Chinese Spy Balloon Provides Important PR Lessons
For decades I’ve told PR people that important lessons can be learned from paying attention to news events.
A prime example was the muddling of facts by executives of Boeing and Wells Fargo during their PR crises. Instead of coming clean, the executives attempted to hide the facts, leading to pro-longed negative major media coverage. The lesson learned was clear: Don’t attempt to fool the media.
Even prior to the Boeing and Wells Fargo missteps the National Football League learned that muddling the facts regarding brain injuries from concussions only led to numerous investigative reporting articles proving the connection between the big hit and brain damage. Such stories are now a continuous aspect of football coverage. The lesson learned was clear: Lying to the press most always will be exposed.
On the political scene, continuous media coverage exposing former President Trump’s fabrications and those of Rep. George Santos are almost a daily occurrence. The lesson learned was clear: Lying to the press only leads to follow-up negative coverage.
The most recent PR lesson was learned from the shooting down of the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.
President Biden, listening to Pentagon officials, decided to let the balloon traverse much of the U.S. for several days before it was shot down, because it was feared that destroying the balloon over land could cause injury to U.S. citizens and property damage.
The New York Times reported on Feb. 4, “A senior Defense Department official said that the delay in shooting down the balloon had allowed Pentagon personnel to track it for about a week and to glean more insight into China’s intelligence gathering capability.”
But that reasoning didn’t prevent some Republicans from fining fault with Biden’s strategy. The Times also reported, “President Biden has been fending off criticism from Republicans who say that he should have ordered the balloon shot down as soon as it appeared over American airspace.”
Jumping on a breaking news story, as some GOP lawmakers did, is a tactic used for decades by PR people attempting to gain coverage for clients. While doing so can result in coverage for clients, it also can backfire as new details emerge.
There are two important PR lessons from the spy balloon episode:
PR people should advise clients that attempting to piggyback on a breaking news story is not the best strategy for gaining positive media coverage. In fact, it shows a lack of strategy.
But the most the important lesson learned from the balloon episode is that quite often the best advice a PR person can give to a client is to say nothing until all the facts are in.
