There’s rarely been a dull moment and nary a lull in the ever-escalating wars between President Donald Trump and the media. That ongoing feud reached a new fever pitch with the recent breathless coverage around the Justice Department’s Russia investigation — which led to the suspension of Brian Ross of ABC News over inaccurate reporting of the charges against former National Security Advisory Michael Flynn. And, of course, there have been the president’s continuing tweets about “fake news” and various (allegedly) “failing” media outlets.
Mr. Trump’s ability to get the media’s goat — and the narrative he is promoting among factions on the right — may also be entertaining and, in many ways, satisfying for long-beleaguered conservative politicians, organizations and business sectors not generally favored by liberal elites.
But, frankly, all of these groups should resist the temptation, however enticing, to jump into the fray.
Endlessly stoking conflagrations, very simply, works for President Trump. Tweaking reporters and news organizations and gloating over their missteps aligns with his brand as an impulse-driven, iconoclastic, confrontation-seeking, swamp-draining provocateur. It fits with his style and strategy of keeping his opponents off balance and on the defensive — and keeping his base fired up.
But mixing it up with the media won’t serve the objectives of most conservative leaders and organizations. Where the President revels in being seen as unpredictable, unbound by propriety and unmanageable, most conservatives prefer (or should prefer) to be viewed as thoughtful, goal-oriented and self-controlled.
More important, the narrative underlying the Trump approach — that conservatives are and will continue to be victimized by a steady stream of fake news from hopelessly biased and irresponsible media — is simply untrue. While it’s a given that most members of the media lean left in their views, journalists are by and large committed to getting it right and will give conservatives and business organizations a fair hearing and shake.
And even (especially) in the current environment, the rules for achieving strategic objectives with the media are the same as they always were:
1. Get it right yourselves
It may seem too basic even to mention, but the expectation of no “fake news” runs both ways: news organizations expect and have a right to truthful and fully accurate information. The truth will always come out anyway, and you want to have some control as to the context in which it is presented.
2. Build relationships
The president may feel he benefits from hostile relationships with journalists and their organizations, but most of us are far better off building an element of trust and mutual understanding that can pay dividends when we want to draw attention to a development or when the proverbial stuff hits the fan. Achieving goals with the media begins well before the fact.
3. Be available to help
Your or your principal’s willingness to serve as a source and/or provide helpful information or context on an issue that doesn’t direct involve you — on or off-the-record depending on the reporter’s need or your own sensitivities around the matter — can go a long way to cementing a relationship and ensuring your call will be answered, and your perspective taken seriously, when you need the help.
4. Call “foul” fairly
Building these relationships and a reputation for straight-shooting earns you the right to call “foul” on inaccurate or unfair reporting and expect a clarification. But treat each occurrence as an isolated incidence if possible, and not as part of a broader “fake news” narrative, and make your protestations in person, not in public. If you are nevertheless repeatedly victimized by negative coverage from a journalist, the next step is to go to his editor and failing that, higher in the organization. It’s rare – though not unprecedented – for a publication to risk its reputation by continuing to pursue an inaccurate line of reporting, and if that is the case, it’s best to correct the record in public, through a fair and trusted reporter, with facts, not recrimination.
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Yes, the president gets away with taking on the media, but the old rules never applied to him anyway. The rest of us need, even in the age when news travels via electrons, need to keep living by the rule so eloquently expressed by Mark Twain: Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.
Stuart Roy was the former communications director for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and for the National Republican Senatorial Committee under Sen. Mitch McConnell. He is now the president of Strategic Action Public Affairs, a DC-based public affairs that advises corporate and trade association clients on strategic communications and public affairs communication.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.