If you are Public Relations officer and you are left in the office alone and you get a call from the media about a development in the feild that you are covering but you have not heard of it……what do you say? Do you come up with something? Do you say you are unaware?
what would you do in the public relations scenario?
If you are Public Relations officer and you are left in the office alone and you get a call from the media about a development in the feild that you are covering but you have not heard of it……what do you say? Do you come up with something? Do you say you are unaware?
One Response
December 4th, 2009 at 9:30 am
If you are the PR Officer, the media will hold you responsible to answer for your company so they will EXPECT you to be totally honest with them. BUT, you don’t want to look asleep at the wheel so what I would do is create some kind of immediate diversion or excuse to get off the phone (pretend you just spilled coffee on yourself or something) but let the person know you will call them right back or at a scheduled time. Then make haste to find out what is happening and formulate your response. You can always say “No comment” at this time, or if the issue is big enough, tell them that your company is investigating and will issue a release shortly.
You are not expected to be omniscient — all seeing / all knowing. But because PR is the knowledge business, you should never make a dumb statement or a lie. DODGE with something innocuous/harmless to others but time sensitive for you in the moment until you get the info and can formulate an appropriate response.
Do the “Twix Moment” thing (smiles)….it works in a pinch.