Dealing with the press

[Bitter Ashes]

We've recently had a protest against the cuts being implemented in Huddersfield and things got a little mad. Not mad-mad, but enough chaos for the leader of the council to make accusations that a council worker was punched in the face by the demonstrators. Nobody from our lot saw anything like that happening and there'd be no motive. It's hardly like we're going to go punching the people we're going out there to aid are we? We're not police medics afterall lol

So, a few of us got together the next day when the story broke and came up with this email to send to a sympthetic reporter:


I defiantly want to call Mehboob Khan out on his accusation of violence from protesters! Nobody punched any member of Kirklees Council staff. The staff are the people we are defending too from these cuts! I defy Mehboob Khan to produce a single shred of evidence to justify his slander. He has no witnesses from the crowd, security, the numerous press cameras, CCTV footage, or even the police to back up his claims. Hell, he hasn't even got a victim. During the whole crush that was the direct result of poor crowd management and a determination to stand in the way of democracy, there was not a single punch thrown by the demonstrators, which for reasons that will become apparent, showed GREAT restraint.

There was one security guard out of the lot who was looking for trouble. A good friend of mine was punched in the ribs by this guy. He was grinning and goading the crowd the whole time including making a gesture of throat slitting. The bruises, the witnesses, the camera and CCTV footage back up every word of this. If Khan had fighter jets and machine guns then I wouldn't be surprised if he took a leaf out of Gaddafi's book.

As for all the naysayers - there is an alternative. Get the £110billion in unpaid tax by the rich back., Get the £1.5trillion back from the banks. Stop the development of weapons of mass destruction and illegal wars. Or better yet, lets try for a completely different system, rather than endlessly mucking around with this one that has been proved to not work!

I thought it'd just get whacked on the letters page like normal, but the problem is, I got an email this afternoon from the reporter asking me to phone him to discuss it all further. I'm AWFUL on phones and tbh, by the time I found the email I realised that he'd probably clocked out for the day. It's a landline number too, so I guess it's for his office.

So, what do I do? Do reporters work on Saturdays? Can I still call him? Any tips for talking to them? Anything in particular I should be careful to not do?

[tbasherizer]

Phone him and leave a message if he's not there. Writers and journalists often work weekends to finish up stories, so you might have luck. Before you phone, quickly write up answers to questions you think he'll ask and just try to speak slowly and clearly the entire time. Also, while not in old ladies' language, try to talk with a tone that can't be passed off as "anarchist punk lying through his teeth to defend himself." As much as it sucks to appease reactionaries, it's best to try to get (and keep) as much of the public on your side as possible. Good luck!

[Sasha]

i do a lot of press work and one tip in this situation would be to use the fact that your anti-authoritarian for your advantage, explain him that your just an individual in an group and cant speak instantly for the whole group and that he either has to explicitly position you like that in his article or give you the chance to put some questions you feel uncomfertable to answer immediately on hold and get back to him after you spoken them through with the rest.
you can even just explain him you are not really comfertable on the phone and propose to answer his question through email or chat wich gives you a seconds or minutes to properly formulated an answer.

but really, its just another skill to learn, dive into it, you might fall flat on your face a couple of times but most people develop an knack for it (although some admittedly never do)

oh, and send him an email next to trying to call him. i dont know an single reporter that doesnt check their email constently.

[nuisance]

Well, what advantageous are there for you talking to this reporter?

[Bitter Ashes]

I spoke to the guy. He published the next day that there had been reports that the security had been heavy handed and also that a number of people came forward to state that the protesters had not punched anyone. Pretty much a success!

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2011/02/26/kirklees-council-chief-executive-says-anti-cuts-protest-did-not-get-out-of-hand-despite-assault-allegation-watch-video-of-protest-here-86081-28238540/