My Take on Michael Bryant's Spin Class

I was reading the the Saturday September 19th edition of the Globe and Mail and an article on the media coverage on Michael Bryant's current troubles after a vehicle accident involving a cyclist on Bloor Street in Yorkville.

Bryant is well within his rights to hire a PR firm and in terms of crisis communications and reputation management, Navigator is considered the dream team and it's $600 per hour rate reflects that.

Few things bother me though, one Bryant came out of police station looking like he is headed to a high level meeting. I would have suggested more casual attire, Bryant after all most likely spent the night in a holding cell and in some corners of public opinion and in the media it's seen as a class issue.

Secondly one got the impression that Navigator was going to do a full court press on the media to get Bryant's side of the story out. Reality as outlined in the G&M piece, reporters did their own in depth research and came up with a profile of Alan Sheppard the deceased bicycle courier.

The other thing that sort of bothers me is how Navigator positioned itself in this whole affair. If I am a Crisis Communications expert and I am at the top of my game, I want my client to be the one that shines. It's not about the PR firm or the consultant handing the file. If I am part of the story, then I have not done my job properly, an impression would form that I am manipulating opinion, that's the kiss of death for our chosen profession.

The PR firm helps get the story out to help the client rehabilitate their reputation and blend seamlessly into the background, that's the way it should be.

I think Duncan Fulton of Fleishman-Hillard has it right, it's not so much the winning of the media cycle but the enduring memory of the crisis, especially if you are Bryant in a job interview five years down the road.

For the record while I have an interest in Crisis Communications from an intellectual standpoint because every PR practitioner has to understand how it works, I would prefer being in a consumer or technology practice.