how to face the media

HOW TO FACE THE MEDIA
JOHAN JAAFFAR
Some Pointers
From Someone
Who Was Once
An Editor
of An Influential Daily
BIG QUESTION
Should You Care
About The Media?
YOU SHOULD!
It Can Be Your Worst Nightmare
How Times Have Changed
Not Too Long Ago,
You Guys Have
NO PUBLIC FACE
And The Media Cares Little About
YOU
But NOW
YOU ARE
Your Organisation!
You Are
The
SALESMAN
In fact
THE BRAND
For Your ….Whatever
Globalisation Has Given
•A New Face of the Media
The
Faceless Media
The Gargantuan New Estate
• Media As Conglomerates
Media Barons as New
Conquerors
Alexander the Great
Attila the Hut
or
Genzhis Khan
But More Dangerous
Where are we?
The Malaysian press
• Timid
• Pro-Government
• Towing the Line
• The Modern “Hang Tuah”
• Unapologetic Cheerleader for BN
• The Mouthpiece of the Political
Masters
• The Agent of “Pembangunan”
• The Voice of the Ruling Elite
A Pale Shadow of their
Western Counterparts
The Truth Is
“Freedom of the Press
Belongs Only To Those Who
Owns It”
A.J. Leibling
Information Is Power
Siapa yang Menguasai Media
Menguasai Kuasa
The Media Is
ALL
POWERFUL
(Ignore that at your own
PERIL)
WHY ARE THEY
INTERESTED IN YOU?
You’re The BOSS, Stupid!
In The World of Business,
JACK WELCH is GE
Steve Jobs is APPLE
JEFF BEZOS is AMAZON
BILL GATES
Is
MR. MICROSOFT
YOU ARE HERE
Because (WE BELIEVE)
• You’re A Person With VAST
KNOWLEDGE (Ehem…)
• You’re A GOOD
COMMUNICATOR for The
Organisation (Your Bosses
Know You Can Do Something, Or
You Have Perfected The Art Of
AMPUISM)
You’re A VISIONARY
(Whatever That Crab Means To Your Bosses)
You’re A LEADER
(Again, Ehem….)
Or Simply
YOU GET THINGS DONE
(While Others Hesitate!)
Remember!
A GOOD PLAN
TODAY IS
BETTER THAN A
PERFECT PLAN
TOMORROW
(Gen. George S. Patton Said That!)
So, You’re Here For A Reason!
(Forget For A Moment That Bit About BERKHIDMAT UNTUK BANGSA
DAN TANAHAIR)
You Have To
SURVIVE
LOOK GOOD
And Enjoy
The PERKS THAT COME WITH IT…
(Hey, You Have Bills To Pay And Mortgages To Settle OK?)
And Spouses’ Appetite That Get Bloated As You Go Further
Up The Hierarchy!
So, Let’s Talk
SURVIVAL here
And At The Same Time
DO GOOD TO THE COUNTRY
AND MAKE
YOUR POLITICAL
MASTERS
LOOK
EXCELLENT
(They Will Love You For That!)
You Are TESTED
• When Crisis HAPPENS
• When OPINION Is Needed
• When The Political Masters Need
HELP (To Provide Air Cover For
Them…Ehem…)
• When There is NO ONE ELSE To
Turn To…(So Make Yourself
AVAILABLE
There Is No Such Thing
As OVER-EXPOSURE
(Says DONALD TRUMP)
But In a Government Set-Up
Where POLITICIANS are BOSSES…
YOU SHOULD NOT
ECLIPSE THEM
(but there’s nothing wrong
making yourself known to the
public FOR GOOD
REASONS)
So Play The Media Game Well
• Make Your Work
Newsworthy
• Be Media Friendly
• Get Publicity Without
Attracting Too Much
Attention To Yourself…
(YOUR BOSSES AND POLITICAL
MASTERS HATE THAT)
Learning From Successful
Politicians…
(Many Have Media Strategists)
Message Consistency
Analyse Strong and Weak Points
Be Straightforward –
Avoid Details
And More Importantly…
(When You’re Facing The
Media)
TALK To “The People”
(Customers, Rakyat)
(So, Skip Technical
Details…)
You’re Not Presenting
A Paper at A Seminar!
The FOUR Cardinal Sins of Ketua Jabatan/CEO
• They Think They Know All
• They Take Things For Granted
• They Think The Newspapers Are
Propaganda Broadsheets
• They Don’t Understand the
WORKING of the Media
One Must Understand How the Media
Operates
Look at The Organizational Structure
• The Owner(s)
• The Chief Editor
• The Senior Editors
• The Senior Writers
• The Chief News Editor
• The News Editors
• The Senior Reporters
• The Reporters
They are Brilliant People
(Or So They Believe…)
And They Are Independent-Minded
Never Underestimate Their Influence
They Befriend Your Political Masters
And Your Bosses…
Are
SCARED
of them
VERY SCARED !!!
Remember !!!
They Don’t
You are
Owe You Anything
Nobody to Them
Bear that In Mind !!!
You Are Here
Coz
• You Have Nothing Else to Do
• You Guys Are Salaried Men/Women
• The Cari Makan Type
In Short, You Are At the Lowest
Hierarchy of the Food Chain
• You Guys Are Expendable
• And the Most Vulnerable
Simply Put,
Why Should They CARE About
YOU !!!
In Our Business,
Bad News Is Good News
Good News Is Bad News
The Media
THRIVE ON
CHAOS
Who Cares
 What Your Jabatan Is Doing?
 Who Gives a Damn About Your
Brilliant Ideas to Improve the
Livelihood of the Rakyat?
 Who Wants To Know, if Your Ketua
Jabatan is the Most Incredible
Person on Planet Earth?
What’s the Beef Then?
• Hey, anyone of substance dies
today?
• Whatever happened to RM34 juta of
the duit rakyat supposedly
“siphoned” by So and So?
• How many casualties of SARS?
• What’s new on the scandal front?
• Did a particular Datuk actually kick
his wife in a public function?
And of course
•
•
•
•
•
Norman Hakim ditangkap basah
Que Haidar bercinta dengan Linda Jasmin
Zakiah Annas minta cerai
A particular Datuk is eyeing a new starlet
Did anyone mention Fasha Sandha’s
latest gossip?
Or
• Did KJ actually ada apa-apa dengan Maya
Karin?
MAWI
The Fairy Tale Marriage of
Datuk K and
Siti Nurhaliza
Sadly too
There is
such a thing as…
The Press “HURTLING OUT OF
CONTROL”
They Get Carried Away
They Go Overboard
They Go
For An OVERKILL
In Short,
They Go After You
With Impunity
Without Remorse
and
Relentlessly
They Love
To Hate You
First thing, first…
• They have to sell their
newspapers
• And they want you to
watch their TV
programmes
There is such a thing as
market forces
And of Late, the Circulation of
Mainstream Papers Is A
Cause For Concern
Loss of Circulation
Means
 Loss of Readership Numbers
 Loss of Influence
 Loss of Advertisement Revenue
Lets Get Real…
Look At What Is Brewing In
The Local Media
SCENARIO 1
The “CIRCULATION” Story…
What’s Happening To the Malay Papers?
And the English Papers
Under Our Control?
Fact No. 1
There are 23.8 million
Malaysians and 1.7 million
foreigners according to the latest
statistics…
There are 25.5 million People
Calling This Country Home
* 13 million Malays
(out of 15.6 million
BUMIPUTERA)
* 6.1 million Chinese
* 1.8 million Indians
* 302,000 Others
Fact No. 2
Dasar Pendidikan
Kebangsaan
stipulates that Bahasa Melayu
is the national language
of the people
IS
the biggest daily
in the country?
NO!
Sin Chew Daily Is….
With an Average Daily
Circulation
of 350,697 Copies
Is Utusan Malaysia No 2 then?
Ops, Sorry…
The Star is….
276,791 copies a day
Utusan Malaysia is
Currently No 4
174,835
Harian Metro
is Currently
Bahasa Malaysia No. 1
Newspaper
And No. 3 Biggest Selling Newspaper
(Well, that is a another story)
Well, the good news…
Is STILL No. 1 Weekly
Paper in the Country
441,798 copies
From 549,000 last year
But That Was Then…
Things Are Getting Worst
Look At The Figures For Utusan Malaysia
July – Dec 02
238,1223
Jan – Jun 03
253,840
July – Dec 03 Jan – Jun 04 July – Dec 04 Jan – Jun 05
238,082
256,247,165
241,449
228,829
For Berita Harian
July – Dec 02
224,941
Jan – Jun 03
232,073
July – Dec 03 Jan – Jun 04 July – Dec 04 Jan – Jun 05
217,991
244,457
242,030
231,163
But Harian Metro Has Surpassed Them in Terms of Circulation!
July – Dec 02
140,533
Jan – Jun 03
159,055
July – Dec 03 Jan – Jun 04 July – Dec 04 Jan – Jun 05
172,903
197,319
228,723
233,100
Latest ABC Report for Harian Metro
313,325
Average Daily Circulation
What Does That Tells You?
The “Dumb”ing Down of Our Readers?
Our Readers Do Not Read “Serious Stuffs?”
Or, There Is a “Rebellion” Against
Mainstream Papers?
OR
Simply, The Effect of The New Emphasis on
English?
SCENARIO 2:
The “READERSHIP” Story
The Relationship Between
Circulation and Readership
6 READERS
for every Utusan/BH newspaper
3.4 READERS
for NST
2.8 READERS
for Sin Chew Daily
1.6 READERS
for The Star
But Look At The Figures… (figures for Y 2003)
Newpapers
Circulation
Readership
Berita Harian
235,775
1,479,000
Berita Minggu
342,040
1,977,000
Metro Ahad
136,974
676,000
Utusan Malaysia
239,385
1,480,000
Mingguan Malaysia
543,232
2,676,000
Nanyang Siang Pau
146,344
358,000
New Straits Times
135,104
469,000
New Sunday Times
153,717
486,000
Sin Chew Daily
334,767
963,000
The Sun
142,966
139,000
The Star
293,176
1,170,000
Sunday Star
304,169
1,111,000
For Third Quarter 2005
Newspaper
Readership (Daily)
Previous Numbers
Utusan Malaysia
Berita Harian
Harian Metro
1,393,000
1,463,000
1,464,000
1,505,000
1,455,000
1,161,000
Mingguan Malaysia
Berita Minggu
Metro Ahad
2,165,000
1,756,000
1,423,000
2,445,000
1,814,000
1,151,000
The Star
NST
The Sun
1,054,000
318,000
194,000
1,045,000
323,000
165,000
Sunday Star
N Sunday Times
Sun Weekend
927,000
294,000
73,000
1,000,000
282,000
n.a.
Sin Chew Daily
China Press
Guan Ming
Nanyang
1,176,000
762,000
393,000
299,000
1,099,000
730,000
415,000
274,000
SCENARIO 3:
The Money
Utusan Malaysia
Circulation
Readership
Revenue
239,385
1,480,000
RM 168,600,000
Sin Chew Daily
Circulation
Readership
Revenue
334,767
963,000
RM 240,000,000
The Star
Circulation
Readership
Revenue
293,176
1,170,000
RM 572,070,000
The Good News Is…
Advertisement Spending
Surged 7.6 % For Y 2003
to
RM 3.72 Billion
Advertisement Expenditure
(ADEX) for 2002 and 2003
(in RM mil)
Media
2003
2002 %Change
Newspapers 2,365.5 2,188.4 8.1
TV
993.8
921.8 7.8
Magazine
159.0
158.1 0.6
Radio
152.5
144.1 5.8
P.O.S
33.8
28.3 19.5
Cinema
12.6
9.7 29.5
Total
3,717.3 3,450.4 7.7
The Sad Thing Is….
Collectively…
Utusan Malaysia
Mingguan Malaysia
Metro Ahad
Harian Metro
Berita Minggu
Berita Harian
RM 168.6
RM 26.3
RM 5.2
RM 28.7
RM 23.2
RM 169.6
The Six Malay Dailies and
Weeklies Command Only
RM 421.6 Million of the
Advertisement Revenue
Hardly
12.2 %
of
ADEX
In Comparison
The Star
Alone Collected
RM 572 M
And
The New Straits
Times
RM 234 M
Isn’t It Shocking, on Tuesday the 26th
Of August 2003
Utusan Malaysia carries
3 FULL-PAGE Ads
Berita Harian
2 FULL-PAGE Ads
NST – 4 Pages
The Star?
46 Pages of
Full-Page
Advertisements !!!
ADEX will hit
RM4.71 Billion in 2005
Newspapers Will Have a 62% Share of the Pie
Or
RM2.29 Billion
TV Will Have
28%
SCENARIO 4:
The “Dumb”ing Down
of The Media
“…Tickle the public, make ‘em grin
The more you tickle, the more you’ll win
Teach the public, you’ll never get rich
You’ll live like a beggar and die in the
ditch…”
(17th Century Fleet Street Rhyme)
The “tabloiding” of Malaysia
Unavoidable ….
When You Are A Tabloid,
You Think Tabloid
And Behave Like One
Consumerism Rules……
The Readers Are Always
Right!
Some Tips
TO BE EFFECTIVE
• Do Your HOMEWORK
• Keep Your Answers and Messages
SIMPLE
• Learn About the
REPORTER/INTERVIEWER
• Prepare for TOUGH QUESTIONS
• Dress Like A Ketua Jabatan (And
BEHAVE Like One!)
• Say the RIGHT Things!
• Strike A POSE (Body Language!)
• Rapport…Good Rapport (Small
Remember!
DO NOT REPEAT THE REPORTER’S OR
INTERVIEWER’S NEGATIVES…
(“Er..I don’t think I am the reason for this
crisis…)
Say Something Like: “…Far From It, I and My
Team Have Worked Hard To Achieve Results
in Such Difficult Circumstances…)
Never, Ever Say
No Comment
(It Proves You’re A Bump and Skirting
Responsibility)
Or Worst
“This Is Off The Record, Please!”
Unless You’re The PM
If You Say That It Is An Admission
Of
GUILT
Plain and Simple!
After All It Won’t Guarantee
YOU’LL NOT BE QUOTED
Play POLITICS
Make Everything ON THE RECORD
Or If You’ve Established A Rapport
With Reporters, Tell Them Things
You Say Are
Deep Background
Or
“Don’t Attribute That To Me..”
Last But Not Least…
10 ways to annoy the press
1. Commenting Only When
You’re In The Mood To Do
So
2. Allowing Your Subordinates
Start A War With The Media
3. Lunch, Come, Gua Suka Lu,
So Don’t Bantai Gua
4. Demand Editorial Space Coz
You Jabatan Advertise in
The Publication
5. Reading the text, forgetting
you’re dealing with people in
a hurry in press conferences
6. Asking your PR guy to make
sure they got you PR
materials, again and again
7. Your Jabatan do not have a
website
8. Sending out USELESS press
releases
9. Never around to pick up the
phone
10.Cakap Besar (I Can’t Think
Of Other Words, Really)
The Good News Is
 The Local Media Is On
 They Have to
Your Side
Tow the Line
 They Subscribe to
Political Correctness
Editors Simply
Get Booted Out
If They Are Reckless
or Too Gung-Ho
Or
If They
Are Not
LOYAL
To Put It Simply,
They Will Support
The Policies
But They Love
To See You
Guys…
MENGGAGALKAN
PERLAKSANAAN
They will have an excuse
To Go
AFTER YOU
Things You Should Know
About the Press
They Don’t Send
the Best Guys To Your Functions
 These lesser mortals have at least 3
assignments a day
 They have deadlines to observe
 And they hate dealing with “government
people”
You guys are
 Too bureaucratic
 Too tedious
 Too cautious
There is no Harm in “Befriending” Senior
People in the Newspapers
Remember !!!
Take Good Care of Them
Layan Dengan Baik
They Don’t Want Your Money
Or Your Position
Not Even Your Food
Threat Them As
PROFESSIONALS
Reporters are by nature
LAZY
Give them
1. Precise
2. Targeted
3. Focused
Information
If You Have Doubts
About Your Materials
You are
INVITING DANGER
BEWARE !!!
• Do not Trust Your PR Guys
• You ARE the Expert
• Check, Recheck
• Do Not Leave Any Stones Unturned
Crisis Communication
Is CRUCIAL
1. Plan for Crisis
2. React Fast
3. Do Not Allow Situation to Get Out of
Control
4. Stop Making Stupid, Irrelevant
Statements
5. Those Involved, Tell Them To
Shut Up
6. Determine Effects Of Crisis
7. Analyse Channel Choice
8. Assign Crisis Teams
9. Utilise “Connections” at the Media
10. Try to Contain Damage
Last Word…
Good Luck !!!