The PR Playbook

Sharyl Attkisson: Ten Tactics to Influence Negative News

(CBS)  5. Make it Tiny
Whether it's numbers of people hurt by a product, the amount of lethal chemical in a compound, or adverse events reported for a drug, there's always a way to make the number look miniscule. Hopefully the reporter doesn't know that only a fraction of adverse events are actually reported, that teeny-sounding amounts of many materials can poison or kill, that fractional statistics can translate into hundreds or thousands of injuries.

Useful Phrases:
"I mean we're talkin' parts per BILLION here…do you know how tiny that is?"
"It's a small percentage of the total…"

6. "Most People Use the Product Safely"
With questionable products or drugs, try to get the news reporter to focus on the people who aren't injured rather than those who are. (The number of people injured is always a small percentage). For example, most people who smoke will never get lung cancer. Play up that angle with the reporter as in, "most people who smoke will never get lung cancer, so how can you really be sure that cigarettes cause lung cancer?"

7. The Cinch Connection
Hire away prominent, well-connected politicians to handle your spin. Hire former network news producers who are still connected to high-ranking news executives to spin and intercept negative stories. Hire "independent" doctors as speakers and consultants, then get them to contact the news reporter to give "independent" opinions on the issue. Finance an "independent" non-profit, a blogger or an academic group and get them to take your viewpoint. Many reporters won't think to ask about a financial connection.

8. Funding Fudge
If you're a non-profit or other organization that gets funding from special interests, don't worry, reporters usually don't dig that deep. But if they do, just obfuscate. Here's an example:

Reporter: Do you receive any funding from the company/agency/special interest?
Answer: I can't really say.
Reporter: You don't know?
Answer: I don't have that information.
Reporter: Can you get it?
Answer: I'm not sure I can put my hands on it.

If the reporter already knows your funding sources, maintain stern vagueness.

Reporter: How much do you receive from the company/agency/special interest?
Answer: I can't say.
Reporter: Just a ballpark — a little or most of your funding?
Answer: Just a little, but I can't say exactly how much. A small percentage I'm sure.
Reporter: One percent? Five percent? Any estimate will do.
Answer: I don't have that information in front of me. I'm not sure I can get it.
Reporter: If it's just a small percentage, would that be hundreds or thousands of dollars?
Answer: I really can't say.

If the reporter chooses to disclose your funding sources, be defiant and outraged. Act as though you've been accused of some sort of crime and you don't like it!

9. Fatigue Factor
Send letters of objection to the news reporter and his bosses before the story airs, even though you have no idea what the story is going to say, and even if you've declined an interview and the opportunity to provide information for the story. Save your most complex or outrageous objection — one that would take at least a few hours for the news organization to refute — and send it to the news executives right before air time in hopes of scaring them off from the story. Once the story does air, send more objections and be sure the "independent" non-profits, bloggers and academics pick up on it. A news organization that is not confident and committed may get tired of the trouble and sniff elsewhere next time.

10. Final Tip
If it turns out the reporter knows better, then try employing tactics one-through-nine with his bosses who may be less familiar with the details of the story and may just buy your arguments.