By Allan Bonner
One night recently, some of the Shaw Festival actors stayed after the show and took questions from the audience. One person asked about rehearsal time. The actor said the rule of thumb is one hour of rehearsal for every minute on stage. They take even more time to master foreign accents and songs, depending on the play or musical. That's a minimum of three weeks rehearsal!
I am trying to imagine any politician working for a full day on an eight minutes speech. But, if a politician is not willing to rehearse performances fully, s/he should get into another business. No exceptions.
Rehearsal starts with research into the issues, full performances out loud in front of staff, and video taping of actual events for later analysis. If you think video taping every media interview, debate, speech and committee appearance is over the top, consider that there are few if any boxers, football players or other athletes who don't use game tapes. If the average pug has the sense to watch tapes, politicians need to exhibit twice the brains in their professions.
I've heard from someone who should know that The Great Communicator, Ronald Regan, took media training in his last two weeks in The White House. This was after countless rehearsal and training sessions during two successful terms.
Pierre Salinger, John F. Kennedy's press secretary tells the story of preparing the President for live, televised news conferences. They'd have a meal and Salinger would as the questions he thought the reporters would ask. Kennedy would provide a full response to tricky questions.
I know politicians today are almost constantly beside themselves over the media. Political staffers pour over clipping files, rehearse the boss, issue press releases and stage events. One false step and the boss is toast and the staffer's looking for work at an agency.
I'm not sure it's all that hard to stay safe in front of the media. I often think of the toughest media spokesperson jobs in the world—The White House, The State Department and The Pentagon. You don't often hear of those spokespeople getting fired for saying imprudent or incorrect things.
It's no secret how these spokespeople stay safe. It's called “work.” The Brookings Institution has documented how researchers begin their days early seeing what stories are in the newspapers and which are developing on morning radio and TV newscasts. The researchers start framing positions on the issues of the day. The researchers for The White House, State and The Pentagon compare notes to make sure they'll all be on the same page. The spokespeople rehearse, and then it's show time!
The State Department's noon news briefing is not at noon, it's not news and it's not brief. It's held after 1:00 and there are a couple of rules that would give politicians a fright. First, there is absolutely no time limit. The event ends when a reporter shouts “Thank you.” The politician who relies on a staffer to end the news conference or say there's only time for one more question might panic at this rule.
Second, the spokesperson is not allowed to raise a topic or make any statement, only respond to questions. Imagine a politician missing an opportunity to try setting the tone for a committee appearance or press briefing?
Third, the spokesperson, by convention, does not read any text. Imagine the politician without the crutch of a carefully crafted, polished and re-written text?
I've seen this first hand. It's a sight to see. Some years ago I was a guest at The State Department. Nick Burns, later Ambassador Burns, was the official spokesperson. Mr. Burns, like so many diplomats is a real class act. He greeted me in the hall warmly, as if meeting me were a big event in his life. He even apologized for interrupting our conversation so he could go do the briefing.
The room is smaller than it looks on TV. But the world's press is there and the networks can put the feed live on air anytime they want. I sat in the back near the CNN camera, ready to watch the show. Mr. Burns' first order of business was to introduce me to the world's press! I couldn't believe I was hearing him from that famous podium with “The State Department” logo behind him say, “Allan Bonner is a media consultant who is here studying government-press relations and I hope you will welcome him.” Two or three reporters looked around the room with that marvelous disdainful look reporters get when nobody important is introduced.
Then Mr. Burns got down to work. He began fielding questions, one after another. There were occasional follow ups, as reporters tried to trap him into an imprudent response. He didn't bite. He regularly and professionally indicated he'd been clear before, offered all the facts available and had nothing to add.
Very occasionally he'd look at a thin, three-ring binder of notes he'd brought into the room. He'd flip a tab and indicate he had a statistic, the spelling of a foreign name or a fact to cite. But, other than that, the whole show featured eye contact, upright posture and no notes.
At the end, after being thanked by the press, Mr. Burns and I went down the hall to his office. He apologized that he couldn't spend more time with me, but I understood that he had a major role in running the free world, so I quite understood.
Nick Burns had a much tougher job as State Department spokesperson than most politicians do. His “beat” was the entire world. He, his predecessors and successors have to answer questions about human rights in South Africa, Rwanda, European Union, terrorism, China's economy and agriculture in Argentina. I notice I do not hear of these spokespeople getting into hot water for saying the wrong thing or not knowing their facts.
The lesson is clear. There's no substitute for hard work. Sure staffers, researchers and outside consultants can help out, but ultimately the individual politician has to take responsibility for what s/he says. Really reading documents provided, rehearsing out loud, taping speeches and committee hearings, playing back the tapes and making a commitment to continuous improvement is cost of success in politics.
Allan Bonner has coached 8 heads of government and
several dozen cabinet level politicians. He is the
author of several books on communication and
can be reached at Click here to contact this Author.
