To Kill or Not to Kill (A Story)?

Two of the top questions from the crisis communication lectures and workshops I ran in the past months were "Why can't we just say 'no comments'?" and "How do we 'kill a story'?".

While it isn't as scary as the feature image in this article, the repercussions of killing a news story could be worse than facilitating an interview for a negative news on your organisation. And if it is a story with potential negative impact on the organisation, this should have been something you have been preparing for - your "drawer plans".

When You Say Nothing At All

Not the ballad by Ronan Keating, but what happens when you choose not to comment? The media would have seen or heard something by the time they come to you for more information or an interview. Choosing not to comment forgoes your opportunity to set the record straight or to provide your organisational point of view. Not forgetting that there are "loose cannons" and disgruntled individuals among your stakeholders who would probably be waiting to lend a voice or rub salt to the wound for the organisation if the media has to do his/ her job to look around for information to add to the story if you are not providing yours.

Not Everyone's A Killer

That's for sure - it takes experience and skills to kill a news story. Assuming that you know the media and the situation well, here are some of the ways which you might be able to kill or minimise a story:

1. Switching to an asynchronous mode of response - Perhaps the introverts (like me) will be better at this. Going by email might be a good way to provide a short statement or reply to state your official stand instead of saying "no comments" or trying to kill a story over a call or when facing the media.
2. Non-quotable or boring quotes - Pretty contrary to our usual media training for spokespersons to provide quotable and interesting quotes. In a situation where you are trying to minimise or kill a story, try being boring. "I hope he gets well soon" or "It's unfortunate for such an incident to happen" expresses your thoughts, represents your organisation, but is pretty much not newsworthy.
3. Shifting - In communications school, many of us would have learned about the Attribution Theory and Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). But how many of us would remember to apply these in real life scenarios? Understanding if the organisation falls under the crisis victim cluster would allow us to adopt shifting tactics like denial, attack the accuser, and scapegoat. But if there's someone else more willing to face the media (if they have more vested interest), then shift the attention to them.
4. Be a friend - If you have been a friend to the media, you shouldn't fear when a crisis or paracrisis happens. Both the media and you have professional responsibilities to fulfil. Killing the story might not always be your decision, but how you kill it is your decision. Letting the media know that there are directions given to avoid this story and offering alternatives for the media to do his/ her job could help. Another story, a benign angle, or an exclusive they have been waiting for could help. It pays to make friends.

It's 2022 Now

The communication landscape now is definitely different from what we had 10 or 20 years ago. Even if you are killing a news story with the media, people are sharing it on social media and chat messages. How much can you do to stop things from spreading? We should be glad (sometimes) that the media still wants to hear from us.