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Got the I've Been Misquoted in Business Week Blues

I've been misquoted in Business Week. That is, to say the least, very distressing, especially given Business Week's circulation.

And now, like Mark Cuban and Fred Wilson before me, I'd like to set the record straight.

I've disagreed with bloggers who want to see the entire content of interviews published by mainstream media so that their bias will be obvious. But now I wish I had followed Mark Cuban's lead and insisted that the interviews I did with Stephen Baker be done in emails. Wilson will only respond to reporters through his blog. I'm not fantastically wealthy like Wilson and Cuban, nor powerful. But I do intend to be heard.

I Tell Clients Who Blog to Be Honest
Quoting me saying that Purdue should "create a scandal" with his blog was entirely out of context and absolutely not true.

What I actually said to Baker: I told Paul that a prominent blogger jokingly told me that the best way to build a blog audience quickly was to "pick a fight with someone." I did not use the word scandal.

A scandal is what Paul created, not what I advised!

I Coach Clients on Blogging, I Don't Dictate to Them
I coach my clients on how to blog, but I don't dictate to them. My advice to Paul Purdue was that he needed to blog truthfully, openly and honestly about the issues he faced in building his business. If I'd known of the business issues he was hiding, I still would have given him the same advice.

I told Paul not to be afraid to be honest and say that he disagrees strongly with another blogger, journalist, or reader. Like many mainstream journalists, numerous bloggers have made their reputations by being controversial.

One more thing: I did strongly advise that Paul post three times a week on his blog, but I certainly *never* screamed at him. By definition blogs are frequently updated with fresh content. I told Paul, and I tell all of my clients who blog, that if they are not prepared to blog regularly, don't blog.

I'm am considering requesting that reporters who want to interview me -- and I am very open to being interviewed -- do it via email, or let me tape the interviews. I haven't made a final decision and am open to opinions about how to handle media interviews.

Related: Misquoted in the Press, Fred Wilson Proposes a Dangerous Alternative: The Stealth Interview

Categories: Blogging and Moblogging, Business Communications, Commentary, Corporate_Blogging, Cross Media, Dead Tree Journalism, Digital Journalism, Interviews, News

BL Ochman | Aug 4 05 12:40 | TrackBack (4)

Comments

If you know the right people, you might be able to get a retraction printed. That way there will be a record of the correction, and the online version of the article may be changed.

Posted by: Adam Saunders at August 4, 2005 2:09 PM

You may recall the same Stephan Baker is singled out in Naked Conversations for shoddy reporting on the Nokia phone seeding program. When I locked horns with him for pointing out his abundant inaccuracies, his defense was that when he blogged, he didn't need to check facts the way he does when he writes. Apparently he is more consistently inaccurate than he would have us believe. Sorry. I'm sure Baker will suggest you write a letter to the editor.

Posted by: shel Israel at August 4, 2005 2:21 PM

Check this out -- there is no way to send a Letter to the Editor through the Business Week site or through the blog.

And the comment I wrote on their blog three hours ago has not been published.

How dead tree media of them!
BL

Posted by: BL Ochman at August 4, 2005 2:34 PM

Adam: Want to give me a hint? Who would the right people be? I would LOVE to have that information on my blog.
BL

Posted by: BL Ochman at August 4, 2005 2:35 PM

I'll have to do some research and get back to you with a name, title, and contact info. Of course, the trick is to actually know "The Editor," and hopefully have them owe you a favor.

The Business Week staff was fairly helpful in getting me advanced copies of an issue once. I would just call the main office and ask some friendly probing questions until I got to the right person.

Sorry, I don't have any of the information in front of me right now. I'll see what I can dig up tonight.

Posted by: Adam Saunders at August 4, 2005 3:47 PM

This is going to sound rather mundane, but it's certainly true from my experience on both sides of the notebook:

-- Some reporters take shoddy notes. It's nothing intentional, usually -- they just don't write/type very fast. They figure they'll be able to remember what you said by writing down every third word. Sometimes it works out for 'em; sometimes it doesn't.
-- These reporters invariably hate using tape recorders. It's no fun to go back and listen to the recording and then transcribe it.
-- The best protection against a misquote is to tape record the conversation yourself, and to tell the reporter you're taping it. The note-taking generally becomes a little more diligent at that point. The reporter becomes MUCH more likely to ask you to repeat one of your answers, rather than simply using the every-third-word technique.
-- The best revenge is to do exactly what you're doing; blogging gives you a much better forum than a tiny correction box that no one will ever see.
-- Don't restrict your interviews to e-mail. It almost always comes off as too packaged. As a Dallas Mavericks season ticket holder who reads Mavs news religiously, I can tell you that Mark Cuban's interviews have suffered as a result of his reliance on e-mail.
-- Everyone gets misquoted. Personally, I think the positives of the Business Week interview still outweigh the negatives for you. Just one guy's opinion.

Posted by: Scott Baradell at August 4, 2005 11:02 PM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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