Meet the Press

Many a businessman blames newsmen for the bad press business often gets. Many a reporter puts the blame on businessmen. Who is right? Last week, William M. Pinkerton, an ex-newsman (Omaha World Record, Kansas City Star, etc.), now director of the Harvard News Office, put most of the blame on businessmen. Writing in the May issue of the Harvard Business Review, he argued that reporters can be trusted to get things right as long as businessmen tell them the facts.

To help business get a better press, Newsman Pinkerton drafted a few rules for businessmen to keep under the glass tops of their desks. The most important:

P: Put an officer in charge of press relations and give him authority to speak for the company.

P: If a newspaper digs up an exclusive story, don't pass it on to the other papers, because "the city editor's hunch and the individual reporter's lead are their own property."

P: Don't mislead reporters: "If you feel the temptation to lie, say 'No comment' until you get your imagination in check."

P:Be helpful to reporters even though the news may seem bad for the company. Bad news (i.e., scandal or an accident) will be printed anyway and the story may be worse if the reporter gets irritated by the lack of cooperation.

P: As an outsider, the reporter "knows nothing ... he cannot be a specialist in you and your problems." But unless "you make him understand the special circumstances, the technical reasons ... he will fail to make his readers understand, too."

P: Stay "on the record"; don't put a remark "off the record" after it has been spoken. Says Pinkerton: "Properly used, 'off the record' means 'hear this and forget you ever heard it'--generally, a ridiculous remark to make to a news reporter."

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