Reality Check: Three Times Public Relations on TV Could Have Done Better
By Rylie Miller
Published September 29, 2023
Public relations professionals have a lot of different responsibilities. One of the hardest? Explaining what they actually do to people outside the profession.
“So you get famous people on the cover of magazines?”
“You plan red carpet events?”
“You make people go viral on social media?”
The portrayal of public relations on TV has contributed to the confusion.
Ironically, the professionals who build and manage reputations for others have had their own belittled by on-screen portrayals. The timelines and scenarios are unrealistic, the tactics are wild (and sometimes unethical), and the dramatizations double down on many PR myths that we’re all hoping will go away. I guess it makes for great entertainment?
I’ll be taking a closer look at three fictional PR pros who missed the mark and giving them a reality check – along with my colleagues – on what should’ve really happened.
Fictional PR Pros Who Could Have Done Better
Rebecca Welton – Ted Lasso
Rebecca Welton is a fabulous and cunning boss. She is the new owner of the British soccer team AFC Richmond, after inheriting it from her cheating ex-husband. Unbeknownst to the team, fans, and coaches, Rebecca is set on getting her revenge by burning her ex’s greatest asset – the AFC Richmond Greyhounds – to the ground.
The first move in her plan is hiring Ted Lasso as the new head coach for the Greyhounds. Ted has far more experience and success with American (college) football teams. But he takes on the challenge to move to England and lead a different kind of football team to success, all with a smile on his face.
What Went Wrong
Fresh off his flight, Ted arrives in Richmond and is introduced to Rebecca. She takes Ted on a tour of the stadium, giving him the history of the club, and informs him that she’ll need him to speak with the press.
Ted is happy to do so, saying he needs a few nights of good rest to bring his A-game. However, Rebecca has other plans. She opens the door to a zoo of reporters and media who are on the edge of their seats to meet the new face of AFC Richmond.
With fans watching from pubs and at home to the team anxiously (but mostly disappointingly) watching from the locker room, Ted is a nervous wreck. He kicks off his first statement by saying he has zero experience or knowledge of soccer whatsoever. He botches every example, crossing the two worlds of football with one another as the reporters begin unleashing every possible question.
Scatterbrained and overwhelmed, Ted takes a sip of water only to choke and spray the entire room. Talk about a lovely first impression.
Reality Check: Media Train Before Interviews
Rebecca set Ted up to literally choke.
Media training is non-negotiable with a new client or spokesperson – before media interviews, speaking opportunities, trade shows…basically, any situation where communicating key messages to stakeholders is essential.
“Rebecca should have let Ted know ahead of time that he’d be delivering a press conference to discuss his new role and qualifications,” Carve’s Senior Director of Consumer Accounts Nicole Brief said. “She should have provided Ted with a run-down on every reporter/outlet in the room, along with their history with the team and any other details she knew.”
Your spokesperson needs to be up to date on the key messaging and objective of the interview at hand. Media can be unpredictable and sometimes go off-topic or bring up sensitive ones. Proper media training ensures the spokesperson feels prepared to handle any question that comes their way and equipped to course-correct the interview if necessary.
Some of the common skills and techniques taught during media training include the following:
Stay in your lane: Make sure you stick to the topics that you are an expert in. An interview is no place for speculation.
Anticipate the questions and be prepared with your answers: Sometimes reporters will send a few questions before the interview. Take the time to think them through and practice your responses out loud so you are confident in the moment along with getting to know their audience. If they don’t send them, make educated guesses about what they will ask and, yes, prepare for the questions you don’t want, too.
Blocking: Be honest when you aren’t sure how to answer a question by using phrases like “I’m not the expert,” “I wouldn’t want to speak for…,” or “That’s proprietary information.”
When you neglect media training, you are putting your spokesperson and brand, along with your own reputation on the line.
“You really can end up choking! Without proper training, you may get stuck with a tough question and not know how to answer. Or worse, you may say something that you would never want to be published and that becomes the main subject of the story,” Nicole said.
Pro Tip: The ABCs of media interviews to help you control your message – Answer, Bridge, Communicate. Answer the question, create a bridge between your answer and the message you intend to send, and communicate your message clearly and concisely.
Kendall Roy – Succession
The Roy family is a lot of things – dysfunctional, twisted, and filthy rich. The patriarch of the Roys, Logan, is CEO and founder of Waystar Royco, a multibillion-dollar media and entertainment conglomerate. They own multiple newspapers, television networks, resorts, and even several amusement parks.
The second-eldest Roy son, Kendall, has been told from a young age that he will be the CEO one day. Spending his entire life prepping to be his father’s heir, he struggles to find the confidence he needs to prove himself as he sees the world through a manipulative, self-centered lens.
After Logan suffers a stroke, Kendall steps in as acting CEO and is overwhelmed with the messes he needs to clean up. With larger-than-life personalities and cutthroat sibling rivalry, things start to sink quickly, making Succession a wild case of public relations on TV gone wrong.
What Went Wrong
At the end of season 2, amidst the usual Roy family drama, Logan is in a position where he needs someone to take the heat for him as a scandal on the family’s cruise ship comes to the surface. He decides that Kendall will take the fall.
However, Kendall catches onto his dad’s plans and decides to put his own spin on things while he’s in the spotlight. Kendall attends the press conference but ditches the script he’s been prepped with.
He outs his father on television for his involvement in the cruise scandal and goes on to reveal even more of his father’s wrongdoings.
“The truth is my father is a malignant presence…a bully, and a liar…and he was fully personally aware of these events for many years and made efforts to hide and cover-up,” Roy confesses to the world.
In the season three premiere, Kendall is clearly in the hot seat, both in real life and online. He instructs his goofy cousin, Greg, to be in charge of “media monitoring,” keeping an eye on all things that are being said about him online and in the news.
Reality Check: Take Media Monitoring Seriously
“Bottom line: Greg was very disorganized. He could have had a more efficient strategy in place if he were to use a digital monitoring tool and an actual strategy versus taking it to pen and paper,” said Carve Senior Account Executive Caroline Shamon.
Media monitoring helps keep a pulse on what’s being said about your clients, along with which reporters are covering which trends. It also gives you a feel for what competitors are up to.
“Media monitoring isn’t just something you can check the box for and call it a day. It should remain a priority every day and become part of your daily routine so you don’t miss out on anything important,” said Caroline.
Your media monitoring strategy needs to be tight and focused. Some tactics that need to be ingrained into your routine include:
Having the right search terms: For example, if you have an AI expert in-house and simply search “artificial intelligence news” you’re going to be bombarded with a slew of results that likely aren’t going to be relevant to you. Hone in on exactly what you want to be alerted for by doing some industry research.
Get updates in real-time: Having software, like MuckRack or Talkwalker, can provide media alerts in real-time, on top of setting Google alerts for your designated search terms.
Go straight to the source: Beyond just relying on media monitoring tools, go directly to top-tier media outlets and trade publications websites do scans related to your industry, and subscribe to their newsletters will help you stay even more in the know.
When your media monitoring efforts are lacking, you are setting yourself back from being in the know and missing out on a plethora of opportunities.
“Not only are you missing out on new media opportunities, but relationship building with reporters and establishing your spokespeople as sources for them to fuel their articles,” Caroline said, “Most importantly, you don’t want your clients to flag the coverage you secured before they do.”
Samantha Jones – Sex and The City
Samantha Jones is one of the most notorious names in the fictional PR pro game. Most of the time we see Samantha on screen, she’s doing anything but working, setting the precedent for depictions of public relations on TV. She has all the time in the world to travel, shop, dine, and party (we wish!).
Her network is a gold mine. Samantha knows everyone. And if there’s someone she doesn’t, she’ll do whatever it takes to find someone who does.
But, she doesn’t necessarily serve the PR industry justice. Professional boundaries become very blurred, and in most cases, completely invisible. She doesn’t have a filter, swearing like a sailor in front of clients or candidly sharing NSFW details about her personal life and relationships.
What Went Wrong
In season four, episode 11 “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda,” Samantha has a casual meeting with a prospective client, Lucy Liu (I told you she knew everybody!).
Lucy is looking for a new publicist, claiming her last PR guy was a “total liar.” She wants someone from New York who will tell it to her straight. But Samantha has other plans.
Upon meeting Lucy for lunch, Samantha experiences love at first sight…with a red, Hermès Birkin bag. High off of a great client meeting, Samantha marches right to the front of the line to buy the bag. To get it ahead of the five-year waiting list, she says it's for Lucy Liu and that, as her press rep, she’d want nothing more than her client to carry it, claiming it would be “photographed to death.” She also made it clear that Lucy needed this bag yesterday.
At their next meeting, Lucy arrives carrying the coveted red tote. “Some nice man dropped this off at my hotel this morning. It’s not really my style, but it’s a free bag!” Samantha is dumbfounded, claiming that the bag is actually hers and she used Lucy’s name to get it.
Lucy tells Samantha that the PR rep from Hermès had called her and outed Samantha for dropping the F-bomb at her at least a dozen times. Panicked, Samantha pulls out another lie saying it couldn’t have been her.
“The only thing worse than a liar is a bad liar. I won’t be needing your services anymore,” Lucy proclaims, leaving Samantha with one less client, and one less designer bag.
Reality Check: Build, Don’t Erode, Client Trust
“Aside from the fact she shouldn’t have used her client for her own benefit, once caught in her lie, she only dug her grave further by lying again. Samantha should’ve owned up to it the moment Lucy walked in wearing the bag. It likely still would have resulted in her losing her business, but at least she could have attempted to salvage her personal relationship with the client,” Carve Account Supervisor Gabby Wright said.
While we’ve all made mistakes in our careers – some not as extreme as getting on Lucy Liu’s bad side – humility is key to relationship-building, both professionally and personally.
From the get-go, agencies need to set a precedent that they’re more than just an “agency;” instead, they’re a partner and an extension of the in-house team.
“When we have a good rapport with clients paired with open communication, the best ideas and results come to life. Trust opens the door for clients to feel comfortable sharing vital information with us that can help us spark new pitch ideas or a larger strategy,” Gabby said.
To build meaningful trust, PR pros must:
Educate: Publicists aren’t here to be “yes” people. Sometimes that means not always agreeing with what a client may request. This education communicates to clients they can trust us to not only tell them what they want to hear, but what they need to hear to be better and reach their goals.
Be transparent and proactive: In times of crisis or change, knowing when things need to be brought to a client's attention with a solution in place goes a long way. Proactively addressing issues shows that you move quickly and carefully, not letting the client’s brand (or your brand’s) reputation get tarnished.
Drive the two-way street of communication: Clients don’t want to be left in the dark. They want to be in the know about all things PR pros are doing. Keep them updated beyond just your weekly or bi-weekly check-ins. Checking in once a day with an update on coverage, new media opportunities, or an update on a timeline helps foster trust.
Put yourself in your client’s shoes and think about the kind of people you want to work with. Follow through on all deadlines, and be respectful of their time when it comes to scheduling meetings or asking for deliverables.
Pro Tip: Find ways to connect with your clients beyond just the PR work. “I love making quick small talk before getting into the agenda, asking about their lives, travel, etc. Sometimes I think it’s easy to forget we’re all human, but that personal connection matters more than you think,” Gabby said.
Fictional PR Pros Don’t Do The Craft Justice
We can’t chalk up the entirety of the profession based on how we see public relations on TV.
Real-life PR pros work hard to provide value, applying their communications expertise from crisis communications to pitch development.
At the end of the day, PR requires strategy, preparation, expertise, trustworthiness, proactivity, creativity –the list goes on and on. If you are looking for the real deal, reach out to Carve today.