A quickfire crisis comms Q&A with veteran journalist Kevin Ritchie

Q: What’s the first thing an exec needs to know about how the news works?

KR: The law of corporate reputation is: Nature abhors a vacuum. From the very get-go you need to decide who exactly is going to be telling your company’s story.

If your organisation faces a conflict and you choose to say nothing, someone’s going to step in and tell your story for you – and you’re not going to have control over what they say. Matter of fact, if you try change what they’re saying after the fact, that’ll only make you look worse. Be authentic in your narrative. Master the channels you’re using.

Q: All channels except social media. Nothing can ever, ever go wrong on social media – right?

KR: How many of your followers would you actually let through your front door? If your answer is 100% of them – either you have one follower and it’s your mother, or you’re crazy.

The modern media landscape no longer belongs solely to traditional newsrooms. Influencers and online commentators on social media platforms command massive audiences these days; essentially, they’re citizen journalists, whatever they come across they can amplify a thousandfold.

So, where business leaders go wrong is when they mistake these platforms for their own, casual living rooms. But the truth is that one unvetted, off-the-cuff remark, one misplaced like on a controversial commentator’s new diatribe, and you can quickly have a PR nightmare on your hands.

Q: So we shouldn’t participate in a new viral trend where you post yourself breaking several of the Geneva Conventions at once?

KR: Absolutely not. Establish clear boundaries between personal validation and executive representation. It is dangerous to approach social media with the mindset of: ‘I’m liked, therefore I am.’ Learn to communicate authentically while evaluating the risks of public exposure before hitting ‘post’.

Q: Your boss is convinced that all journalists are out to get us. What do I do?

KR: When I worked as a reporter for 27 years, I learned that when an investigative report begins digging into an organisation's practices, executive instinct often flips to defensiveness.

But reporters are neither malicious nor saintly figures; they’re professionals working under strict deadlines, just like you or me. They’re looking for news. To make the news you either have to do something spectacularly badly or superlatively well.

If you’re in the news for the latter – congratulations. If for the former – it’s time to get a corporate comms team in to deliver an accurate, transparent and prompt response. If your boss prefers to say ‘No comment’, refer them to point one: if you’re silent, somebody else is going to tell your story.

Q: Can you sum up in a few words the most important elements of what you’ve told me?

KR: All in all, it’s that by respecting how news generation works and acting with authenticity, leaders can turn media friction into long-term trust.

It’s important to remember that corporate communication is a highly specialised discipline. Just as an engineer isn’t expected to manage corporate finance, business leaders shouldn’t navigate complex public media dynamics without specialised comms support.

Q: Final question. People are accusing you of hosting an incredible masterclass where execs learn media management in a remarkably short period of time. What do you have to say about that?

KR: No comment.

Just kidding.

See below.

Kevin Ritchie will be hosting a Media Management Masterclass in partnership with Henley Business School Africa on 9 October. Sign up here.