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Lessons From (Recent) History
Can we learn something from Iraqi
Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf? Lovingly
known as Baghdad Bob or Comical Ali, al-Sahaf is perhaps
the best known PR guy in history! That's the first
lesson, don't let yourself become bigger than the story.
M.S.S. appeared in interviews on Al-Arabiya and
Abu Dhabi TV on June 26, 2003. He claims to have given himself
up to U.S. troops, who then released him (something the U.S.
government never confirmed). He is not on the list of
wanted Iraqi officials, perhaps because President Bush is
said to be a very big fan and said of him, "He was
great."
If nothing else, M.S.S. always stayed on
message, with statements like "I triple guarantee
you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad," and
"they are
nowhere near the airport ..they are lost in the desert...they
can not read a compass...they are retarded." These
statements were made as we were all watching video of
coalition troops in Baghdad and at the airport.
Who do you think M.S.S. was talking to
when he made those statements? Was he trying to convince
those of us in the West that what we were seeing on our
televisions was false? That's doubtful (though I'd love
to be able to ask him!). More likely, he was doing his
job by speaking to HIS audience - not
the audience of the various media outlets gathered around
him. His audience was the Iraqi people, the Republican
Guard, other Iraqi troops and the Iraqi freedom fighters.
He was a reporter's dream - he was personable and quotable - not to mention
entertaining in a tragic sort of way.
Which is more interesting to reporters and
readers? You talking about "synergistic
opportunities" or your opponents saying "This
merger will be the death of the industry and doom us all,"
- or something like "We
have destroyed 2 tanks, fighter planes, 2 helicopters and
their shovels - We have driven them back."
M.S.S.
stayed on message, spoke to his audience in a language
they would accept, was quotable and he was interesting to
watch.
Another lesson, and the most important
one, be truthful. I like to say it like this, "Tell
the truth, but tell your story." The truth will be
known. If you are found to be lying, you will have no
credibility and without credibility, you are lost.
Famous, maybe, but lost - perhaps even in the desert.
For more on
Comical Ali, try one of the favorite pages on the
Internet, dedicated to
M.S.S.
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