The Challenges of Protecting a Client

Several years ago I worked closely with a university administrator to help him prepare for an upcoming interview with a national news network. Understandably, he was nervous and wanted to do well. He was also eager to sit down with the reporter as he had strong feeling about the focus of the interview: academic freedom. As it turned out, the interview did not go well as he became flustered and ended up not being nearly as articulate as he and I had hoped. This sort of thing happens to all of us, of course, with the exception that when most of us get tongue-tied it is not in front of a television camera.

In the middle of the sit-down with the reporter as the administrator was struggling, one of his assistants kept elbowing me to step in front of the camera and stop the interview. I refused because I felt doing so would make an awkward situation even worse for all of us. I was reminded of that experience recently while watching an interview that CBS' "60 Minutes" conducted with Republican Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia. In this situation, Cantor's public relations adviser apparently found himself with a choice similar to mine as to whether to interrupt the proceeding. In this case, his decision was different than mine.

During the interview Cantor began talking about his opposition to raising taxes and, in doing so, alluded to former President Ronald Reagan. The reporter, Leslie Stahl, correctly reminded Cantor that Reagan had agreed to raise taxes more than once during this eight years as president. As Cantor attempted to respond to that, off camera his public relations rep interrupted his boss and began denying what Stahl had said about Reagan. Not only was this professional communicator factually wrong, he did Cantor a disservice by giving the impression Cantor is not able to speak for himself when it comes to matters of national importance.

One of the responsibilities of public relations professionals is to help prepare their clients with talking points and communication tips so, when they do interact with the media, they come across in a positive light. I am sure this is what the PR rep did with Representative Cantor. Despite that, sometimes clients still mess up or fall short of how well they want to do. The question for the PR rep is have a plan in-place should that occur. Generally, however, it is unwise to take any heavy handed corrective steps in a way that makes the client look worse than they may already be looking. Disrupting an interview - even one that is not going well - is a case-in-point. It only angers the reporter and gives them more ammunition to use should they decide to take out their frustration on your client. Sometimes, PR reps have to let things play themselves out even when it is they are not going well.