Chicago Sun-Times (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There’s a great back story to the news coverage I secured this week in the Chicago Sun Times. When I pitched a story idea to columnist Neil Steinberg about the Half-Cap ceremonies held by the Chicago Public School to honor sophomores for making it half way to graduation, he said he was ‘shocked.’ Why honor sophomores for doing what is expected of them — finishing their first two years of school? He called the idea ludicrous and said he’d write a critical piece.
I kicked my self for reaching out to this journalist, but willingly followed through with my offer of an interview of my client, Lloyd Bachrach, the keynote speaker at Half-Cap ceremonies at Fenger and Robeson High Schools.
“Great,” I said to myself, “He wants to talk to my client, and bash him and the school system.” I expected Steinberg to excoriate the program as a waste of precious time and resources.
Steinberg said he’d understand if Lloyd backed out of the interview, but I didn’t recommend that to Lloyd. I offered the interview, I believed it was a great story, so I proceeded with planning Steinberg’s interview with my client.
I could only hope that he would be fair and temper his criticism. I considered the negative questions that might be asked and prepared Lloyd as best I could for Steinberg’s potential cynicism. While Lloyd wasn’t looking forward to the reporter’s call, he also worried about the outcome. He has a great relationship with Chicago Public Schools, and didn’t want to spoil that with a potentially negative story that his PR consultant had arranged.
For a week I checked the paper looking for the story, hoping that Steinberg would just abandon it. His column appeared while I was in London giving media training and social media workshops for a client. I was thrilled at the results! By giving Steinberg full access to the information about this program, we completely turned around his point of view. His negative preconceived notions turned into a positive, powerful story with a message.
I think it’s a wonderful PR case study about:
1. The value in sticking to your beliefs in a good story when a leading journalist criticizes it.
2. Why you must still agree to a client interview, despite the reporter’s negative reaction.
3. Giving access to all facts, sources and potential angles is important, especially when the reporter’s approach is critical.
4. Preparing your client for the worst allows for an interview that is devoid of emotion, civil and leads to a greater level of knowledge and undertstanding.
I couldn’t be more pleased over the results and all the hard work that went into helping Lloyd get a positive mention in this column and putting the public school half-cap ceremony in a positive light. What would you have done differently? Any other advice you’d like to share, or have you had a similar experience with a journalist? Leave me a comment, OK?
Post happily written by Michelle Damico
