Let me say right from the start that this is not going to be a comprehensive analysis of the topic described in the headline. I think the headline presents a great premise for an article, but really I don't have the stomach for it. Maybe further down the road.
I waded into this subject after reviewing the first part of PRovoke's story, "Crisis Review: The Top 20 Crises Of 2020," which selected election fraud claims to top its list. Dominion Voting Systems somehow wound up on the radar of absolutely crazy theories about how the 2020 vote could have been changed or otherwise manipulated.
I'm sure the public relations and crisis counselors working with and for Dominion were sickened by what they witnessed, and I 100 percent support their legal efforts to extract whatever pounds of flesh they can from those who knowingly spread lies and disinformation about their company and the actions of personnel.
It should be fairly simple to prove that Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and others caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to Dominion's reputation. I've never seen a situation in which people felt it was okay to simply make stuff up about a company and make declarations they have no reliable evidence to make.
Put yourself in the shoes of Dominion spokesperson Michael Steel as he does an amazing job of keeping a straight face as he answers an absolutely absurd series of questions from Fox News' Eric Shawn on November 22, 2020. How would you handle an interview in which the host -- prompted by the allegations of some of the most powerful people on the planet -- asked you about things that you know are impossible?
Here are the questions:
- Did Dominion machines change any votes?
- How do you know that couldn't have happened?
- What do you have to say to people who don't believe you?
- The President says you are a radical left company, is that true?
- Are you foreign-funded?
- Why didn't Texas certify your machines?
- Explain how your system works.
- Can a poll worker change the code to change the vote?
- (In the counties where Trump won in Pennsylvania) could the ballots have been scewed by the Democratic forces to throw the election to President Trump?
- Can a poll worker take a thumb drive, stick it in a machine and fill it up with thousands of votes for Joe Biden?
- Are the machines designed with an algorythm that gives more votes to Joe Biden?
- Did Dominion bribe the Georgia Governor or Secretary of State to throw the election to Joe Biden?
As I watch that video, I am terrified by the fact that one of the most watched "news" providers in the U.S. is asking nutty questions like these. As a former journalist, I believe it is irresponsible for Shawn to echo accusations he knows are baseless. Sure, he was providing Dominion a platform to clarify the facts, but that series of questions just amplified the disinformation and gave them credibility because they came out of his mouth. In PR, we call that an implied endorsement.
As a person who helps organizations prepare for media interviews, I encourage being creative when anticipating questions. We teach a process for brainstorming likely questions, then double back and brainstorm less than likely questions. In this current environment, organization spokespersons need to understand that any question can come at them, no matter how baseless or outrageous.
Your challenge is to not be provoked into an emotional response. Beyond that, you can't laugh off crazy accusations either because doing so could come off as dismissive and arrogant. You need to calmly and precisely state the facts and direct the audience to objective third party validation that they can review on their own. Perhaps most importantly, you have to be at peace with the idea that nothing you say will change minds. It is an accumulation of information, in concert with legal strategies that silence the sources of inaccurate information, that will win over time.
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Photo credit: Elvert Barnes