"I Do. Not. Have. An. Answer"

By Gnosis Arts Media Group, an NJ PR firm - http://gnosisarts.com/

In this episode of West Wing (Season 6, Episode 4, 2005) C.J. Cregg (played by Allison Janney) was just appointed as President Bartlet's new Chief of Staff, thereby vacating the previous office of Press Secretary. Until a replacement for the Press Secretary can be found, she asks Toby Ziegler (played by Richard Schiff) to fill in for her. Though Toby is the White House Communications Director, he is not used to confronting an adversarial press, and he quickly bumbles into poorly chosen statements.

Dealing with skilled reporters and journalists is not a job for the unprepared. The lesson to be gained from this clip is pretty obvious: Don't make statements to the press, on the record, for which you aren't prepared.

This is a lesson we try to impress upon our clients. Sometimes, clients want to rush in and talk to the media about their business, without being properly prepped. Though it doesn't usually lead to the kind of rhetorical blunders that Toby makes here, winging it unprepared is usually a bad idea. Journalists and media pros have a way of asking you questions for which you are unprepared and eliciting responses which you do not intend.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• dealing with the media

[mistalizad]

Best slide ever.

[ukanian]

Impressive distance...

[maggietolliver]

LOVE Josh's happy face and run! LMAO!

[SuperJackmehoffer]

Toby is even better than Josh in the Press Room!

[Heligoland43]

God I wish they let the Tobys of the world do press briefings in real life.

[Z7TomC7Z]

Love this scene

[AttackoftheLuls]

@ukanian I just gave you the top comment.