eric tatro dot com

In his terrific book, “Never Eat Alone,” Keith Ferrazzi
recounts an experience with a reporter where his comments were taken out of
context, painting him in a slightly less-than-positive light.

Ferrazzi’s experience reminded me a lot of a very similar experience
I had when I was new to working with the media. I had an entry-level
communications position at a non-profit organization, and we were running a
fund-raiser selling raffle tickets. The prize was a pair of passes to a very
exclusive, high profile sporting event. Several other non-profits in the area
were running the same contest.

I was approached by a reporter soon after we had launched
our promotion. My boss was out of town for a month, which left it up to me to
answer the reporter’s questions. After receiving initial contact from the
reporter, I prepared a general outline of the points I wanted to emphasize.

When I was interviewed, I stayed up-beat, emphasized the
points I wanted to make clear, and at no point provided an opportunity to be
quoted out of context. I was happy, and the reporter seemed happy. I had
visions of a great quote, attributed to me, painting our organization’s
campaign as successful and effective.

I instantly grabbed a copy of the article as soon as it came
online. When I got to the end of the article, I noticed my name, but I hadn’t
been quoted- I’d been PARAPHRASED! Even though I had been careful to keep my
message positive, ultimately the core message had come through- We weren’t
selling a lot of tickets. By reading the article I discovered this was the reporter’s
angle from the beginning. Very few of the organizations featured were selling
tickets. The positive qualifiers I attached to the core message didn’t make a
difference in the reporter’s eyes. She was able to confirm her angle.

I certainly don’t want to sound like I was wronged by the
reporter, however. The article she wrote was good, and the information it contained
was spot-on. I learned a valuable lesson, though. I’ll always try to recognize
a reporter’s angle right away in order to help meet his or her needs, as well
as those of my organization.