Vol. 3, No. 4, Pg. 14. Tips for Lawyers on Dealing with the News Media.

• Author: By W. Keith Shannon

South Carolina Lawyer

1992.

Vol. 3, No. 4, Pg. 14.

Tips for Lawyers on Dealing with the News Media

14Tips for Lawyers on Dealing with the News MediaBy W. Keith ShannonIt's a nightmare no lawyer wants to experience. After a particularly hectic afternoon, you return from depositions to find three messages that a local television reporter has called about a high-profile case you are handling for a large corporation. The case has been filed for several months, discovery has been stalled for weeks and the case is, at present, dead in the water.

"No new developments," you think, and to you that means "no news." You throw the message away.

That night you arrive home just in time to turn on the 11:00 news. Nearly nodding, you are suddenly jolted awake by the lead story: The plaintiff in the case is on camera, talking to the reporter about new allegations that will be included in an amended complaint to be proffered to the Court the next day. The story focuses on the specifics of the new, sensational allegations.

As the story ends, the reporter appears, standing in front of your office. Looking straight into the camera, the reporter says, "News At Six tried to obtain a comment from Big Corporation's lawyer about these allegations, but our calls were not returned."

You grab your briefcase and frantically search for the home number of Big Corporation's CEO. He'll understand why you didn't call the reporter back. Suddenly your phone begins to ring. Guess who's calling now...

This incident is an extreme example, perhaps, but one that points up the frustration many members of the legal profession experience in trying to deal with the news media.

One bad experience can leave a lawyer questioning the wisdom of dealing with reporters at all. The resulting pledge to "never give another interview" sets up a relationship that is often needlessly adversarial and can ultimately work to the disservice of both lawyer and client. In the example above, for instance, the lawyer cannot legitimately claim that the reporting was inaccurate. And if the lawyer accuses the reporter of failing to explore both sides of the controversy adequately, the reporter need only remind the lawyer of the three messages that were left with the lawyer's secretary.

In this case the lawyer is angry, the reporter is defensive and the public is uninformed. What steps can be taken to remedy the situation? Certainly, very little can be done to correct inaccurate reporting. However, as the example above illustrates, inaccuracy is often not the problem. The difficulty many times is a simple lack of understanding on the lawyer's part of the mechanics involved in the coverage of a legal story and the dynamics that exist in the news organization for which the reporter works. A few

16simple steps can be taken by the lawyer which, while not assuring that there will always be smooth sailing in lawyer/media relations, can at the very least help to ensure that lawyers themselves do not contribute to the failure of reporters to cover legal issues accurately.

This article will provide an overview of some of those steps, based on a review of literature on the subject, a review of case law concerning the ethical issues involved, and discussions with media representatives and law firm marketing administrators.

1. Do not try to avoid a reporter's telephone calls. These calls are an unfortunate fact of life when one is in the public eye. Many reporters do not understand or appreciate the hectic, overscheduled lives that most lawyers lead and may call a lawyer to get immediate quotes for a breaking news story. If the lawyer ignores the call, the storywill usually appear nevertheless. (The reporter often will attempt to reflect "balance" in the story by stating that attempts were made to obtain both sides of the story.)

How should the lawyer...