Dealing with the media: A guide for local organizers

This guide is written for those of you who are organizing local Tea Party events on April 15.

This guide is not about how to reach out to the media. It is a guide to thinking through what you want to do when the media reaches out to you.

Should you identify a local spokesperson for your event?

If you don’t, when a reporter for a local newspaper or a producer for a local talk show is looking for someone to interview, they’ll contact you, and that means that by default you’ll be the spokesperson.

How do I find a spokesperson if I don’t want to be it?

The same way you’d find any other volunteer–let everyone know you’re looking for someone to take on this job.

What does the spokesperson do?

He or she will be the person who speaks with reporters from newspapers, television stations and radio shows to explain what your Tea Party is all about–when it is, why you’re doing it, what you hope to accomplish, etc.

Can I be the spokesperson?

Sure. Just be aware that if you are the main local organizer and the main spokesperson, you are going to have a lot on your plate in the 24 hours before and during your event because not only will you be tending to dozens of last minute organizational details, but that 24-hour-period is also when reporters will start calling you.

What should a local spokesperson be able to do?

Key characteristics of a local spokesperson:

• This person must be available on short notice to do interviews.  That means the person must be someone who responds quickly to voicemail and email.
• This person must be committed to what you are doing, and must be able to explain what, where, when and why.
• If this person is eloquent, witty and charming, that’s fine.  But mostly you need someone who is clear, straightforward and able to be informative.

What should I expect when a reporter calls us?

The main thing you should expect is that the reporter will insist that he or she is on deadline and you must answer his or her questions immediately because there is no possible way he or she can handle it if you say you are not available right now and have to get back to them.

What should I do when that happens?

If the reporter waited until he or she was 10 minutes away from a deadline to call you, that’s not your problem. If you can’t talk to the reporter now, or you want to do some background research on the reporter before you call back, it is up to you to say you’re not available right now for an interview no matter how urgent the reporter is, and to arrange for a call back at a set time.

How can I prepare for unexpected calls from reporters?

Keep with you a notebook that has all the data in it that you want to make sure you mention in the interview, such as:

• The exact date, time and location of your event.
• The main points you want to stress to the reporter about why you’re doing this.
• Any URLs you want to mention to the reporter about where he or she, or any readers, can find additional information.
• Anything else you want to make sure to mention.

How can we deal with hostile reporters?

There’s not a lot you can do, because the main way a hostile reporter will approach your event is to attend it and find several of the more extreme-looking participants and get quotes from them. The reporter will then write a newspaper article that features prominent quotes from these people in such a way as to imply that whatever goof-ball things these participants said are characteristic of everyone else who attended.

Here’s an example.

The lesson there is: If you don’t define yourself, a hostile reporter will try to define you. The way you define yourself is by doing so much outreach and other publicity (such as with all your online outreach efforts) that even the most hostile reporter will be too embarrassed to do this type of cheap hatchet-job.

What if a hostile reporter does a cheap hatchet-job?

Given what you know of your local media, if you think this is a possibility, prepare for it by making sure that a blog is part of your online outreach efforts. Then at a minimum you can use the blog to fact-check what the hostile reporter said, and to point out the deficiencies in his or her coverage. If nothing else, this creates a permanent online record about the reporter.