Tall poppies. They’re something the UK is renowned for growing and then expert at cutting down. Is this true?
We need to go back to the fundamental question about what the media is for. Is it, first and foremost, to report the facts, or is it to publish stories? Answer: very much the latter.
Take a public company and its CEO. They run their company well, it grows, they make some acquisitions, they exceed expectations, they’re feted by the media (possibly encouraged by their PR advisers). Everyone walks tall.
But then things go wrong, results go badly, people leave, stakeholders are displeased. They get fired. The media have a field day.
This is not negative reporting, it’s publishing stories – in this case the age old story of hubris, something the Ancient Greeks loved to report. It’s a business story which means something to the audience. It’s relatable. Pride before a fall. It’s life.
Or take pay. No matter how justified a CEO’s pay is as far as the remuneration committee is concerned (or shareholders), newsworthy salary stories are stories about riches beyond most people’s dreams. Or apparent greed – another favourite of the Ancients (remember Croesus, king of Lydia?). It’s another relatable story that means something to modern day audiences. It sells.
Business, like politics and sport, has all the ingredients for stories that mean something. Along with hubris and greed there’s tragedy (How I Lost Everything) and redemption (How I Made It Back). The list goes on.
Many Boardrooms are told it’s important to make “friends” with the Newsroom. The idea is that if you have a good, close, working relationship with a journalist, there’s protection when things go wrong and the lore of the Ancients can somehow be resisted.
This is one of the most dangerous, and potentially misleading, pieces of PR advice you will ever hear.
It works to the extent of ensuring the media have a thorough understanding of your business. Talking to the media is a good thing. Constructive, helpful coverage does happen. Favours can be done from time to time.
But as Icarus, another Ancient, found, getting too close to The Sun (pun intended) can have negative career consequences. It’s all about maintaining the right relationships and the right distance.
A reputation built predominantly on what you do, rather than what you say, will prove far more robust with the media when things (inevitably) go wrong.
That’s not to say the media can’t be trusted – they can if you know who. You just have to be very careful what you trust them with. They’re not your friends and there are good reasons for that on both sides.
