"We've all been '60 Minutes'd' to death, but there is a great fear on the part of business executives with the media," says Paul Alvarez, chairman of Ketehum Public Relations in New York. "Nobody is being served well when someone's not communicating properly."
Considering that each day about 50,000 people are interviewed by radio, television, and newspaper reporters-with millions of viewers and readers reviewing the results - it's no wonder more business executives are getting interested in the news coverage that invariably will affect their companies. And as business increasingly becomes the focus for news, public affairs, and features inquiries, more and more companies and their executives-hoping to shape the final results a bit more in their favor-are turning to public relations professionals to prepare them for the question-and-answer sessions to come.
The world of television is especially foreign to the uninitiated-closed-door studios, hi-tech equipment, blinding lights. Unless an executive is prepared for the rules, sounds, sights, and standards, a television interview can quickly turn into a personal and professional disaster-for him, his company, even his whole industry!
Robert B. Ormsby, president of Lockheed Georgia Co., reportedly once said, "In executive ranks, you usually have 30-90 minutes to make your point on television, under the best of circumstances, you have 90 seconds."
And what print reporter conducting an over-the-phone interview on deadline or radio broadcaster looking for 30-second bites of information to re-broadcast at 5 p.m. has that much more time?
The Rise of "Communications Trainers"
When the challenge is appropriately met, a media appearance can be a solid transference of information. Whether the subject is economics, politics, or social trends, some basic skills must be mastered.
To meet the demand, hundreds of "communications trainers"-many of them former broadcasters with ample experience in TV news departments-have set up operations nationwide. These groups range from the substantial communications training groups of some of the major public relations companies, complete with elaborate studios and control rooms, to individual practitioners with a videotape machine, a small camera, and a playback monitor.
"Ten years ago," notes Lou Williams of Chicago-based Savlin/Williams Associates, "media training was done only on special occasions. Now it's become a cottage industry."
At Williams' public relations firm, media training volume now accounts for about one- third of the business. Communispond Inc., headquartered in New York, does nothing but consult corporate managements on improving communication, offering help in media interviews, public speaking, and memo writing.
Some companies and executives are growing more confident Jack Hilton, one of the first independent television consultants, says trouble-environmental damage, a strike, a recall-used to be the only reason he gained a client. "But now (business) has discovered television and come to a conclusion about it. Now it wants to use the media to tell its story."
The consultants don't divulge dollar figures, but a senior vice president at one of the nation's largest public relations firms estimates that revenues for all such U.S. companies grew by substantially in the last decade.
Ketchum Speak Out!
To meet the demand for these types of programs, Ketchum Public Relations created Speak Out!, a program tailored for clients facing various types of media interviews. Essentially the program teaches them how to present opinions and facts. It also helps the media, who need guests who are knowledgeable and confident
During day-long classes, participants are put through exercises, videotaped interviews, and classroom instruction designed to orient them to the media process. We help them be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their presentation styles, define the points they want to deliver, organize their deliveries, and develop flexibility and self-confidence.
Following discussions with agency staff assigned to the account and media representatives, interviews which seemed to be scary or were viewed (unnecessarily!) as confrontational, can become dynamic and effective communication links with the broadest range of the public.
Some basic principles apply to all media interviews.
Walter Pfister, President of the Executive Television Workshop, has written that, "For starters, a reporter, interviewer, or correspondent on television needs a story that lends itself to visual interest Television is a visual medium. When that element is missing from the executive's story, he will have to work harder to create mental pictures for the audience.
"Second, the reporter looks for drama and conflict in bringing a story to the air. Most reporters find it easier to look for negative drama and negative conflict. Experience has shown them that finding and reporting something wrong attracts a larger audience than a story on something right.
Third, large portions of an audience identify with that reporter, and his or her ratings and reputation become essential to career success. The reporter often has a psychological role to play in his or her relationship with the audience and must always appear to come out on top in an interview confrontation.
"Finally, the audience is looking for entertainment Think about who actually watches television-particularly daytime television-pensioners, shift workers, housewives, ill people, vacationers, the unemployed. When do you watch Phil Donahue?
"Certainly you don't want to watch a heavy-handed, pedantic, corporate executive, with arms glued to his or her sides, drone on in polysyllabic pronouncements that sound as if they've had to survive I three reviews by corporate attorneys. You want to be entertained.
