PRESS ATTACKS

Press attacks, how do you prevent them? How do you stop them? What do you do if you’re in the middle of them? My heart’s sort of beating now, just thinking about it.

It’s a stressful subject and it’s stressful for those involved, I think it stops people from going into the media at all. Press attacks are a real thing because the media can pile on a hundred percent and it is really hard to avoid them now with social media, people are projecting themselves out there and you’re open to scrutiny at all times.

I mean, we’re constantly hearing people being canceled for a Facebook status they made in 2000 or over one comment they made in an Instagram story, people jump on it as soon as Daily Mail, or News.com get their hands on it, it’s all on.

Sadly, if you’re in public life where you hold any, any position of power, you’re always gonna be under scrutiny from obviously traditional media, that’s a given. As previously indicated, because of social media and the evolution there, there’s a permanent digital record of comments you might have made when you were in a different state of evolution, you might have been a different person. I think as a society, at some point we’re gonna have to decide, when do we start forgiving people?

These are difficult questions that can’t easily be answered and perhaps never will be, but I think if you wanna put yourself in the public scrutiny, then you’ve got to be prepared to face that crucible almost, although it can be very toxic. You have got to conduct yourself, in total transparency, you’ve almost got to be treating everything that you do as a potential frontpage one day.

If you’re serious about increasing your profile and strength in your brand, and you are out there doing heaps of press, have an active presence on socials, I think there’s some abrasiveness to it, you are more than likely going to be confronted with media scrutiny.

Having media crises are all a part of your journey, although it’s how you recover from it will show your true colours, leadership is character. So if you’ve got really good character and you’re making mistakes, but you’re recovering well, you end up shining in the end, if you act as best you can with integrity and you’re trying to demonstrate that, people get a sense of who you are, circling all the way back to the idea of authenticity.

Media is a fast way to grow your business, but it’s not without its trepidation. Don’t fear it, just own it. Own your message, own the way you present to the media and they can’t really come at you as much, we’re a society about justice and transparency and with all these technological means, the truth will always come out.

The big story today will soon be forgotten about, because there’s massive events coming every second, every hour, every day. It is a cycle, call it an emotion cycle, our emotions are constantly being played with as, as we consume news.

You can build your digital legacy, with all the great things that you’re achieving, helping people, your stories. I think your character is your destiny, I think if you’ve got good character, you’re gonna be okay, but if you’ve got poor character, media or otherwise, your destiny doesn’t look good.