Three Questions to Ask When Issuing a Statement

There is a great scene at the end of The War Room, a documentary on the 1992 U.S. presidential election, where Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton’s lead strategist James Carville speaks to the campaign staff on the eve of Election Day. Polls are showing that Clinton is projected to unseat incumbent George H.W. Bush and Carville tells them how their work changed the hierarchy of political campaigns.

One of the things that he is alluding to is the fact that Clinton’s campaign often issued responses within the same news cycle, breaking the mold of most candidates’ offices historically taking one to two days to distribute media statements. If that timeline seems head-scratching to you, just envision heavy bureaucracy combined with pre-Internet technology.

Fast-forward to the era of social media and AI and we are seeing campaigns, businesses, and organizations go back and forth with each other daily at a volume that was inconceivable in 1992. Today, the challenge is not putting together a media response. It is determining if a response is needed. With that in mind, here are three questions to ask when your organization is deliberating over whether to issue a media statement.

1. What are you thinking about responding to and is there something in writing?

The first question is obviously a no-brainer, but the second can be challenging in today’s media environment because ideas and proposals are thrown out via Tweets or other social media posts. Depending on your organization’s industry, it may make sense to respond to a proposal that was announced on social media. However, in most instances, it is likely better for your sanity and bandwidth to wait for something with more details, such as a proposed regulation, introduced legislation, or even a one-pager with detailed provisions, before issuing a response.

2. Does it make sense for your organization to respond?

Organizations spend countless hours honing their mission statements and moments like these are when they should be put to use. If the issue that you are debating responding to does not align with your organization’s mission, then you probably do not need to respond. Granted, there are exceptions like 9/11 and other mass tragedies, but those are few and far between.

3. Do you have something to say?

If the answer to the first two questions is “yes,” then you probably have something to say as well. Nevertheless, it is still worth asking this question because if you send out a milquetoast statement with no substance because you feel like you have to, your intended audience – whether it is media, volunteers, or customers – are likely to roll their eyes.

Generally, the decision to issue a media statement comes down to the CEO and head of a communications team. While we will all not be in those positions, many of us have or will be in the room where the decision is made and asking these questions can help lead to a good outcome.