Social Media & Digital Marketing in Singapore

Dealing With Mainstream Media

Nicholas is the latest (and recurring) victim of being quoted out of context by the Straits Times, and smartly uses his blog as a medium for transparently setting the record straight.

You can read the full account at his blog, but one disturbing point here is the “journalist” who talked to him on the phone, wasn’t even an author of the story. I was once contacted by a “journalist” who used a hotmail account. Something fishy?

I mentioned back in February that journalists taking quotes out of contexts for the sake of sensationalism and selling papers are indirectly part of the problem that faces newspapers.

From that post:

How many of us, who will be communicating with the media in five, ten, fifteen years, will have unpleasant instances with journalists, combined with the rise of digital media and distribution (yes, it will happen), and begin to avoid the journalists whenever possible?

How many journalists will continue to, for the sake of a “story”, mold their “angle” at the expense of a good, professional relationship with the person at the other end of the interview?

How long before this we see a “blacklist” of journalists guilty of consistently shaping a story to suit their angle, and use that as a warning system to other communication professionals a la Chris Anderson’s PR blacklist?

I am beginning to think, at least here in Singapore, it might be time to start up that “blacklist” (and to be fair, a “whitelist”), so that all of us bloggers (and corporate communicators) can at least have a reference point when someone cold calls us on the phone, or sends an email, and know who to avoid and who to talk to.

It’s no different from checking our reviews for a product/service before making a purchase decision. Just as I want to know what I’m buying is a good product, I want to know the person on the other end of the phone is trustworthy. If the media industry will not hold themselves to the high standards that come with being the voice of and to the masses, then we may well have to hold them to it.

For now, here’s what I would advise bloggers to do:

• After giving an interview, type a blog post detailing what you said and if possible a transcript of it, even before it goes live.
• Insist that the journalist link to you or that specific blogpost so that the context is clear and transparent.
• After the article goes live, blog about it again and compare how true it stayed to the original context.

(Credit to the Digital Media Across Asia class for bringing up some of these points in discussion a few weeks ago)

It may not be a huge help, but at least to the people who read your blog, you can build the understanding and credibility that being quoted out of context might destroy.

Tags: bad journalism, bloggers, corporate communication, geekonomics, journalist blacklist, journalists, mainstream media, quoted out of context by straits times