Develop your Career Potential

Dealing with the Press In this age of 24-hour cable news channels, tabloid news shows, and aggressive local and national news reporters intent on exposing corporate wrongdoing, one of the most important skills for a manager to learn is how to deal effectively with the press.

Test your ability to deal effectively with the press by putting yourself in the following situations. To make the situation more realistic, read the scenario and then give yourself 2 minutes to write a response to each question. Rats Take Over Manhattan Taco Bell The release of Internet footage showed large rats running across the fl oors, over tables, and climbing onto countertops of a Manhattan Taco Bell.

What is most surprising is that the day before the television crew fi lmed the rats through the restaurant window, New York City health inspectors had given the restaurant a passing grade! The broadcast prompted parent company Yum! Brands to temporarily close that and several other Taco Bell stores owned by franchisee ADF Companies. Based in New Jersey, ADF owns over 350 fast-food franchises in several states.

A TV reporter from Channel 5 has arrived with his camera crew at the Taco Bell you manage in Brooklyn. It's lunchtime, the restaurant is bustling, and the reporter walks right in with his crew and puts you on the spot, asking you if you would grant a short interview and let him ask questions of a few of your patrons. When you agree, he starts right in with these questions:

1. "Yesterday's filming of rats at an ADF-owned Taco Bell has caused consumers to question the cleanliness of the restaurants where they eat. This restaurant is also owned by ADF Companies. Do you also have problems with rodents?"

2. "Recent outbreaks of E. coli at other Taco Bells in the Northeast were finally attributed to contaminated lettuce, so Taco Bell changed suppliers." [To the cameraman:] "Get the camera in close here [camera zooms into the kitchen area, the slop sink, and the hand washing station] because I want our viewers to see the kitchen." [Back to you:] "How can consumers be sure that contamination occurred at the produce supplier and not inside filthy restaurants?"

3. "The health inspectors gave a passing grade to the rat-infested Taco Bell just a day before television crews filmed the rats running all over the restaurant. That doesn't instill our viewers with great confidence in the system. Would you be willing to let our camera crews accompany the health inspector during a full inspection of your restaurant so that viewers can see what an inspection entails?"