Should PR People Sit in on Media Interviews?

Is Three a Crowd?

Last month a PR person for the New York Jets told Darrelle Revis to hang up on host Mike Francesa during a heated WFAN interview. I don’t recommend hanging up on reporters, but the bigger question is this: Should PR professionals sit in on press calls? I wrote a piece for PR News this month examining the pros and cons.

My advice? If you have a great spokesperson, let him or her go solo. It fosters transparency, which has never been more important than it is today, and facilitates a real relationship between the reporter and the spokesperson. However, if you are working with spokesperson who is forgetful of key messages, new to media interviews or isn’t good at following up, it’s a good idea to sit in…for now. Likewise, a crisis situation is an entirely different animal, and one that requires very tightly scripted communications that benefit immensely from the presence of a PR person.

I spelled out all of the scenarios above in the PR News article, which you can find at http://www.prnewsonline.com/prinsiders/Not-Always-Room-at-the-Table-for-PR-Pros-During-Media-Calls_15585.html.