 |
| Mitt Romney |
Is it ever a good thing to lose your cool with a journalist? Rick Gorka, the traveling press secretary for Mitt Romney, probably asked himself that very question Tuesday, July 31 after tangling with reporters who are following Romney on his overseas trip.
In Warsaw, Poland, on a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, reporters from CNN, The New York Times, Politico and other outlets were yelling out questions to Romney as he was heading towards a car to leave the scene. Gorka responded with “kiss my a**” and told Politico reporter Jonathan Martin to “shove it.”
In looking closer at the incident, frustration existed on both sides. In reporting about the incident on CNN’s broadcast channel, national political reporter Jim Acosta complained that in the three countries Romney has visited on his week-long trip, he’s answered a total of three questions from the press pool. Acosta said Tuesday was the final opportunity for the group to get some questions answered. The reporters are baffled at why so few answers have come from Romney on the trip.
Then again, the questions shouted out on Tuesday weren’t quite the kind the Romney camp would want to address. In a transcript of the exchange posted on CNN, the majority of the questions centered about gaffes that Romney has made on the trip—obviously a topic that Romney would avoid like the plague.
Gorka quickly realized that he made a mistake, calling reporters later to apologize for his outburst. But from a media relations standpoint, the damage was done—the story quickly spread via major news outlets. So the lesson here is even if you may be a little jet-lagged and frustrated by reporters’ questions, it’s best to keep your cool.
Follow Scott Van Camp: @svancamp01
Why were these people allowed to visit other countries? They are an embarrassment to the United States!
Reporters are generally a rude, crude breed worthy of high loathing. Biased political reporters are not worthy of answers and should be shunned and ignored at every chance possible. They should be tethered so their questions go unheard. “I couldn’t get a real job, so I became an angry, biased political reporter with a chip on my shoulder the size of Sunday’s NY Times.”
Re. biased reporters: Thank goodness we can rely on politicians to tell us the truth, without bias!
Such mishaps wouldn’t happen in a presidential class operation.
Mr Gorka wouldn’t be angry, biased and shoulder-impaired, would he? I’m with Old Fogey.
There’s another, obvious PR lesson here: don’t bring media to an event you’re not going to talk about. You’re wasting their time and you’re wasting your money and resources.
Re: comment and thank goodness. Exactly. And thank goodness they are the only ones making sweeping generalized conclusions about a group of people based on limited or extreme examples from within that group. ;-)
Perhaps the press contingent should brief the traveling press secretary on media relations.
Mr. Romney, his PR ‘director” and the campaign should be taught as what not to do in a PR campaign. They are an affront to civility and respect regardless on how venemous the reporters are.
The reporters and their shrill shouts were embarrassing, but then, the entire trip was an embarrassment to this country.7b0
1. There is never any excuse for being rude – for anyone. But in PR it’s not just inexcusable, it’s stupid.
2. Pub_Discourse is dead right: why waste reporters’ time dragging them to an event you don’t want to talk about? And if your principal screws up early on a trip, send them home: they won’t like it, but their families will!
(Press secretary to several British ministers in much more stressed circumstances than just forgetting Ed Miliband’s name, dumb as that was.)
Oh, Kenn: no chance you couldn’t get a job as a journalist, is there?
Hilary got grief for overly controlling the message in ’08 primaries but her staff didn’t meltdown. The only way an outburst against the press works is when it’s attached to an obvious case of gross individual reporter bias (Helen Thomas) and even then it’s risky… The public is eager to despise the press.
A PR pro never loses his/her cool. Good PR people understand journalists and can work effectively with them. They know how/when to field questions, handle their needs, and feed them information. The way this is done often affects the story. Gorka has demonstrated he is not qualified for the job…a common theme in this camp.
Mitt Romney doesn’t need the press so he ignores them. He has enough money to use advertising to spread whatever message he wants. Similar to Sara Palin if anyone got close enough to have a conversation they would realize that he makes no sense.
Since when do political candidates go to foreign countries to represent he US since they do not represent the US until they are elected.
When you’re writing and article, at least be respectful for those who have served – it’s the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – not SOLDER!
How is this a gaffe? Do you think voters care that Romney’s staff member upset some reporters? If Romney actually opened his mouth and answered questions, there would be a real “gaffe” for the campaign since he isn’t a good communicator. Then the press would have Romney’s words, not some behind-the-scenes thing voters don’t understand or care about.
It’s funny how many PR professionals pretend to be shocked that the tactics they invented are still in use, and still successful.
Beef–We apologize for the error. Thanks for pointing it out.
Romney is a loose cannon in many respects. If he can’t organise and manage his own PR team, how can he be expected to manage a government?
In Warsaw by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier american journalists were behaving like a group of cows. Tell me please is it a PR rule that they should do so? It is quite often seen that journalists does not give a damn about the context and location. Maybe they should do so? or use some parts of their brain to understand the situation that is going on.
It is not that simple, PR is not for fools ;)
In our media training, I note that if, as a spokesperson, you get angry, the reporters win because the emotion they’re looking for. Most interesting in this was the irony of Romney’s person telling the reporters to have respect because of the hallowed site, then telling them to kiss his A. Irony alert. In any case, it’s our job to stay composed.
You cannot give what you do not have.