When to Turn Down An Interview

by lisa ~ October 29, 2009

Oct. 29, 2009 - For people who wonder why the nightly news is overwhelmingly negative - with only a 60-second, light-hearted bit tacked on to the end of the evening broadcast - I think this situation provides a small amount of insight.

When I heard that a producer for a network news program wanted to speak to one of my clients yesterday, I was understandably excited. What a great opportunity to tell the country about a pilot program this client had started - a program that was nearing its one-year anniversary and that had had positive results. The company’s CEO would be thrilled!

But after a brief conversation with the producer, it was clear that I would have to advise my client to turn down the opportunity. Even those who don’t work in PR must realize that declining national exposure is a hard thing to do but I realized that it was truly the best option for my client.

After a successful one-year trial, this client had received permission to expand its program within one city. The outcomes are carefully tracked and close contact is maintained amongst the various governmental agencies, funding sources, and faith-and-community-based organizations (FCBOs) that are involved to ensure that the results are verifiable.

But, in other cities and states, the same problem is being dealt with in very different ways, if indeed it is being dealt with at all. At the federal level, there is brewing concern about the problem but direct action hasn’t been taken yet.

Instead of focusing on local initiatives that were yielding surprising results, the network news producer has decided to take aim at the federal agency that holds responsibility for this particular issue. He wants my client to supply him with a hard luck story, a case study, to illustrate his point.

When we spoke yesterday, I tried to talk to him about the pilot program that had yielded positive results. I wanted to tell him about a conference on the issue that would take place in one week sponsored by the same federal agency he was going to blast.

I couldn’t tell him about a pending grant from that agency to expand the program even further.

So I offered to introduce him to several people who had actually been helped by the program. Rather than berating the government for its perceived failures, I proposed that he focus on local solutions that could be expanded nationwide. Ultimately, I explained that my client doesn’t have a negative story to tell. My client’s story is full of hope.

The producer responded with increasing impatience that that was not the story he wanted to tell. He didn’t want to present solutions. He wanted to point fingers at the federal government for inaction even though there was more than tacit acknowledgement that the issue deserved a national approach.

I composed an email to the CEO explaining the opportunity along with my reasons I believed she should decline it. From overseas, she responded during the night that she agreed with me.

When I contact the producer later today, I will apologize. I will send him two alternative contacts at municipal agencies with which my client cooperates because they may be able to find the negative story he’s seeking.

Lisa Tibbitts  is the principal of Tibbitts Creative, a public relations and marketing service that emphasizes corporate communications. She has an extensive background in financial services and an MBA in marketing. Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FinancialPR.

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