In 2005, I made the decision to leave my career in Broadcast Journalism. If you had asked me a year prior to that decision, I would have been the person laughing at your suggestion. Why would I consider switching after sweating through over a decade of media jobs in radio and television? In fact, I really did fall into a career in Media Relations by just being at the right place at the right time.

I was a morning TV show co-host covering the opening of a casino. After the 3 hour live broadcast, the man I was interviewing all morning flat out asked me if I’d consider managing media and public relations for his company. With no prior knowledge of the casino industry, aside from occasional trips to the roulette table with friends and watching the movie Casino a million times, I accepted the challenge and eased myself into a new career.

Surprisingly, to me, making the move from being a journalist to a media relations specialist was an incredibly easy transition. I learned pretty quickly that my greatest asset was my years as a journalist. In media relations, if you can think 3 steps ahead of any reporter in any situation, you are on top of your game. It really is that simple.

Whether I am managing media for celebrities and star-power events or handling a crisis situation, the frame of mind when dealing with media stays the same. How do you direct the media to tell the story you want, without compromising their integrity or yours? Finding the angle the media wants to take, is key to this process. You will not always see eye to eye with the media, in every situation, but you certainly can take two approaches. One is the play nice approach and the other is to be constantly challenging the media in your defense.

From experience, the first approach is the one that will see the most success. You have to take into consideration the media’s side first. They need a story. Your job, in charge of media relations, is to direct them to the story. That doesn’t mean reading a general statement in hopes they don’t drill you with tough questions. It means taking into consideration every possible angle a reporter could take and providing them with the answers they are looking for… with a slight spin. Basically, if you know the angle the media wants to take, you can provide them with that story in a way that benefits your initiatives. Then it becomes a win-win situation. The reporter gets his or her story and your message is clearly identified within it. Your headlines will reflect that, as well as the content.

Second, who is the right spokesperson for the media? Whether I stepped up to deliver the message or I appointed the right specialist to speak in relation to the incident or event, the most important element of the spokesperson lies within their sincerity. We live in a fickle and harshly judgmental society as it is and the general media reading/watching/listening public is a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Choosing the right person to speak publicly is paramount.

I’ll give you an example. I was handling media for a film production when something terrible happened on set involving one of the film’s top star. Instantly, word traveled like wild fire and within a couple of hours every media outlet had found their way onto the film set… eventually turning into mass pandemonium.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t affected by the media zoo and managed to take a step back to see what the best course of action would be, analyzing what the best outcome for the film company would be during this crisis. I was also surprised at how inadequately prepared the film unit was for such a situation and I found myself having to take complete charge of what was about to turn out to be an International headline.

The media was there to get their story and at that point it was anyone’s game. Tomorrow’s headlines could be either extremely damaging to both the star and the film and careful strategic planning was essential.

The first course of action was to clear the scene. Working closely with security I was able to empty out the area so that by the time the media did show up they had nothing to shoot for b-roll by an evacuated film set. There were no emergency vehicles on site and the last police car was pulling out of the property before the first cameraman could even take his first exterior shot.

Next was to find my spokesperson. I certainly was NOT going to put the star on camera right away. That would have been career suicide. Not to mention her attitude towards the situation was enough to make me want to throw her out the window. I turned to the film’s producers in hopes they would step up and deliver the message I had written for them.

After some hesitation I was able to make them understand that they needed to be the main spokespeople on this issue, not me. They would add credibility to their statement and I had faith, after spending 3 hours in crisis mode with them, that their genuinely sweet natures would translate well on camera.

I prepped them, rehearsed with them, drilled them with difficult questions in response to their statement… everything a good PR person could do before shoving them in front of about 20 cameras and reporters. What I didn’t anticipate was their nervous reaction to being in front of a live media scrum. They were like deers in headlights. The read of their statements were excruciatingly painful, at times, and if I could’ve thrown out a life preserver to save them… I would have. Still, you could tell that they were being genuine and the media accepted that. By the time it hit the evening news their quotes were so cut up within the story that you couldn’t really tell how nervous they were. In the end, the story remained consistent with their statements and they were not made to look like fools on national television.

Mastering media relations is an ongoing process. The right PR plan is one that is completely unique to that PR situation. Never assess the situation in the same way you have before. Fresh eyes on everything, in combination of staying ahead of your media, is my best approach. If I were to leave you with any further words of wisdom it would have to be: “GET TO KNOW YOUR MEDIA”. Your strength in PR will come with the relationships you build with them.