Local entrepreneur, Leonard Lin has been making waves with his very popular game, BattleStations and has even been interviewed twice by us. Recently, he suffered a possible case of media coverage gone wrong.
Leonard was featured in a My Paper article (13th March 2009) that according to him, painted “a very negative” picture that he disputes.
Leonard’s comments on the article was sent in an email to MyPaper and also made its rounds on Facebook (you have to be logged in to view the note, otherwise, it’s appended at the end of this article) and has gotten many sympathetic responses. Suppose you are the entrepreneur involved, and you feel that your words were twisted to sensationalize the article, how would you feel?
Case Study
We are here today not to conclude Leonard’s case but will use this example as a case study for all entrepreneurs who at once hope to get (print) media coverage but are fearful of the ‘final result’. This ‘final result’ is the finished, published article (potentially read by the thousands) and how it makes the entrepreneur and the business look. There are ultimately only two ‘looks’ the entrepreneur can be given: good or bad. And these adjectives are only entered into force when the entrepreneur in question assesses the article him/herself. Basically, it doesn’t matter whether you think the entrepreneur looks good or bad; what matters is whether the entrepreneur thinks the article made him or her look good or bad to readers.
What The Entrepreneur Did
Obviously, in this case, Leonard thinks the article misrepresented him and tried to make a stand against the article. Disregarding the potential success or failure of his campaign, Leonard’s note does two important things that forward his cause:
Personal Voice vs Impassive Journalistic Input
It is personally written, and it helps that he posted his comments from his personal Facebook account, giving a more individual human voice to it. As opposed to the professionally written journalistic input that necessitated a detached, impassive voice, Leonard’s informally-written note speaks directly to readers.
Leveraged On “Automatic” Supporters
By posting on Facebook, Leonard’s note would be broadcasted to his ‘friends’, both virtual and in real life. This pre-selected crowd of target readers would presumably already be on Leonard’s side. And if these people comment on his note, they would most probably be on his side. Strangers or other friends seeing the note for the first time might be influenced by the comments on the note, setting into motion a positive feedback loop.
What Can You Do?
You may have tried your best to demonstrate that awesome self of yours during the interview, but you still feel like the final article didn’t do you justice, give you enough due credit, simply misquoted you or worse, misquoted you and spun a good story out of it.
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