Kate Betts Blog

You may be the chief executive of a massive company, but if don’t know how to deal with the media it can lead to your downfall.

And it won’t help your company’s share value or reputation. 

Just ask BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward, who famously said he “wanted his life back” at the height of the oil spill crisis. Looks like he has his life back now and plenty of time to mull over that PR gaffe.

Just ask Gerald Ratner, who famously said his company’s sherry decanter and glasses were crap and a pair of their ear-rings wouldn’t even last as long as an M&S prawn sandwich. Ratners’ share price plummeted and he was sacked from his own family business.

And more recently add to that Gordon Brown, who forgot that a radio microphone doesn’t stop working just because you get into a car and drive off.

PR gaffes are costly. Soundbites can come back and bite you where you least want it. That’s why knowing how to deal with the media is vital.

And it’s no use dealing with the crisis once it has happened. You need to plan ahead and make sure you know who is going to say what when things go wrong. Because they will go wrong… just as sure as eggs is eggs as Edwina Currie knows. She famously said most eggs carried salmonella and was forced to resign as a junior health minister…..