Executive Media
Public Affairs Public Relations
media, crisis, politics
Tell the truth
03/07/08 12:26 PM Filed in: General
At the top of our "to do" list when we advise clients
on responding to crises is this: Tell the truth.
To tell the truth, it should also be on the "to do" list for not getting into a crisis. Morality aside, there are just too many ways these days to be found in a lie.
On February 26, the New York Times ran a positive review of a book called "Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival" by a woman named Margaret B. Jones. It told the story of a half-white, half-Native American girl thrown onto the tough, gang-ruled streets of the South-Central neighborhood of Los Angeles when she was just eight and a half years old. The reviewer wrote, "What sets Ms. Jones's humane and deeply affecting memoir apart is not just that it's told from the point of view of a young girl coming of age in this world, but also that it focuses on the bonds of love and loyalty that can bind relatives and gang members together, and the craving after safety and escape that haunts so many lives in the 'hood."
As it turned out, what set Ms. Jones's memoir apart was that it was a lie. The book's author actually was Margaret Seltzer, a woman who grew up in suburban Sherman Oaks section of LA and went to a private Episcopal day school. She had taken many elaborate steps to hide her fraud during the three years her publisher spent editing the book, including producing photos of people who she said were her foster siblings and a letter purportedly from a gang leader.
The big mistake was allowing her photograph to be taken for a profile in the Times. Her older sister saw the picture and called the book's publisher to tell the editors the story was untrue.
Add this to a list of recent frauds and you realize it's a lot easier to get caught than it used to be. You can't tell a story one way in Indianapolis and another way in Washington any more. So play it safe and tell the truth. You might even get a reputation for it.
To tell the truth, it should also be on the "to do" list for not getting into a crisis. Morality aside, there are just too many ways these days to be found in a lie.
On February 26, the New York Times ran a positive review of a book called "Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival" by a woman named Margaret B. Jones. It told the story of a half-white, half-Native American girl thrown onto the tough, gang-ruled streets of the South-Central neighborhood of Los Angeles when she was just eight and a half years old. The reviewer wrote, "What sets Ms. Jones's humane and deeply affecting memoir apart is not just that it's told from the point of view of a young girl coming of age in this world, but also that it focuses on the bonds of love and loyalty that can bind relatives and gang members together, and the craving after safety and escape that haunts so many lives in the 'hood."
As it turned out, what set Ms. Jones's memoir apart was that it was a lie. The book's author actually was Margaret Seltzer, a woman who grew up in suburban Sherman Oaks section of LA and went to a private Episcopal day school. She had taken many elaborate steps to hide her fraud during the three years her publisher spent editing the book, including producing photos of people who she said were her foster siblings and a letter purportedly from a gang leader.
The big mistake was allowing her photograph to be taken for a profile in the Times. Her older sister saw the picture and called the book's publisher to tell the editors the story was untrue.
Add this to a list of recent frauds and you realize it's a lot easier to get caught than it used to be. You can't tell a story one way in Indianapolis and another way in Washington any more. So play it safe and tell the truth. You might even get a reputation for it.