Dealing with the press is, doubtlessly, a pain in the ass job. It’s not just because the relationship between politicians and the press is, necessarily, an oppositional one. It’s also you’re up against deadlines and egos and, oftentimes, the fog of a brutal hangover.
But managing a press shop is also the easiest job in the world. There’s only one thing you have to remember: Don’t lie. Everything else will take care of itself.
The number Frank Phillips does on Deval Patrick’s press shop in today’s Globe will reverberate long after the Marian Walsh hiring fiasco has exhausted its shelf life. This damage is self-inflicted. And it would’ve been easy to avoid – this dance that reporters and PR flaks do only has one rule.
“Contradicting a series of steadfast denials,” Phillips reports, “internal e-mails show that Governor Deval Patrick’s top aides controlled the appointment of state Senator Marian Walsh to a high-paying job at a state authority, from setting her salary to crafting her job description.”
The relationship between a reporter and a politician’s media shop is built on one thing – trust. Reporters don’t expect flaks to spill their deepest secrets on command. It’s a given that some angles will be played up, others conveniently omitted. But when you repeatedly lie to somebody’s face – it’s clear, from today’s story, that that’s what happened here – you’re done.
After today, there are few reporters on Beacon Hill who will believe anything that the administration’s press shop tells them. With good reason. And once you’ve pissed all over that baseline of respect that we all depend on, well, good luck to you.
Here’s the other reason why, from a media standpoint, this is so incredibly galling. If you’re on the public payroll, we can read your emails any time we want. Oftentimes, we avail ourselves of that right. It’s how we do our jobs. Everybody on Beacon Hill know it.
David suggests having the common sense to not leave a paper trail to your embarrassing misdeeds. The flipside to that suggestion is this: Once you’ve left a paper trail – one that anybody can pick up – don’t try to cover it up. You’ll only make things worse for yourself, and your boss.