When to ask for copy approval
Guy Clapperton MCIPR
The media trainer that helps you avoid being misquoted, misunderstood or misrepresented. My team will ensure you get value out of speaking to the press.
Journalists are reluctant to offer copy to interviewees in advance of publication. That's what most good media trainers will tell you or your clients. You don't get to suppress an article because you don't much like it. This came up in a session of mine this year. The internal comms professional said their spokespeople had moved on. Nobody expected copy approval, they said. At which point the person I was training said "Hang on, you mean I don't get to vet any articles I'm involved in?"
It's true, for the most part you won't get copy approval. At least not if you're in the UK. This does vary between territories, though. I once trained someone from the UAE who'd come to the UK and included some training as part of his visit. He didn't believe that people would publish an article about a company without showing it to them. He expected the right of veto. This year I've trained in Paris and Stuttgart. This was for clients aiming at the international press. As I'd expected, expectations were different across the different countries. Last week I trained on a Zoom call with a client with delegates from different countries.. In one of them it was commonplace to do an interview only if the right to approve or veto copy had been agreed in advance.
The rule that you shouldn't ask to approve copy in advance, is a decent starting point. Often there won't be time to circulate it to your comms department. Then if they try to change what was actually said in an interview, it's marketing and not journalism. But there are regional variants, cultural exceptions. The best guide a good trainer will offer is to urge you to take the lead from your comms experts. Just don't try to negotiate it on your own. If you're senior in your business you have experts for that. It's not good use of your time - and of course we'd suggest you get some training in as well!
Video tip: Avoid questions that aren't in your area
You're in marketing or sales, your PR company has done a superb job of putting you in front of your target press. It's a great opportunity. But they start asking you for technical details or financial projections.
Here's a short (just over a minute) video on what to do.
Find out about our training on this podcast
I was delighted to be invited to the "Beyond the Bio" podcast from entrepreneur and author Sophie Milliken MBE a couple of weeks ago. What? You missed it? Here's the link again, just in case.
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New arrivals
Shortly after recording that podcast I took a few days in Seville to mark my wife's birthday so work went a bit quiet - but when we arrived back home we decided it was time for a couple of new arrivals in the family. Here is a picture - I think they're settling in.
Get in touch
If you're in PR/Comms and have clients in need of media training from senior journalists, get in touch - we'd be pleased to explore how we can help. Guy at Clapperton dot co dot UK will get me.
Until next time!
Strategy and training to make LinkedIn and Sales Navigator work better for you and your teams
4 周I was asked about article copy approval dozens of times by clients Guy Clapperton MCIPR - and most of the time they accepted the explanation. Some didn’t and would then try and back peddle on the opportunity. Extremely frustrating and embarrassing! It’s natural to think it’s a control thing, but sadly there is a bit of in-built mistrust in the media, even for those who are covering the industry and are pretty much on-side to start with. The international variations you mention are interesting and worth bearing in mind.
Science and Technology Journalist, Writer and Editor. Expert speaker on Coercive Control. Guest lecturer UCL - London, Jeweller.
4 周Thanks for highlighting this Guy Clapperton MCIPR
Science and Technology Journalist, Writer and Editor. Expert speaker on Coercive Control. Guest lecturer UCL - London, Jeweller.
4 周As a Journalist, I don't grant prior sight/approval because, as you rightly point out, that's not journalism. It's also insulting that whoever is asking for it seems to think I won't do my job correctly researching technical/scientific subjects and fact-checking myself, which I do. I also don't have the time or resources to send articles to everyone I have talked to in its making for their comments/approval and manage and coordinate the subsequent changes everyone makes while on a tight deadline. If a contact (including a PR contact) insists on seeing prior copy, chances are I delete them from the article and my contacts book. This is why media training is necessary: it will teach your clients how to respond positively to the media and give them the confidence to do so, thus negating the need for copy approval. As far as it being different in different territories, yes, that's true. I worked for a Belgian publisher for which this was standard (and somewhat annoying) practice. However, I no longer work for them, and that was a big contributor to my decision to step away.