Maybe there’s a few other reasons but this explains a lot…
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The views expressed here are my own and in no way reflect the opinions or position of my employer, or any of my clients. - Jackson Wightman
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Is this guy for real or is this a skit??? I can’t believe anyone could be that annoying. Wait. Okay, there are people THAT annoying but doing it on camera?
Both are trying to do their jobs and both are being idiots. The problem is that each is single-mindedly trying to do his job with no concern, sensitivity or respect for the other. So many conflicts could be short-circuited by simply being able to get out of ourselves, trying to understand the other guy’s point of view, and being willing to compromise.
Reporter = douchebag. As per usual.
I think the news guy was correct in asking him politely to not touch him; he was the one who started it – “Mark” and should apologize to all for his unprofessional behaviour.
What a strange interaction. I’ve been in similar situations as the PR flack, trying to protect my bosses, and I think Marc has done an admirable job of keeping the reporter’s focus on him rather than his boss. But, it ended up looking ridiculous on camera. Very obvious he was doing it on purpose, and at one point he almost seems to chest-bumping the reporter, he was so close to him. I do commend him for staying calm and composed whereas the reporter kept raising his voice.
I wonder if Marc and the reporter have a history — maybe what we’re not seeing is how the two of them have bad blood in the past.
what a pompous jerkwad reporter — another reason to bemoan the idiots working for local TV everywhere. An ego and a half. He was tall and had nice hair, though. The comms director actually had an effective strategy for keeping him away from the executive.
Weird, but the pompus reporter started the problem by ambushing that woman. Kudos to Mark, Mike (whatever his name was!) for being persistant and taking control of the situation! Hope the News Director is watching and apologizes to the hospital. I’m sure they won’t be welcome for quite some time!
I honestly can’t believe people here are defending Mark??? He was an idiot, and I had to watch this twice to make sure it wasn’t intentionally filmed as a humorous skit! STOP TOUCHING THE GUY for heaven’s sake. That’s all he asked of you – very simple and respectful request. And that’s solely what escalated the situation. Mark does not deserve ‘kudos’ for disrespecting someone’s – anyone’s – personal space. If Mark wants the reporter to talk to him, then he should have told him that he had information to share, would field his questions, etc. That patronizing patting and touching was insulting. And if the reporter refuses to talk to Mark and only wants to speak to the director, and the director won’t talk to him, then politely ask him to leave. It’s a “town hall meeting” – if the director is presenting, yet not prepared for questions, then Mark wasn’t doing his job in preparing her either. On both counts, Mark Fails.
Whether or not Mark was justified in his actions, and regardless if the reporter was being rude and obtrusive, I think a video like this only reflects poorly on PR professionals and feeds the “flack” stereotype. A regular person watching this probably would interpret the exchange as an attempt by a swarmy PR guy to prevent the crusading reporter from delivering the news to the people.
Maybe PR folks and reporters should adopt a no-contact policy like they do in prison–NO TOUCHING!
Both of these men were just trying to do their job, however, I do believe the reporter was being a complete ass. If he were in my hospital I would have made him leave. I don’t believe any press is worth having to deal with this type of person.
Thanks to all for commenting. Forgive my delay in responding, it was St Jean Baptiste Day in Quebec yesterday (the province’s national holiday) and I was off the grid, which was nice.
Pleased to see that this elicited so much reaction.
Please stop by again. I am grateful you did
Stephanie, I’m with you. I can’t believe anyone is blaming the reporter in this situation. The reporter asked the PR guy not to touch him. The whole issue should end there. Instead the PR guy starts acting in a more and more bizarre and intrusive fashion, continually touching the reporter and completely invading his personal space in the most creepy, disturbing way possible. If someone tells you to stop touching them, then YOU STOP TOUCHING THEM — you don’t deliberately start touching them more. Also, I suspect everyone sympathizing with the PR guy would feel differently about it if the reporter was a woman. At least I HOPE that if the reporter was female people would firmly put Mark in the “creep” category… and if you would, that means he’s a creep period. In any event, the PR guy brought his hospital far more negative publicity than I think the reporter ever could have.
I am, for the record, with you Leslie. But it is always great to see reactions…and I do believe that reporter is a complete jackass. Thanks for stopping by the blog. Have a great weekend
The reporter asked the Mark guy to stop touching him; Mark ignored that request and repeated follow-up requests and continued to touch him. Mark then got into the reporter’s space, getting so close it was almost a chest bump. In most states in the US, that would be misdemeanor assault. Mark then attempted to knock down the camera that was filming the incident: at that point, depending on the state, the charge could have gone from misdemeanor to felonious assault. At the minimum, his attempt to knock down the camera would be criminal intimidation.
Was the reporter an idiot? Absolutely! But even with that, there is NO REASON to ever touch a reporter or attempt to knock down their equipment. As PR professionals we always deal with reporters who are stupid; if we are true professionals, we should be able to act like a professional and handle it better than Mark.