Never ask a journalist to do this...

For those of you who haven't read about the absolute communications car crash that took the tech and PR world by storm last week (ok, a dose of hyperbole there), let me fill you in. 

Following a tense exchange during a podcast interview between Sasan Goodarzi, chief executive of Intuit, which owns TurboTax, and editor-in-chief of The Verge and host of the Decoder podcast Nilay Patel, Patel received a note from Rick Heineman, the chief communications officer at Intuit, calling the line of questioning and his tone “inappropriate,” “egregious,” and “disappointing” and demanded that they delete that entire section of the recording. Yes, really. 

Patel added: “I mean, literally — he wrote a long email that ended with “at the very least the end portion of your interview should be deleted"."

Patel then explained that The Verge has abides by journalistic ethics and doesn't remove content or make changes. 

You'd think Heineman might have then just left it. But no. He responded by asking that they “delete that which takes away from the conversation,” which he defined as “raised voices” or us “speaking over each other,” so that “listeners understand your question and the answer Sasan gave".

Instead, Patel wrote a separate article about the request and focused on that segment of the interview. 

Now, I’m assuming Goodarzi said to his PR, something along the lines of “Do whatever you can to remove that part of the podcast”. The PR might have tried his best to tell his boss this would be the wrong line of approach, that journalists don’t do this. But the PR should have stood his ground. 

But as a result of this exchange — which probably wouldn’t have gained that much traction outside of The Verge, it’s led to a separate article by The Verge and further coverage on Inuit’s response on other websites, plus traction on social media. It’s embarrassing for Inuit, Sassan and Heineman. 

There’s an extra point to be made here about the comms person perhaps not briefing the CEO correctly so they were ill prepared for that line of questioning. Hands up, I don’t know Inuit that well, but it appears that these questions should have been expected. 

I’m often asked by people (sometimes even PRs, though mainly, but not all the time, they're based out of the UK) to see if they can see the article before it goes live. I’ve had this conversation several times in the past week, in fact. I talk about this in my workshops, but no, unless it is a sensitive subject, such as an interview with a domestic abuse survivor, I don’t allow anyone else to see part/all of the article, check it and amend it before it goes live – apart from the publisher. If we want independent and unbiased journalism, then we certainly don’t want other people controlling and greenlighting the content. 

Of course, if it’s factually incorrect, politely tell us and we’ll change it.

Slow right down

I wanted to chat this week about the speed of talking in interviews. When a journalist is interviewing you/your client, of course it might feel a/ super exciting and b/ like you want to use the opportunity to reel off everything about the subject you're speaking on so you don't miss anything out.

But this can prove to be a bit of a headache for the journalist.

For my interviews, and for many of my fellow journalists, we’re often interviewing over the phone, or perhaps using Teams or Zoom, and most certainly with our earphones in and tapping away making notes on own computers or in a notebook (unless it’s a live interview, of course). What often happens is the interviewee speaks so quickly it’s difficult to type/write up what they’re saying and secondly, it’s hard to keep up and digest what they’re saying when they’re speaking at 50 mph, especially if it's on a subject we're not used to. Also, what often happens is people speak continuously, covering and switching between several points at once.

So, while the journalist will often ask for the interviewee to slow down, or repeat a point, I would advise anyone to speak slower and more concisely than you usually would. Pause. Breathe. Let the point sink in. Don’t rush to bring in lots of different points all at once or you could lose the journalist or the viewer/listener. 

Of course, there’s AI translation tools we could all use to make our lives easier but at the moment, most journalists are not using these on a daily basis when interviewing someone.

Call out for stories from Mexico, Guatemala and the US

Last week I interviewed several people travelling the world by boat. Oh my, was I green-eyed when she turned the video on and showed me the turquoise waters the boat was bobbing around on.

It's spurred me to start thinking ahead to my dream of exploring North and Central America from early January (as long my health is ok, that is). As I need to start to be properly organised and not my usual last-minute self, I’m starting to seek out stories that I can work on from out there. What I’m hoping is that I either start in Guatemala, perhaps staying somewhere like San Pedro for a month, swing by Belize and travel extensively through Mexico, but also stay in a place or two for a few weeks each. From there, I’m hoping to travel overland through the States, making numerous stops in places like Texas, Austin and New Orleans before reaching my final destination, New York, where I may stay for a couple of weeks. 

So, in the run-up, I’m looking for travel, climate/sustainability stories, and business stories across these areas. I will travelling overland from Mexico to the US so if you think there might be a story along that route, please do let me know. 

Also, I’m hoping to run my workshops in these cities so if you know anyone who has run workshops in the US, please let me know. 

Also, tips and routes are well received, especially from crossing the border overland to the US.

Just tell us the real answer

I recently contacted a hotel with regards to a press stay for a national newspaper.

“We don’t have availability to host a stay for you,” responded the PR.

“That's strange as I can see availability. Would May 12-14 be more suitable?”

“That is correct, we indeed have availability. But we are unfortunately not able to offer you a complimentary stay in exchange for exposure on the dates you mentioned."

"I understand* (*I don't). Which other dates are available?"

“Thank you for your understanding. But unfortunately we are not interested in your offer for the exposure. So we are therefore not able to host you.”

It took at least five emails for the truth to unfold - they simply weren’t interested. So instead of all the to-ing and fro-ing, please just say this.

If you/the company you represent don’t want to comment on a piece, don’t say you don’t have the time/can't meet the deadline because a journalist can sometimes chat to the editor and come back and extend the deadline for the right comment (this usually then results in another flaky excuse). 

The MD isn’t available? Ok, sometimes we’re happy with someone lower down the chain.

Honestly, 18 years I have done this and rather than the emails back and forth and the lies, just tell us – “Sorry, we’re not interested in contributing right now.” I’d much appreciate that rather than trying to extend the deadline and come back to you, or figure out new dates for the press trip and then be declined again when actually, it wasn’t the dates that didn’t fit – it was because you/the company just didn’t want to be in the press (or in that particular title).

One Small Way To Build Relationships With Journalists Right Now

Hi everyone

Just a quick newsletter as I write this from the picturesque moors outside of Conwy in north Wales where I'm wild camping for the night.

I know many people are wondering how to build relationships with journalists during these strange times, given the opportunity for face-to-face contact has fallen off a cliff since start of the pandemic.

But you don't need to have had coffee after coffee or cocktail after cocktail with a journalist to consider yourselves to have a strong relationship. There are many people working in comms and founders of businesses that I have a great relationship with – and are my go-to for case studies and experts – who I have never met in person. How to achieve that features heavily in my course and webinars but I'll just give a recent example of how you can slowly get on that path.

After an article I wrote appeared in the Guardian on Saturday, one of the people I featured emailed me first thing in the morning to thank me for including him, telling me he was thrilled with being included and had shared the piece with his family. It obviously meant a lot for him to be in the paper and him sharing how it had made his day was a lovely way to start the morning, especially as the van we had hired had broken down on Junction 21 of the M1 the night before, leaving us stranded on the emergency lane for three hours. That's another story. But the expert's kind words and obvious gratitude to email me first thing on Saturday highlights how relationships can be started and nurtured even in this digital age by a simple and easy 'thank you'.

Enjoy the rest of the week and the upcoming weekend,

Susie