Press is of great importance

Coherent dialogue with the press is a must

Line-of-Sight has substantial experience in how to handle press communication in an expedient way. We offer media training. We develop press messages and press strategies, arrange press meetings and write press releases. We always include the Corporate Responsibility aspect in our press consultancy service. We prepare communication plans for specific issues including instances involving support of a concrete product campaign.

Line-of-Sight is ready to relieve the press department or to act as the press department’s external sparring partner. We can assist in making press communication cohere with the other communication activities of the business. And if necessary we are ready to assist a business within a couple of hours.

Permanent press alert

It is of great importance how the press reports on a business or organisation. Sometimes of quite crucial importance. It is difficult to achieve a good reputation without engaging in active and positive dialogue with the press. The press acts fast, well sometimes around the clock. Even though the production time of an article or feature is relatively long it is still often the case that the scope for leaving one’s mark on it is very short. So in order to perform well there is nothing else to do than to be constantly ready to face the press.

As a consequence, most large businesses and organisations have set up press departments with which the press can get in touch around the clock. And they have made plans for how to communicate in certain situations. Still, even well-prepared businesses and organisations repeatedly perform badly in relation to the press in situations where it did not have to go wrong.

When dialogue with the press develops poorly one must not be blind to the fact that the reason might be that one has a rotten case, and that there is not much to be done about but to apologize and be obliging to the criticism the press might raise. However, poor mention in the press may also be the result even though the business actually has a positive case, because the spokespersons of the business do not handle the dialogue with the press in an expedient way. There may be many reasons for that and some reasons tend to repeat themselves.

Reasons why it may go wrong

The spokesperson is poorly prepared. The spokesperson did not get the necessary support and facts. The spokesperson is not used to talking to the press. The spokesperson is afraid not to have the support of the management to give the correct explanation. The business only has one spokesperson, and he or she is not available. The spokesperson did not feel he or she was the right person in the business to make a statement because the dialogue with the press took an unexpected turn. The spokesperson was stressed and did not have focus on the importance of taking the time to talk to the press. The business had not anticipated that the issue could be an issue in the press and therefore the spokesperson did not have anything sensible to say. The business was not able to anticipate that the issue would be dealt with in the press because the business was unable to view itself through the spectacles of the surrounding world. The business had not in due time discussed the issue with the right external stakeholders and thereby prepared the stakeholders who would have an interest in the issue. Due to the internal culture of the business the spokesperson was unable to understand and respond to the press’ interest in the issue.

Line-of-Sight has substantial experience in handling reasons like these in an expedient manner.