Perhaps you spent weeks planting the seed of a story idea with your local media.
Your work probably involved multiple phone calls/texts/emails, the compilation of information, buy-in from utility executives and/or anyone else who would be interviewed, as well as a lot of other legwork.
When the big day arrived, the TV crew (or print or radio reporters) seemed thorough and professional. Your interview subjects were engaging and informative. Even the weather was bright and sunny. You got your message out.
And then you saw/read/heard the story – and were somewhere between disappointed and angry.
Maybe the story focused on the wrong thing. Perhaps it wasn’t the glowingly positive coverage you expected. It’s possible it was buried somewhere in the newspaper or was just a brief voiceover TV news segment. And maybe important facts and details were wrong.
What can and should you do?
Your first instinct is going to be to call the media outlet and complain. That’s a natural thought process, but take a deep breath instead.
Take some time to examine the story a little more closely.
Consider the story from the perspective of the media outlet. They are not out to provide unvarnished public relations for you. They are looking to provide information that their audience will find interesting and useful.
If the media outlet accomplished that and accurately represented your utility, you don’t have a leg to stand on, no matter how disappointing it might be.
You’re in the same boat if the story didn’t come across as positively as expected. Again, what’s a big deal to you may not be to the media and its audience.
As for story length and placement, there’s never any guarantee of anything. Available time/space always varies and can’t be controlled. Nor can the other news of the day. There are plenty of times when a large story is planned, only for something more important to come along.
For example, I work at a weekly newspaper. The paper is mostly put together on Tuesday, and our allotted space for news is determined the day before. But there are plenty of times when a last-minute advertisement comes in, forcing us to juggle stories. Sometimes, stories have to be held. Other times, what was an 800-word story in a prominent place in the paper becomes a 500-word story in a not-so-prominent place.
Now let’s talk about what you should do if something is factually incorrect with the story.
Remember that if a story includes someone who disagrees with the utility’s point of view, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re wrong.
Let’s say you’re promoting a program that will increase the amount of green energy that your utility produces and distributes. If an environmental activist argues that the program is only lip service and doesn’t address the problem, which may not be wrong (it may not be fully right either, but they can certainly make the argument).
In those sorts of cases, you’re not likely to get anywhere with the media, whose job is to present balanced news coverage. Face it, not everyone is going to like everything you do.
Now if that activist falsely says the CEO is lining his/her pockets thanks to the new green energy initiative (and you can prove it), then you have grounds for a complaint.
There are other instances when it’s not worth complaining – usually centering around minor factual errors that don’t distort the gist of the story. If a story mentions that the CEO assumed his/her post in 2011, but it was actually in 2010, who cares?
There’s no practical way for TV news to correct that kind of error. For a newspaper article, you could always ask the outlet to correct the mistake in the online version, but you shouldn’t make a big deal about it.
If there is an error that you insist must be corrected, start by contacting the reporter. More likely than not, if you can prove the error, they will be happy to make the change.
If you encounter resistance with a TV piece, don’t bother with the news anchors – they usually only read material placed in front of them. Instead, try the station’s news director, who likely serves as a quality control monitor.
News directors are under a lot of pressure (and hear tons of complaints), so avoid being angry and pushy. Explain why you think the story is in error, provide the details that show the mistake, and ask for a correction.
For newspaper errors, contact the news editor, or perhaps the business editor, depending upon where the story ran.
Most likely, some kind of correction will air/appear in print (or the error will be corrected in the online version).
If you fail to get satisfaction, you can always escalate to the managing editor (print) or station manager (TV or radio), but those should only be for the most damaging mistakes.
And there’s always the possibility of filing a lawsuit in extreme cases, but that requires time and money -- and you may not win.