As a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years for both CBS News and WUSA-TV in Washington D.C., Kent Jarrell covered some of the biggest stories in the last two decades,
including the Persian Gulf War, the crash of TWA Flight 800 as well as five U.S. presidencies. As challenging as his career in journalism was, Jarrell says he eventually reached
his ceiling - and wanted a taste of what life was like inside corporate America's inner sanctums.
"In journalism I was always outside the office where the decisions were being made and after about 25 years of journalism you tire of that," says Jarrell, who since 2000 has
been senior vice president of litigation communication and crisis management for APCO Worldwide. "It's very satisfying to guide companies, as they work through very troubled
times, and offer them a solution. Sometimes the solution is a straw dog, and is a process to get things done because, in the end, I don't know the business as well as the
company."
Nonetheless, working in the precincts of journalism all those years prepared Jarrell for the dozens of crises he's worked on since joining APCO Worldwide. These cases include
representing MCI in bankruptcy proceedings last year as well as the current case involving eight health maintenance organizations that are being sued by lawyers on behalf of
medical providers regarding billing procedures. "That's a huge case," he says, referring to the ongoing legal battle.
But being in the trenches of a crisis doesn't bother Jarrell, who was named PR NEWS' 2003 Crisis Communicator of the Year. In fact, he thrives on it, and that brings more value
to his clients. "I know certain things will happen, so I'll ask for a calendar of events and then I'm going to ask, 'What is the likelihood of getting sued or a getting hit with
a class action suit," he says. "Because the day anything happens I want to have it all thought out and want the language pre-approved by the company. That way, we can get in on
the first moment of the news cycle."
The reasons for moving quickly when a crisis hits are manifold. Jarrell says polling shows that when people first hear about a corporate scandal they make up their minds very
quickly about the situation -- and no amount of additional information will sway them.
"Time and time again companies will say, 'We'll decide what to say when we get there.'" Jarrell says. "The danger is that when the story breaks they can't move quickly enough
to get their messaging into the story. If you're not in the first news cycle, you can forget it. You can have the most brilliant message and the most brilliant strategy, but if
it's 24 hours late in the communications game, you're done."
Having earned a seat at the table Jarrell is careful to finesse his position. "Don't try to think like [management] is thinking because that's not what they hired you for.
Think like a journalist," he says. "Boiling things down tends to focus the decision-makers."
Indeed, in dealing with crises Jarrell will often write a mock story on how, say, the Times or the Journal might tackle the crisis; he'll also do a dummy broadcast of how a
network affiliate might treat the item, with a faux reporter. He then takes the "package" to his company's policymakers for their input. "Separating communications from policy
will not work and will not get a company out of trouble."
Earlier this year Jarrell was retained by Constantine & Partners, the lead counsel for the nation's merchants in a class action lawsuit against Visa MasterCard concerning
debit cards. The suit was settled earlier this year for $3 billion in favor of the plaintiffs.
"We made sure that all reporters had very quick access to all the legal documents and they understood them," Jarrell says, referring to the voluminous documents in the case.
"In very technical cases, on the communications end, he or she who is simplest wins." Another no-brainer: call reporters back immediately. "They're not going to change the story
because you're nice to them," Jarrell says. "But they'll listen to you and you can find out a lot by talking to them."
But in a crisis atmosphere, depending on the stakes, Jarrell is not afraid to play legal hardball for his clients. For instance, Jarrell was instrumental in killing a story "60
Minutes" had been planning several years ago on one of his healthcare clients -- who he would not identify -- regarding allegations of fraud by a former employee.
"We called "60 Minutes" and told them they ought to make a call to a U.S. attorney and ask, 'Do you have an investigation ongoing against [the source who "60 Minutes" intended
to rely on],'" Jarrell says. It turned out the Feds were looking into the source and whether he had been extorting money from the company in question; "60 Minutes" killed the
story 20 minutes later. "They killed it because it was wrong and if I know you're wrong I'm going to sic the legal dogs on you. If it's right, all we can do is get our side of the
story told."
Jarrell continues to push an unorthodox approach to media training that he says has served him well with his clients. "You can't teach people to spin. What you have to do is
tie media training into message training," he says. "Audiences are a lot more sophisticated about what they hear and there's a higher hurdle of credibility that PR execs now have
to reach. "
Contact: Kent Jarrell, 202.778.1475, [email protected]