Recently I loaned some Airboards to a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, who told me she was doing a piece on adult sleds and of course wanted to include the Airboard.
We spoke quite a few times, as she had a lot of questions.
Then the article came out, and – well, just read my response to it on FaceLevel.com.
What I learned, though, is that I need to ALWAYS ASK THE POINT OF THE STORY BEFOREHAND. Few reporters will tell you the "slant" it’s going to have, and often that’s because their editors will give it the slant. I worked in the TV news realm for a while during college – I know how biased major media is (I don’t call it "mass" media because quite often ordinary people now have a wider audience, thanks to the internet).
But some gentle prodding and innocent enough questioning might at least prevent a waste of time for an article that is far more negative towards my industry (and products I sell) than positive. Granted, as I mentioned in the Face Level blurb, the target demographic will love that, because the article portrayed the Airboard as awesome but highly dangerous. I get it – I see the positive that can come from that.
I just feel like a sucker for helping her out and then winding up with an article that’s totally opposite what I was expecting.
Good lesson. Don’t hate the media – just be wary, and get as much info as possible before giving them anything in return.
Not that they can’t lie…but at least if they DO lie, it’s more justification for revenge. ;-)
(PS – yes, I really hate liars. Totally unrelated to this post, but just thought I’d mention that. Don’t ever lie to me. That’s all. =) )