Media Training Lessons from the BoE

If you are going to be the public face of an organisation you need to understand how normal people will react to your words.

Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, got it badly wrong last week when he called for workers to moderate their wage demands. A call that predictably and reasonably caused outcry and fury. Twitter and the airwaves exploded with venom: yet again the man in the street was being asked to ‘pay for’ some economic crisis.

It is clearly unacceptable to have rich people asking poor people to tighten their belts. Surely most people in public life would recognise that.

In fact, telling other people or groups how to behave, comes pretty high on my list of stupid headline-worthy things to say. Unless you actually plan to kick a hornet’s nest, seek to persuade rather than demand. At least in public.

How could Bailey have got this so badly wrong?

Watching the interview through the Media Coach lens, anyone trained by us would spot it straight away: the Governor was just answering a question. It was a seasoned and ambitious journalist, BBC Economics Editor Faisal Islam, picking up a thread and asking the interviewee to fully articulate or agree with something that so far had only been hinted at. Islam was doing his job and most trained spokespeople would have seen the trap opening up and side-stepped it.

Islam’s question: “Are you trying to get into people’s heads and ask them not to ask for too high pay rises?”

Bailey’s answer: “Broadly yes… in the sense of saying … we do need to see a moderation of wage rises. Now that’s painful.”

It’s clear that Bailey is trying to soften the blow here, but the words are out. A much safer answer might be:

“No but as policymakers we need to find ways to squeeze inflation out of the system again.”

Just to be clear, Central Banks are supposed to worry about inflation, and wage inflation is particularly damaging to financial stability. Every economist will know why Bailey would have been motivated to say what he did.

In the privacy of the high-ceilinged, panelled meeting rooms of the Bank of England?there have probably been many discussions about how to keep wage inflation from getting out of hand.

However, no one would have advised a high-profile press conference to announce the public should moderate their wage demands. The fact that the idea comes in response to a journalists question, makes it no more acceptable.

By the way, if you watch the clip, you can clearly see Faisal Islam is genuinely surprised that the Governor could say such a thing and realises – in that moment – that he just got a scoop.

Casual listeners to current affairs programmes would be astonished to know the huge amounts of work that normally go into avoiding this sort of gaffe. Key statements are planned, and predictable questions have carefully prepared answers. Very few people are experienced enough in public life to instinctively avoid this sort of landmine.?Most need the help of others to consider the implications, risk assess both statements and reactive lines.

Every PR person’s nightmare is a spokesperson who thinks dealing with the media is something any intelligent person can do without preparation or training, and who thinks PR advice is for the numptys.

This article has also appeared as a Media Coach blog post.