We all might be pitching this kid someday

What college student Daniel Lippman can teach every PR person about building relationships with the media

He's on a first-name basis with some of the most influential media in the world. And he hasn't yet graduated from college.

I first learned about Daniel Lippman when reading On The Media, the online site of the PBS radio show.

The article told the story of a George Washington University student who had managed to ingratiate himself with some of the most influential media in the world, all from inside his college dorm room.

I found out more by searching for Daniel on Google and discovering when Daniel was 15, The New Yorker and CNN had reported on how he had engaged top White House officials in online chats.



Since media is my first love, I had to learn more. So I chatted up Daniel on the phone, and the result was one of the most refreshing conversations about media relations I have had in the past few years. His positive, youthful view of American journalism gave me great hope that I thought was worthwhile sharing.

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Greg Matusky: Thanks for taking a few moments out of your day to speak with us, Daniel. Tell us, how did you begin interacting with the media and why?

Daniel Lippman: I started with my hometown newspaper before my senior year of high school. I noticed some errors in the local newspaper, The Berkshire Eagle, so I sent the editor, Tim Farkas, an e-mail pointing out the mistakes.

GM: What was his response?

10 key skills for PR pros in 2011

One of the greatest pleasures of a life-long career in public relations is meeting a constant flow of young people who dream of breaking into the industry. I try to meet or respond to as many as possible, even if the flow of resumes is daunting at times.

Each conversation inevitably includes some measure of the key skills needed to succeed in public relations. And while some have changed over time, others remain the same.

So for all of you who have asked over the last few months, here are the key skills needed to succeed in an industry under tremendous pressure to change.

1. Read. It sounds basic. But the best way to understand the media is to read it daily, hourly, and by the minute. Set up RSS feeds. Download media apps. Bookmark media favorites. Start each day with The Wall Street Journal, and end it with AP. Know the news and how it's reported. And learn journalism's standards of how information is gathered, vetted, and reported.

2. Write. Every day. All day, if you can. The key to improving writing skills is to write all the time. I started my career by writing a book. It took eight months at 14 hours a day, and required me to write, rewrite, edit, and write again each chapter. It was a crash course in writing that consumed more than 2,500 hours and gave me a jump start on the 10,000 hours needed to master any pursuit.

3. Get edited. Often and always. Even after a 25-year career in public relations, I make sure all of my work is edited, and edited heavily. Editing exposes weaknesses, improves clarity, and breaks lazy habits.

4. Stay current. This week, I had a chance to listen to the first Internet broadcast of a radio show -- an episode of NPR's "Science Friday" that first aired 20 years ago. Even then, the transformation was on. The Internet was a breaking story as thoughtful people considered how it would transform human communications. It has, and the pace has only quickened. The iPad, Google TV, next-generation blogging. They're all accelerating the rate of change, and causing us to learn more, more quickly, and try new things every day.

5. Learn instant re-prioritization. In our business, refresh rates hit quickly. Plan your work, but be forewarned. You have to be able to shuffle priorities in order to capitalize on breaking news, address client demands, and meet changing expectations.

6. Think more like a newsroom and less like an advertising agency. Public relations fails the moment bias is seen or promotion is obvious. We're the insidious few who control the story and tell it invisibly, without the crass hand of promotion. Think beats, news flow, and assignment. Forget about offers, come-ons, and schemes.

It's all pretty simple stuff that takes minutes to consider and a lifetime to master. But where are the other four skills? Check back in a week to see them.

The media are not our friends

As PR practitioners, we often fall into the trap of believing that relationships trump all, and that by being open and transparent with the media, we stand the best chance of winning favorable coverage. But underneath it all, the media's agenda is vastly different than our own.

Reporters are rarely promoted or rewarded for writing a positive story about a business, person, or politician. Rather, their own success often depends on exposing the negative, uncovering the wrong, and seeing the opposite in what is projected by the world.

Good thing, too. Without that skepticism, the value of public relations would be forever diminished. It's only through the prism of objectivity that media coverage gains its power. This is precisely why the consuming public values media more than marketing. A reporter's scrutiny confers believability. Skepticism portrays the reality of the world, and plays more authentically to the audience.

That's often not easy for clients to understand. A few years ago, I worked with a financial services company that was profiled in The Wall Street Journal. The story was positive in every way, except for a quote from an outside analyst the reporter turned to for a counterpoint. The client went ballistic, claiming that the entire article had been impugned.

I took up the fight and explained that quite to the contrary, it was the counterpoint that gave the article its weight and legitimacy. By finding a negative, the reporter did us the favor of demonstrating objectivity, and conferred a degree of credibility we never could have achieved through simple advertising.

The client never agreed with me. We went our separate ways. Philosophically we never connected on the real power of PR as more than just a tool for exposure, but rather a vehicle for credibility in a world full of illegitimacy.

So in a world where the media are not our friends, we as PR professionals need to act accordingly, remembering:

A client's interest trumps a media relationship. A dirty little secret of PR is that many practitioners would rather error on the side of the client, rather than alienate a media contact. But the media are big boys and girls. They understand the dance we enter into, and have short memories when you enter the arena as a worthy adversary.

No comment is sometimes the best response. It's become a tired refrain in PR to never say "no comment." Too often, that counsel comes from PR people who simply don't want to alienate a media contact who they might need in the future. After decades of high-risk crisis work, I have come to realize that no comment often does more to protect the interests of a client than some half-baked empty response that nibbles at the corners of liability. No further comment.

The media love no one. This is why Gen. Stanley McChrystal got tattooed last week. He believed that if he could just bring the reporter into his world, and share with him the blood and guts (and finger-pointing) of war, the coverage would be favorable. The big egos often fall into this trap. You see it all the time in sports. Athletes believe they're beloved by the media, and then can't understand when the media turns on them. Tiger Woods fell victim when, during his press conference, he attacked the media for stalking him and his family. In reality, Tiger was devastated to realize that the media never loved him. He was just a story. When access was easy, the storytelling was favorable. When it became difficult, they did what they had to do to get the story. They didn't love him. Never did.

Manage the negativity, but don't discount it. I have used 101 techniques in my day to prevent the negative from being exposed by the media. Heck, I once holed up a Santa Clause in a hotel after he was accosted and the media wanted to report on crime in my client's mall. But important stories have two sides. It's the presentation of both sides that comforts the audience and opens them to a more worthy perspective.

Reply round up: My responses to the latest comments

We've been receiving a steady stream of great comments lately on our blog. I love hearing your insights, feedback, and contributions to the conversations we have here. I wanted to respond to some the most recent comments you've shared with us.

RE: Each person who commented on The hottest new job in public relations: chief content officer

You're not the only one who found value in the post about chief content officers. We received loads of e-mails and six comments on the topic. It seems to have hit a real chord.

My colleague here at Gregory FCA forwarded me a post from David Meerman Scott who used the term "brand journalism" to communicate the same notion I expressed in the post. I am not comfortable about the use of journalism in this context.

Rather, I think content is a little more transparent. Journalism connotes objectivity. A chief content officer will always have to have the corporation's best interests at heart. But more and more, that interest has to include a degree of transparency, less the audience simply stops listening because of the bias.

Thanks for your note.

Greg

RE: Frank Freudberg on When good social media goes bad

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, Frank. In communications, the future is hitting us like a giant wave. We shared an important mentor years ago. Sid might put it a bit more bluntly. Get up every morning and run like hell! I'm eagerly awaiting your next book.

Greg

RE: Anonymous on When good social media goes bad

Thanks for your kind comments. With the blog, we're just trying to tell it like it is from inside the world of Gregory FCA. It sounds like you share our interest and inquisitiveness about the changing face of public relations. Perhaps we should talk?

Greg

RE: Anthony Graziano on Gregory FCA is 20 years old today

Thank you for the compliment. We love working with you guys at Integra. It's been a very good ride. We are fortunate at Gregory FCA to have attracted the quality of talent that you reference in your comment. Kathryn, Kathleen, and Leigh have set some pretty high standards, and I appreciate you singling them out for the credit! Now, if only this real estate recession would end!

Greg

RE: Elaine Hughes on 48 hours of bliss with my new iPad

You're right. The iPad can't run Flash, a real bumper when you go to Hulu and learn that you can't watch any of the videos. Let's hope Mr. Jobs makes friends with Adobe.

I do think the iPad has the ability to replace my desktop. I have found lots of apps to help me get there. One allows me to see my network files. Another allows your iPad to emulate a Windows 7 computer. I think we'll get there. But right now, an inability to print to my network and the challenge of typing directly on the screen has divided my time between the iPad and my Windows-based laptop.

Greg

Gregory FCA is 20 years old today

Twenty years ago today, I propped a piece of plywood between two filing cabinets and founded Gregory FCA. Within a year, I had moved out of my basement and into an office, and was off and running.

The company has since grown into the largest Philadelphia public relations firm in the greater metro area, as well as Pennsylvania, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. And we're now one of the 40 largest public relations firms in America, according to O'Dwyer's.

I can't think of a better occasion than our 20th anniversary to kick off our new blog. I'll be sharing some of what I have learned over the past 20 years, as well as broaden my own horizons by connecting (and reconnecting) with the amazing people I have met, served, and worked alongside.

I'm  often asked what accounts for Gregory FCA's success. I tend to downplay the answer and paraphrase Harrison Ford: "I don't know if it's that I succeeded, or others just gave up before me."

When I look over the PR landscape of the past 20 years, and see how many firms have come and gone, I think about Harrison's quote. And there are other truisms that I keep coming back to; those that I think play a crucial role in how we got where we are today: