Frankie Flack: The comedy of PR and media conversations

In the great comedy sketch “Who’s on First” two comedians, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, go back and forth in a wonderfully written piece where the two performers struggle to understand the names of the players on a St. Louis baseball team.

Hearing the patient Costello inform a confused and irritated Costello the names of players are “who,” “what” and “I don’t know” reminds me of some conversations often had between PR people and reporters.

PR language has a way of leading to circular conversations at times, especially when a PR person is able to confirm only partial bits of information.  I find this to be more common with public companies that are confronted with the balancing act of releasing information to the market with a nearly universal business desire to keep most things private.

However, conversations between PR people and reporters become truly comical when a reporter is on the hunt for information.  In these early discussions both sides tend to put on the extra-friendly exterior but at the same time manage to miraculously wipe their brain of all relevant information.  It can be a fun and frustrating bit of chess playing as each side tries to learn as much as possible while also revealing as little as possible.

The PR person in these conversations wants to try and keep the reporter talking about this potential story so they can understand what the piece will focus on, if there is anything alarming for a client, are there any competitors involved and other pieces of information that inform how they may want to participate in the story.

It is exceedingly easy to play dumb (and in many cases it’s not even playing) as the PR person and being a dutiful note taker is step one for any good media relations professional.  However, at a more advanced level simply taking notes will not get you all the information that is required.  Here is where pre-existing relationships help, as the PR person can have more of a blunt conversation with the reporter about the story and get beyond the top-line details.

While leaning on all the usual “I don’t knows”, “I’m not sures” and “I’ll get back to yous” a good media relations professional might begin to indicate an interest in the story.  For example a PR pro might say “I’ll have to get back to you on this, but as you know we do have a facility in that area so this could be interesting.  Are you also talking to Competitor Y?”

At the same time, the reporter is trying to be careful about protecting their story while also getting the source to contribute.  Sometimes it is helpful to lay the whole thing out there, but in a hyper-competitive news environment it’s increasingly important to keep the focus of the story close to the vest.

In the end, these conversations sound a bit like “Who’s on first,” with the hem and hawing as both sides feign ignorance.

But unlike Abbott and Costello, PR people and reporters (at least some of them) have figured out a meaningful way to communicate in the midst of the confusion.