“Bad Interviews”

Essentially, Portis said that women reporters probably are attracted to men on teams and that it’s likely that there is or can be attraction on both sides. Some woman reporters, such as Jemele Hill of ESPN, took offense to Portis’ comments believing that he implied woman reporters are on the prowl in the lockerrom. No doubt Portis came close to implying that by saying that “I know you’re doing a job, but at the same time, the same way I’m going to cut my eye if I see somebody worth talking to, I’m sure they do the same thing.”

Close but no cigar. What Portis is describing is the human condition as far as I’m concerned. Noting that someone is attractive doesn’t imply a plot, plan or obligation to act—though in a society as body conscious and sexually repressed as America, it’s no wonder that people don’t understand that. However, I know that if attraction and action always went hand in hand, I wouldn’t be able to keep a job anywhere, cause Lord knows I LOVE MEN. All types of men!

The public flogging Portis experienced just shows that sometimes it’s not what you say, it’s WHO says it, WHEN they say it, and whether or not the subject is toxic. Portis has a history of making comments that are decidedly not thoughtful and showing his whimsical side more often than not. So there’s a history there that colors everything he says, that’s what I mean by “who.”

When I use the term toxic, and you will see me use that from time to time, I mean not-able-to-be-safely-handled or navigated.

Portis spoke in an environment that simply wasn’t navigable. And the NFL and the Redskins organizations’ reaction to such benign comments proved it. Had they waited two hours they would have found there was no controversy here. I will never understand organizations’ rush to force apologies and throw employees under the bus.

The practice of handling media relations by denouncing benign comments made by people who aren’t authorities on subjects (no one is clamoring for Portis’ views on feminism) is a strategy that has proven ineffective more times than I can count.

To relate this more closely to the world of those of you who work in public relations…

There’s one huge mistake that I believe media trainers make when training people. For those of you who work in PR, you can tell me you agree or disagree. Every time the idea of putting together a training session for speakers comes up, some public affairs specialist/public relations rep says:

We need to have someone ask them TOUGH QUESTIONS. We gotta put them right in front of the camera—show’em how tough it is to talk to the media! That way they’ll take it seriously.

Sure, if you define “seriously” as scaring the crap out of someone and causing a brain freeze mid-sentence. I’ve been media training people for the better part of 4 years now. And I have yet to have a client who felt that talking to the media was “no big deal.” I’m not saying those people don’t exist, but I think they’re pretty rare as far as subject matter experts go.

Most people are scared to speak to the media fearing just the sort of treatment the hypothetical PR person suggested they conduct during a training session. [I’ll blog more about media training and putting those sessions together later.]

Unfortunately (sarcasm), most reporters are perfectly nice which lends to interviewees letting their guards down. –Insert foot in mouth—Fallouts for interviews where the reporter was tough tend to evoke public sympathy for the person being interviewed by the “mean ol’ ” media. (I said that in my best Sarah Palin voice)

Thus far, the biggest struggle I’ve encountered  working with academics, scientists, and executive branch executives is convincing them why they should do media and that training will give them confidence that bad experiences will be few and very far between.

I hate when a client has a bad experience and comes to me and says “See, I told you, I told you!!” Because, in those very, very rare instances, they typically did nothing wrong. They simply spoke in a toxic environment, and the only thing to do going forward is take the “L” and try your best to forget about it.

What I hate is when media trainers are informed about a clients’ bad experience and their reaction is “well, you have to be more careful next time.”

Sometimes there’s nothing you can do.  Media trainers should recognize and acknowledge those instances to avoid confusing clients.

As for Clinton Portis, he’ll be okay. He’s probably already receiving his fair share of behind the scenes support. Much of it probably coming from his disingenuous employer.