I recently spoke with a friend who used to be a client.  Neither of us is tied to the company through which we met, but we stay in touch.  That company (I’ll call it ThatCo to protect the innocent) was recently included in an exposé of its industry at the hands of the Wall Street Journal. It’s the kind of story CEOs dread.  The week-long series shed a light on the industry’s accepted, self-policed business practices, and painted those practices as something the world should be concerned about, complete with paranoia-inducing headlines.  The story has since been echoed on NPR and in other outlets.

I’m not writing to condemn the industry’s practices, nor to call the Wall Street Journal irresponsible.  The industry is not out to do anyone harm, and I imagine it’s hard to draw eyeballs to the Wall Street Journal in August.  The story is engaging, and it is better that the general public be aware of these issues.

Not only does the story make sense, but we knew it was coming.  About two years ago the PR team conducted a media training session with ThatCo and we set aside a significant amount of time to cover this issue.  They had the messages – fact-based, reasonable, clear and easy to deliver.  I can say them to myself now.  We also covered when to use them.  This is apparently where the breakdown occurred.

ThatCo’s executive provided the “golden quote” – the one that instantly put miles of distance between a cool, collected executive and an enraged public.  The former client’s words were the first quote in the first story of the series.  Even the industry blogs that have since come out in defense of the client have repeated this quote.  I believe I’ve heard these words come from this client before, verbatim.  I don’t doubt for a second he said them. It’s the context, however, that makes me imagine a giddy reporter (and a reporter not prone to giddiness) stifling a squeal to avoid tipping off the unaware interview subject.

Someone missed a sign.  They followed a path that seemingly led to a glowing review of their mastery in creating value for customers, and forgot to deliver the messages that connect that value to responsible use of their powerful product.

I understand I risk sounding like a spurned partner in saying that if the company still had a PR firm, the spokesperson may have had a briefing sheet in hand that told him this reporter had previously won a Pulitzer for exposing corporate misdeeds.  He might have read the recent article in which that reporter covered a company that knowingly withheld information from customers.  He might have had someone on the line that cued him to step back and provide appropriate context for the reporter’s audience.

That’s water under the bridge, and it doesn’t help the ThatCo now.  But there is a learning opportunity to be had from this experience.  Below are 10 steps companies can take to help them avoid being ThatCo. The one that industry colleagues now look at with equal measures of shame, pity and accusation.  The one that has to explain to family and friends how he isn’t in an evil line of work.  The one that might get the cold shoulder from partners and clients “until this whole thing cools off.”

Before the interview:

1)      Know who you’re talking to. Look up their previous stories. Read their bio. At the very least, if the reporter tells you he or she need to conduct the interview in the next five minutes or the world will end, Google him or her while you’re talking.

2)      Get the context.  If you are discussing something controversial or easily misunderstood, ask the reporter what section the story will run in and who the audience is.  If they say they don’t know, assume it will be the audience least likely to understand.

During the interview:

3)      Hear yourself talk.  Understand how each soundbyte will sound in public.

4)      Ask questions.  Who else is the reporter talking to?  What do they think of the industry? What else are they covering?  Two minutes of seemingly idle chit chat can provide a world of information.

Before the story runs:

5)      Don’t be afraid to follow up.  If you feel you missed the opportunity to strike the right balance, send a note with more information.

After the story runs:

6)      Know how this affects your business.  Do the people who pay your bills already understand this issue?  Are they exposed along with you?  Do you need to defend yourself or take the fall in order to keep business running smoothly?

7)      Deliver the untold story in public.  ThatCo has responded in a blog, but missed the source of the real concern, and further, has yet to deliver the messages that connect value to customers with responsible use of the product.  To its credit, it stepped in the line of fire and offered to respond to any concerned parties.  It would have been better if that response was also public.

8)      Tell the truth, quickly.  This axiom of crisis communications applies to PR crises as well.  Don’t play the victim or pull back from the media or the false perception will sink in further. Use your newfound (if unwelcome) attention to fill the information gap.

9)      Understand this is now public record.  Expect the questions to come up again.  Have your answers on hand.

10)   Sympathize with the outrage. In this case, the company already had ways to accommodate anyone who didn’t approve of the standard industry practices.  They made these accommodations widely available, but until the series ran, most people didn’t take advantage of them.  If your company is not as prepared to respond to an angry audience, open your communications channels.  The only way to battle distrust is with honesty.

My friend, the ex-client, said grimly, ThatCo “finally got its Wall Street Journal story.” It turns out ThatCo got half of its story in the Wall Street Journal.  By demanding — and providing — transparency, it might not happen to you.

When JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater made international news after reportedly blowing up at an uncooperative airplane passenger, he seemed to many to be the real-life Peter Gibbons character from the film “Office Space.”

Gibbons and his fellow programmer colleagues, frustrated and disillusioned with TPS Reports and the corporate world in general, smash an error-ridden printer to smithereens with a baseball bat. Slater reportedly grabbed two beers, then deployed the airline’s emergency slide and made a dramatic exit on the tarmac.

On Wednesday, a post appeared on the JetBlue’s blog, Blue Tales, titled: “Sometimes the weird news is about us…”

Acknowledging that the company could not comment because the matter was still being investigated and they respected Slater’s privacy, the post closed with the following: “While this episode may feed your inner Office Space, we just want to take this space to recognize our 2,300 fantastic, awesome and professional Inflight Crewmembers for delivering the JetBlue Experience you’ve come to expect of us.”

It was well-handled, with a tone that seemed to acknowledge the inner Peter Gibbons in many workers out there while making a strong statement in support of its airline flight crews  (something many had questioned in the wake of Slater being suspended).

Three points stand out to me:

• In this case, less was more for JetBlue. They could have said more, but I feel like this would have ruined it;
• Conversational and authentic is nearly always the best tone of voice in a company blog post acknowledging negative publicity;
• Instead of regurgitating company mission statements, the post used words like “weird,” and “awesome.” Simple and plainspoken, consistent with the JetBlue’s brand image.

What are your thoughts about the way JetBlue handled this controversy?

I was in the checkout line at the grocery store last night and, as I was throwing my purchases onto the conveyor belt, I noticed that almost every tabloid and entertainment magazine had a cover story about Jesse James’ marital affair and the word “monster” somehow worked into the headline. My first thought was, “How sad.” My second thought was, “What’s his PR team doing about this?”

With a client roster comprised of highly reputable, forward-thinking companies, I don’t often get to dabble in crisis PR, but this made me think about how I’d handle this situation.

Call me crazy, but under these circumstances, I think honesty and candor is the best policy. When celebrities like Tiger Woods and Jesse James go mum or offer vague statements and apologies (like James did) stating that the “vast majority” of the allegations are untrue, it drags out the process – and the criticism. We don’t need all the juicy details, but a direct response and an interview here and there might quell the speculation. Being elusive and running off to rehab only makes matters worse and gives the public – and the media – more time to hypothesize. When did rehab become the new crisis PR, anyway?

Take, for instance, the Tiger Woods situation. That saga continued for months until he finally surfaced and made public statements on Feb. 19. The news that followed was that Woods had hired former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, that he was returning to golf and, later, that he and Fleischer had parted ways. Chapter over. Situation status quo. If he’s lucky, the next bit of news will likely be about his fifth win at the Masters.

Time may have been a factor in helping Woods smooth things over with the court of public opinion, but I believe that coming out of hiding and showing his face was the best thing he’s done yet. If I were Jesse James’ publicist or PR rep, I’d suggest doing the same, but sooner rather than later.

So now I turn to you, fellow PR pros and colleagues, what would be your advice to someone in those shoes? Let’s discuss …