Under Siege

Internet outrage and, about equally, schadenfreude were in full bloom over the last couple of weeks, courtesy of the repeated self-inflicted wounds of folks like United, Pepsi, and Sean Spicer, and while I'm as astonished at the ham-handed responses of those in charge as everyone else is, I think I might have a different perspective on what's going on. No, I'm not going to defend the passenger ejection, or the Kendall Jenner video, or whatever the press secretary says. I'm just saying that a crisis looks a lot different from the inside.

I can say that because I have been there, under siege. If you're in talk radio, and you step, deliberately or unwittingly, on a third rail, you will recognize the situation. In my case, it wasn't anything I personally did, but a host said or did something and someone got upset and I was the manager and, you know, the Buck Stops Here, so to speak, so there was no way to deflect. That's always fun.

So I know the feeling that wells up in the pit of your stomach when a crisis explodes in your organization. And so far, we've been seeing textbook examples of how not to respond. You know how I've counseled all of you in talk radio -- in ANY business -- to have an emergency plan ready to go so you know what to do when an actual emergency erupts? And how a lot of that involves being ready on a technical level, with backups and generators and alternate studio locations and detailed plans on who will do what and where when anything occurs? You should have all of that planned, and I'll defer to Howard Price as the expert to help you with the details. But don't forget the other kind of emergency, the one that happens when you're all doing what you do and someone, either for good reason or irrationally, takes exception. Do you have a plan for that?

Here are a few things I learned while dodging angry missives from organizations of which I've never heard, the occasional crudely handwritten lawsuit, and tsk-tsking from competing media outlets:

Assume nothing. Just because someone got offended doesn't necessarily mean that what happened was offensive. It's critical to the talent, or the social media person, or whoever did the deed that management be supportive. There is nothing more deflating than if management throws you under the bus. By the same token, if you did something really bad that the management can't defend, you probably belong under that bus, so don't expect better. Either way, everyone should try to think clearly and assess whether any real damage was done.

Move fast. Get on top of the crisis as soon as you can. Especially because social media can spread things like a brushfire, if a response is appropriate, you need to respond immediately. You can't sleep on it, and "wait until it blows over" only works if you at least offer a "we'll fix this" kind of response. United was slow to respond, Pepsi was slow to respond, and some don't respond at all. In a Facebook/Twitter age, by the time you reconsider and try to catch up, there might be too much damage for your response to have the desired effect.

Respond sincerely and quickly. Make no false promises, but, when it's appropriate, do make sure the public knows you understand the situation and are working to resolve it. Be as specific as you can be under the circumstances, but leave people with the impression that you will make things right... and follow up. Oh, and don't do what the United CEO did and say one thing to the public and another in an internal memo. Assume the internal stuff will become public. And management has to be ready to take responsibility, too. That buck has to stop someplace, and "we didn't know about it" or "we don't have time to monitor everything we air" will probably not cut it.

Sincerely apologize or don't apologize at all. If an apology is appropriate -- if what you did really was stupid and/or offensive and/or worthy of public scorn -- apologize and don't weasel around it. Say no to "non-apology apologies." If you find yourself writing "I apologize if you were offended by what I said," stop and try again. Nobody will buy that anymore. And if an apology is, in your collective view, not appropriate, don't apologize. If someone is, for example, complaining about a host's purely political opinion, don't apologize for the host having an opinion; instead, invite the complainers to call in and make their case. Unlike even social media, where you can respond but nobody but your followers will see it, talk radio can offer opposing viewpoints access to the exact same audience, same size, same people. "If you disagree, please call in, we encourage it." Unless something really was that egregious, an invitation to come on the air should be the default response anyway. If it's turned down, you can always point that out. "We offered them the chance to be heard, but they refused."

Make sure the sales department is prepared, too. Prepare something for your account people to tell worried clients, especially if the "B-word" -- boycott -- arises. I won't elaborate here, but I've seen sales departments who, faced with a controversy, pretty much agreed with the complaints, throwing the entire programming department, and the format, under the bus with the talent. Top management should prevent that. You're a team, and if something really IS that bad, it's for the management to handle.

Even before a crisis happens, have someone in charge to head off trouble. I'm not talking about the PD. When talk radio, years ago, decided it could cheap out and just have a call screener be labeled a "producer" to save money, then gave PDs so many jobs that actually listening to a show became difficult to fit into the daily schedule, this became a problem. Ideally, you have a producer to go over topics and social media posts to catch problems before they occur. Some talent doesn't need that, but some do, and it's always good to run things by more than one person before pulling the trigger. Although that's not always effective, as in the case of Pepsi, which surely had many executives and creatives and marketing chiefs and producers give the OK to that ad. All it would have taken is one person to say "um, guys? This might not be a good idea," and a lot of trouble would have been avoided. Do you have a person like that in your building?

Don't overreact. You will always have people demanding that someone be fired. The bar for firing should be set high. It's easy for someone to glibly demand the ruination of someone else's life for something that isn't even all that important in the long run. Oh, the host said a controversial thing? OFF WITH HIS HEAD. Except that, let's face it, what a talk show host says is, in the greater scheme of things, pretty minor. It will be forgotten soon enough, and if you're going to end a career over something, it should be more than pretty minor.

Finally, remember: This, too, shall pass. I said that you can't wait for things to blow over, but that doesn't mean they won't blow over. They usually do. Other than the kind of gaffe that loses a license, most of those big controversies are forgotten in short order. Unless the FCC steps in, or the courts, you just have to manage the short term, to protect the revenue stream and keep anything else bad from happening. (One of my old stations ended up with a tall security gate, courtesy of the controversy we generated and the response we got from angry citizens. It was worth it. Yes, it was.) Remember, it's only radio.

So, take a few minutes and think about how you'd handle a hurricane of controversy with you in the eye of the storm. Make sure everyone at your station's thinking the same way. Make doubly sure that you know and trust who's handling social media for your station, and that they know who to contact and what to say if something becomes a problem. Have a plan. Companies like United and Pepsi have PR departments and spend lots of money on outside "crisis PR firms." Plan ahead and not only won't you need to hire anyone, you'll do a lot better with your crisis than those big companies did with theirs.

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I'm running late today, so here's the weekly quick plug for All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics, with a lot of material that will help you do a great show without triggering massive protests, and you can find that by clicking here and/or by following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. And there's the Podcasting section at AllAccess.com/podcasts.

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Okay, as I said, I'm pressed for time, so I'm gonna go now and get a video done and then face the hundreds of tasks and errands I have to get to today. If you celebrate Easter, have a great one, and if there are any really good after-Easter candy sales, I'll see you there. Half-price Cadbury Mini Eggs... I'm in.

Perry Michael Simon Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast AllAccess.com psimon@allaccess.com www.facebook.com/pmsimon Twitter @pmsimon Instagram @pmsimon YouTube @pmsimon