Know the rules, and you won't get pushed around

This week, the German broadcaster ZDF removed a passage from a programme about Elon Musk, posted a correction notice and signed a cease-and-desist declaration.

Why? The piece had put words in Musk's mouth that he hadn't said. And: Joachim Nikolaus Steinhöfel forced the broadcaster to react fast.

Most business leaders don't know these rules of the game. I see it again and again:

• A 3pm deadline is accepted as if it were a law. In fact, almost every deadline is negotiable.
• A false claim of fact or an image lifted out of context gets swallowed because "you can't fight the press anyway". Yes, you can.
• A leading question gets answered too quickly, instead of correcting the premise before it goes to print.
• "No comment" is said because no one knows the third, fourth or fifth option.

A journalist does this a hundred times a year. The executive maybe for the first time in their life — and usually on a bad day, under time pressure, with half the team on holiday.

That imbalance can't be evened out by someone googling the rules while the newsroom is already on air.

That's what communications professionals are for. Not to outsmart journalists, but to know what's actually on the table: which rights, which room to manoeuvre, which deadline is negotiable and which isn't.

When you know the rules, you don't get pushed around. So much for "PR? God forbid" — Part 2 to follow ;)