Tag Archives: Mark McGwire

A Secret PR Tip

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Are secrets ever harmless?

I’ll going to let you in on a little secret. Secrets are a dangerous tool in your public relations tool chest any way that you look at them. When your client is keeping a secret from you – that’s deadly and when you use them in your strategy – that’s never a good thing. So my advice to all you budding publicists and those more advanced is to never go that route ever if you have the choice. For secrets, always have a way of rearing their ugly head.

And there are several examples to point toward regarding this “bad” practice. The primary example….Former President Richard M. Nixon. Did he or his cabinet ever think that they would be implicated in the Watergate break-in? And for more modern examples…how about Tiger Woods and Jesse James. Do you think that their “playing” the field with other women besides their wives would ever get them into trouble? Tiger even had a team surrounding him to keep things quiet – or for that matter secret.

This secret caused an impeachment. Heck, even the secret of "Deep Throat" was exposed.

Or corporately….Toyota. Did they think that they could forever sit on not warning some of their customers about the acceleration problem?

And on more personal grounds, how many people do you know that have had a secret in their family and it get uncovered. These secrets may have been not exposed during that person’s lifetime…but sooner or later they eventually did-a secret love child, a secret way of life, etc.

Here’s my best advice regarding secrets in communication matters.

  • 1) When something is exposed, whether its true or not about your client – ask your client point blank if there is anything that they should tell you about the situation. Get all the truth you can out of the person in the strictest confidence.
  • 2) After that, talk to the lawyers involved on your side and ask them if there is a secret that you need to know about…get all the facts you can.
  • 3) If there is a secret and you know it – work to position your client in the best way in the comments that you will craft surrounding the situation. But, you will have to start to expose the truth.
  • 4) When exposing the truth, make sure that you address only facts and keep it short. Say the least that you can. Have you noticed how short all of Tiger Woods’ press conferences are?
  • 5) And be sure to get in front of the story.
  • 6) And always work in conjunction with the lawyers on the case.

The Los Angeles Dodgers Owners Frank and Jamie McCourt are telling all their secrets in an ugly divorce.

Did you think that the McCourt’s (LA Dodgers owners) dirty laundry would ever be exposed? Well it is, thanks to an ugly divorce. Did Mark McGwire ever think that he had to expose that he used steroids? He came clean last January.  And now even criminals don’t stand a chance due to the incredible DNA process which identifies them more quickly than before.  So you see — Secrets are never a safe practice.

The saying the truth will set you free is always true. Work toward truth in all that you do, for lies and secrets, will eventually be uncovered. And they are no fun when it happens on your watch.

I’d love to hear your thoughts regarding secrets in the PR practice. Whisper them here in your comments.

Best,

Cindy


It’s A Great Time For Publicists

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Nothing to Celebrate Now

Pals Again

A Mugshot of a Man in Need of a Publicist

It’s a great time to be a publicist for the harvest field has recently become full with so many influential people and institutions finding themselves caught in potential reputation tarnishing situations.  Just take a look at our current workload.

  • Mark McGwire
  • Charlie Sheen
  • USC
  • Harry Reid
  • NBC

Need I say more. Publicists are needed in each of the above situations and lives like never before.

In addition to being a benefit during crises, publicists as a whole have much to gain from high-profile situations for it is at these character building times that our craft is treated with the respect it deserves. And, if the publicists that are charged with the above situations do it right, then they will not only bring goodwill to our profession, but also help save the lives of individuals who have been lead astray by either greed, power or a personal demon.

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

As a publicist my first counsel is to come clean. I tell my clients if something has been done wrong and especially if it is on the verge of being found out that they need to confess.  That’s why I’m glad Mark McGwire had the saddest day of his life today and admitted to steroid use.  He no longer has to dance around this issue and keep the lie going.

Why did he come out with it now? Who knows, but I think it was because he couldn’t stand the guilt one more day.  As we all know, secrets hurt more keeping them in than in their exposure.  Yes, his reputation has been damaged, but Mr. McGwire can now rest his head on his pillow tonight with a clear conscience for the first time since perhaps 1993.  That’s a long time to keep a lie alive.

Is he in the clear now? No, I believe this is just the start of his healing. He now needs to apologize to his fans and face the music.  He will face some punishment, whether that be never being voted in the the MLB Hall of Fame or having an asterisk by his stats.  He is accountable for his actions and must face the consequences.

And my advice goes for the rest of them too.

Charlie Sheen needs to admit to his anger problems and get treatment. His actions need to match his words. He also needs to financially support battered womens abuse shelters and speak to men about this issue as part of his healing.

Pete Carroll is the smartest man at USC by getting out of the NCAA-violation laden athletic program.  The you-know-what-kind-of-storm is going to hit there and you haven’t seen anything yet.  The flood gates are just opening and the best thing USC can do is silence Mike Garrett, USC’s Athletic Director.  Now is the time for silence from the administration or its time to confess if there have been problems.

Harry Reid’s situation should be over in a few days regarding his racist remarks toward President Obama. He smartly issued an apology before the storm hit him and the President accepted his apology. Case closed. Well done.

And NBC-They have a huge mess on their hands.  They have pissed off their two best talents.  Jay and Conan are having a field day ridiculing the company on air that gives them their pay checks.  With GE soon selling the shop to Comcast, it could be that this lame duck administration is throwing up its hands to these boys who are behaving badly.  They might not care.  But as viewers, we love it. It makes great TV. And well, I think they will continue this outward protest for some time to come…even after the Winter Olympics.

So if you are looking for a job, you might want to think about being a publicist – that is if you like to clean up other people’s messes and don’t mind being expendable until a major poop storm hits.  When the talent is knee deep in you know what- that’s our time to shine. And right now there are a lot of people who desperately need us.  Tiger, do you still need some help?

What’s your spin on this post?

Not in deep water yet,

Cindy