was on the way to another interview — we were looking for [driver] Johanna Long’s trailer — and the NASCAR publicist called Mr. Clements over and asked him for help finding her. He walked us toward where she was, and on the way over, I explained to him that Guy Code is rules for guys, how you treat your friends, how you treat your ladies, things like that. I was there to do a humor piece, so I asked him what would be Guy Code for race car drivers, and he blurted out [a phrase that used the n-word].”

So here’s the question: Would NASCAR and Clements have been better off by releasing those details themselves? Wouldn’t doing so have given them more control over how the comments were reported?

And it’s not just this incident. After a horrific crash last week, NASCAR immediately claimed copyright over all fan photos and videos of the wreck. That stance led to the predictable “Streisand Effect,” which occurs when a person’s effort to remove content has the opposite effect as defiant bloggers fight back by making the content more widely available.

In both cases, it appears that NASCAR is still operating in a world in which they think they can control all information. But that’s an increasingly difficult task in the age of social media.

When a person—or an organization—is viewed as hiding information, the resulting coverage is typically harsher. Their obfuscation only served to prolong the news cycle.

What do you think? Should NASCAR have released more details in order to help control the story?

Jeremy Clements photo credit: Royalbroil, Wikimedia Commons

A sociopath is defined as a pathological liar who lacks remorse, is manipulative and superficially charming, and who fails to take responsibility for his actions.

Watching Lance Armstrong’s interview with Oprah Winfrey tonight, you wouldn’t have to work hard to make the case that he fits that classic profile.

Armstrong offered a self-interested and rather obvious admission of guilt, but didn’t look like he really meant it. On some intellectual level, he seemed to understand that he had to make a perfunctory admission—but that’s all he gave, failing to deliver his words with the emotion that would give the public a hint that he “got it.”

A person in crisis who “gets it” doesn’t say that he looked up the definition of the word “cheat” and then reveal that he didn’t think he met that definition. Nor should a person in crisis play games when asked whether it was true that he never failed a drug test (in fact, he said, he didn’t, evading the real point of Oprah’s question).

But one of his lowest moments came when discussing a recent phone call with Betsy Andreu, wife of cyclist Frankie Andreu. When recounting the phone call, Armstrong seemed to find it funny that although he admitted calling her “crazy” and “a bitch,” he didn’t call her “fat.” He grinned at his apparent wit, as if he was a mischievous kid who thought his cruelty was somehow funny.

In describing himself, he told Oprah that he was “a guy who expected to get what he wanted and control every outcome.” Although he used the past tense, the same could be said for his demeanor during the interview tonight. Armstrong was stiff, with clenched hands and crossed arms—but he also couldn’t stop himself from jumping in and talking over Oprah several times.

Armstrong also used distancing third person language, calling himself “Lance Armstrong,” and linguistically trying to separate “that part of my life” from “this part” of my life—as if he wasn’t still denying the juicing charges just a few months ago.

The medium Armstrong chose for his interview was telling—by choosing an interview with Oprah Winfrey instead of, say, Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes, Armstrong made clear that this “confession” was more about image rehabilitation than a sincere attempt to come completely clean (he didn’t; he refused to offer many specifics). To Winfrey’s credit, she came prepared, asking short, to-the-point questions before getting out of Armstrong’s way.

In the end, Armstrong managed to diminish his brand even further tonight. Given his reputation, I would have expected him to train for this interview with the same seriousness he once used to prepare for his cycling events (without the doping, of course). Perhaps he did work in advance with a media trainer. But at some point, even the best media trainer can’t prevent a remorseless bully from getting out of his own way. 

UPDATE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2013, 10:00pm

The clip above was one of Armstrong’s lowest moments of the entire interview. His comment about whether he should be allowed to compete again, “I think I deserve it,” was one of his most tone-deaf of the two nights.

That moment aside, Armstrong exhibited more emotion tonight than he did in the first part.

What struck me is that the only time during both nights that he seemed truly emotionally connected was when he discussed his family. On the other hand, he showed little of that same emotional connectedness when talking about doping, the people he bullied, or his years of dishonestly.

That contrast showed me something: Armstrong has the capacity to feel and care about other people – so perhaps he’s not a sociopath after all (even though he said he was one during tonight’s interview). But it also shows that he’s not nearly as personally connected to the torment he caused so many people outside of his family.

All in all, tonight was a slightly better night for him. But he still doesn’t seem to fully “get it”; nor has he fully disclosed his infractions or expressed a willingness to give something up (such as his aspirations to be allowed to compete again).  Until he does, he’s going to have a long path to public redemption.

What do you think? Please take our poll and leave your thoughts in the comments section below. And if anything interesting happens during Friday night’s interview, I’ll update this post.

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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Kimber Auerbach, the Director of Communications for the New York Islanders. He wrote this to supplement a post I wrote last month about the challenge of notifying families about a death before they learn about it from the media. 

I do not want my comment to come across as demeaning the bigger picture of, “Should you wait until the family is notified of a death.” That’s obviously an issue of greater severity than the one I’ll write about today, but I wanted to share an issue we deal with in sports regarding “Information being released before a player is notified.”

The trade deadline is one of the busiest days of the season in hockey (or any sport) for management as they try and better their team for either a playoff run or the future. Players are on edge because they don’t know if they’ll be on the ice skating one moment and get pulled off the next to be informed that they’ve been dealt.

Reporters are so connected to their smartphones that it has literally become a race to see who can tweet the information first. Who can write the better story about how BLANK player will fit in with the team or how this deal helps the future seems to have become secondary. The media are too fixated on tweeting the news first, as reporters want to be the one sourced in all the articles as “BLANK reporter (@BlankReporter) tweeted the news first.”

There have been players that said they found out about being traded from watching TSN TradeTracker:

It really is a shame that players wind up finding out about a trade this way. For them, it’s life altering news that means they’re going to have to pick up their world and move it to another city. Yes, the media are doing their jobs in reporting the news as quickly as they possibly can, which in one way you can’t fault them for doing. However, there should be something that prevents them from doing so until all players are notified and the information is properly filed to the league, much like there seems to be in news reporting when someone tragically passes away.

It goes the other way as well. Sometimes, the media speculate about where a player may be dealt, and family and friends of a player see the rumors before a deal is even done. We’ve had players call to ask if it’s true that they’ve been traded, only to find out the reports are false. But because the media are so into breaking the news—and are often times correct—a player’s world gets turned upside down for no reason.

Until the day when there is a system to allow a period of time between the finalization of a deal and alerting the media, we as PR reps for teams are left to confirming the news that the media has already reported.

Now available: The Media Training Bible: 101 Things You Absolutely, Positively Need to Know Before Your Next Interview. Click here to read more.

Editor’s Note: This article is by Christina Mozaffari, Senior Media Trainer, Phillips Media Relations.

As a media trainer and a former journalist, I tell my clients never to lie to reporters, especially in a crisis. Once the truth comes out—and it usually does—you lose any credibility you may have had and become a completely unreliable source in the future.

Which is why I’m torn thinking about the recent developments in Lance Armstrong’s current battle against doping charges. The Washington Post reports the seven-time Tour de France winner is being accused by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) of a “massive doping conspiracy” from 1998-2007 witnessed by more than 10 cyclists.

Armstrong released a strong statement on his website yesterday denying the allegations, saying:

“I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one. That USADA ignores this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence.”

This is not the first time Armstrong has faced these charges. The US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles investigated Armstrong for two years before terminating its inquiry in February without charging him. In that case, two of his former teammates testified in public that Armstrong was doping.

Which gets us to the big question: Assuming, for the sake of argument, Armstrong did dope, what should he do? Should he come clean and put this whole mess to rest, relinquish his seven Tour de France titles and jeopardize his fundraising prowess for his Livestrong Foundation? Or, should he continue to deny the allegations and defend himself in the court of public opinion?

Complicating the matter, a confession would not send Armstrong to jail. The USADA cannot prosecute him criminally; it can only strip him of his titles and prevent him from competing in future events. So this really is solely a matter of Armstrong’s reputation.

Mark McGwire's reputation never recovered after he admitted using steroids.

Past athletes who have admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs have not fared well. Take Mark McGwire, for example, who in 2005 pleaded “no comment” when asked during a Congressional hearing whether he had ever taken steroids. The public convicted him of being a cheat, and his reputation has never recovered. He finally confessed the obvious in 2010, and has been on the outside of the Baseball Hall of Fame looking in ever since. 

Former Olympic champion Marion Jones faced a similar fate when she confessed to taking performance-enhancing drugs and lying about them to a grand jury. She was stripped of her five Olympic medals and the promising career and sports endorsements she once had.

Our firm wouldn’t represent a client that we knew was lying. But assuming that Armstrong is guilty, is his best PR move to deny and defend? Is this an exception to the “never lie” rule?

UPDATE: June 29, 2012: According to one of Lance Armstrong’s lawyers, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency voted today to officially charge Armstrong with doping and being part of a doping conspiracy.

What do you think? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals’ 19-year-old rookie outfielder, hit a homerun on Tuesday night to help his team beat the Toronto Blue Jays.

He hit another homerun after the game.

During a post-game press availability, a reporter pointed out to Harper that people can drink legally at age 18 in Canada, so he wondered whether he might celebrate by drinking his favorite Canadian beer.

That was a silly question for at least a few of reasons. First, answering that question could create negative headlines, such as “Underage Nationals Star Names His Favorite Beer.” Second, as a Mormon, Harper isn’t supposed to drink at all. Third, what type of question is that, anyway?

Bryce Harper, Photo Credit: MissChatter

Harper reacted perfectly, refusing the question and telling the reporter, “That’s a clown question, bro.” Priceless. It’s worth watching the brief exchange.

That clip brings up another important media management question: when is it appropriate for a PR handler to jump in and interrupt an on-camera interview?

You may have noticed that just after the question was asked, a PR rep standing off-camera interjected and told the reporter to “ask something else.” In this case, the interruption was unnecessary – Harper’s initial reaction made it clear that he wasn’t going to answer the question. But the P.R. rep’s instinct to jump in was right.

That goes against the advice I typically dispense on this blog. Generally speaking, I advise PR pros to avoid jumping in during live interviews. Doing so at the wrong time can create a much larger story, as illustrated by this infamous 2004 Meet the Press clip:

Still, there are moments when jumping in is the better of two options. In Mr. Harper’s case, the PR rep felt he had two choices: to allow Harper to answer the question and potentially embarrass himself and his team, or cut off the line of questioning and potentially take some heat for doing so. Especially given the irrelevant nature of the question, I’d argue the PR pro made the right choice. (I’m not sure I’d feel the same way if the reporter was asking about a legitimate scandal, instead.)

Of course, there’s a third and better choice than the two mentioned above: Give all of your players media training and trust that they’re able to handle these situations without needing outside help (I’m guessing that did happen in this case). Mr. Harper looked to have the interview under full control, meaning he was able to deflect the question and move on with ease.

In this case, his PR rep had reason to be confident enough to allow his well-prepared player to handle the situation alone, using the same skill he regularly demonstrates on the field.

A grateful h/t to @FitzFiles.

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Racial epithets, communists, anti-woman sentiment, and uninhibited profanity.

The most recent episode of Mad Men, you say? Nope. That nonsense didn’t end in 1968.

Without further ado, here are the five worst video media disasters of April 2012!

5. Fox Commentator Drops The F-Bomb On The Air

It’s not so much that liberal commentator Bob Beckel said the f-word with gusto on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel show. It’s his reaction that makes this clip priceless. Mr. Beckel didn’t know they were on the air – and his tonal shift from defiance to finger-pointing to contrition unfolds in a couple of highly amusing minutes. 

Although this clip only ranks at number five on the list, it’s my personal favorite of the month.

4. Washington, DC Councilman Marion Barry Blasts Asian Business Owners

Former DC mayor and current councilman Marion Barry slammed Asians when he said: “We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops. They ought to go.”

Well, at least it’s not like he’s the chair of DC’s Committee on Aging and Community Affairs, which is responsible for Asian issues, right? Oh, wait, he is? Wow. That’s quite a gaffe.

3. Look Out, Joseph McCarthy. You Have Competition.

Did you know that there are between 78 to 81 Democratic members of the House of Representatives who are members of the Communist Party?

Nope, that’s not a headline from 1954. That McCarthy-esque statement came from Rep. Allen West (R-FL) during a town hall meeting earlier this month, evoking the worst days from the Red Scare.

I’m just waiting for someone to ask him, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

DID YOU MISS THE TEN WORST MEDIA DISASTERS OF 2011? CLICK HERE TO CATCH UP.

2. Football Coach Pays Players to Injure Competitors

In a remarkably violent and vulgar audio tape, former New Orleans Saints Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams was caught offering players money to injure members of the opposing team. About one player, he said:

“We’ve got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore’s head…we want his head sideways.” About another player, he said, “we fuckin’ take out that outside ACL.”

Mr. Williams’ disgusting rant earned him an indefinite suspension from the NFL. May he never spend another moment on a professional, college, high school, or youth football field.

1. Hilary Rosen Slams Ann Romney

Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen handed Republicans a giant cudgel when she said that Ann Romney “has never worked a day in her life.” Many women were genuinely offended at Ms. Rosen’s assertion, especially given that Ms. Romney was a stay at home mother who raised five boys.

Ms. Rosen should have known better, especially since these types of comments have drawn scrutiny in the past. In 1992, Hillary Clinton caused her husband’s campaign unnecessary heartache when she declared that, “I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession.”

Ms. Rosen’s comment, which helped Republicans neutralize the “war on women,” quickly drew condemnation from within her own party. Within days, President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden, White House Spokesman Jay Carney, and Campaign Communications Director David Axelrod all condemned her remark. 

Bonus 1: Woman-Lover Herman Cain Says Men Are Better Informed

Why do men support Mitt Romney more than women? It’s because men are better informed, according to former GOP frontrunner Herman Cain. Is it me, or can you not wait for this “war on women” to end?

Bonus 2: West Virginia Senate Candidate Compares Smoking Ban to Hitler

John Raese (R-WV) thinks that a smoking ban is the “same thing” as Adolf Hitler’s policy that forced Jews to wear a Star of David so they could be more easily identified. A hint to all politicians and pundits: the Hitler/Nazi analogy rarely works.

Bonus 3: CNN Reporter Says F-Word And N-word Live On Air

While quoting a Facebook page of an Oklahoma criminal suspect, veteran CNN Correspondent Susan Candiotti used a rather vulgar phrase. I understand why she wouldn’t want to dilute the stark language by replacing epithets with euphemisms. But on CNN, which is blared in businesses, restaurants, airport terminals and hotel lobbies across the country? Bad idea, and Ms. Candiotti should have known better. 

The New York Yankees have won more World Series championships than any other baseball franchise in history.

But that’s no guarantee of media success, especially because the “Bronx Bombers” play in arguably the world’s most challenging media market. Anyone who’s glanced at the front cover of the New York Post or New York Daily News knows just how cruel the New York press corps can be.

It turns out that the Yankees have reacted to intensity of the media spotlight in exactly the right way. According to Paul White of USA Today, the Yankees might just have the best media training program in baseball.

“No team in baseball gets more attention and scrutiny. And no team goes to greater lengths to make sure its players are prepared to deal with the media and avoid the trouble that can accompany their positions with one of the most-followed sports franchises in the world.

‘We want to be the guardrail at the top of the cliff,’ says general manager Brian Cashman of his team’s media training program. ‘Rather than the ambulance at the bottom.’

He mandates the first act of spring training every year for Yankees players is watching a 25-minute video as part of their media training. They also receive a four-page handout, which includes advice from journalists and former Yankees, plenty of examples of how not to deal with the media and photos of all the journalists who regularly cover the team.”

Mr. White’s terrific article included (at least) four additional points worthy of mention:

1. Stay In Your Lane: In the handout, pitcher Andy Pettitte offers players this advice: “To save yourself a little grief and a headache, stick to baseball.” That squares with advice I’ve often given on this blog for spokespersons to “stay in their lanes.” If you speak about controversial issues, you’re going to create a distraction similar to the one Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas sparked earlier this year, or that Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen recently caused when he spoke about his affection for Fidel Castro. 

Yankee Nick Swisher offers wise advice about Twitter

2. Twitter Doesn’t Kill People, Tweeters Do: Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher says in the Yankees training video that: “Twitter is like having a gun. If you take care of it, you’re OK. But you can shoot yourself.” That’s good advice, as everyone from Anthony Weiner and Gilbert Gottfried to Chris Brown and Roland Martin have learned the hard way.

3. Remember Your Audience: Former pitcher Mike Mussina says in the handout that he “didn’t adjust very well at the beginning. It doesn’t say in your contract that you have to be hospitable to the media, but they’re the ones that communicate with the millions of fans on a daily basis.” Mussina eventually learned how to interact well with the press, even becoming a media favorite. He learned something I discuss on this blog a lot: that reporters aren’t the audience – the audience is the audience.

4. Don’t Leave Loose Ends: Finally, the handout dispensed one final phrase of wisdom that represents a perfect ending to this post: “That which is not resolved today will find you tomorrow.”

A grateful h/t to Dave Statter. Nick Swisher photo credit: Keith Allison.

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