What do you do if you are misquoted by someone in the news media? I get this question a lot. First question I have back to my client is are you sure you were misquoted? Are you sure you didn't say it? Typically, we kind of go around in circles. And then they say, well, TJ Yeah, but I said it but I was quoted out of context.
What they really mean is I was quoted I was calling accurately I don't like my quote makes me look stupid. I want to blame somebody. I don't want to blame myself. I'll blame Mr. biz reporter and the problem, of course, is not the reporter. The problem is, you set it it's not the reporter shot to make you look good. It is your job to make you look good, the reporters job to put forth the most interesting story.
So if you say something for two hours about how great your company is, and for five seconds you say, you know, considering the more on ones who were here before us. That's the only quote that's going to get in because it's so negative and emotional and harsh and attacking, not the reporters fault for putting that in. So you got to be very careful about this allegation that reporters misquoted you. Now reporters are human beings. They can make mistakes I've been misquoted before. It wasn't anything damaging or horrible.
I just I knew it was a misquote because it was using a word I didn't know the meaning of so I didn't say it because I don't use words if I don't know their meaning. But the vast majority of the time when people complain about being misquoted, it's simply because they don't like the quote. The biggest way to protect yourself from this is to go into every single interview with not just good messages, but great quotes, great sound bites most people, especially people who don't like Their interviews just went in answering questions they didn't have a clear thought as to what exactly their best messages and their best sound bites were so they were totally reactive. Big, big problem. So that's the number one way to prevent misquote now. Let's say it is a misquote and quotations on, you know, 100% You didn't say it.
And you may even have a recording of it, you recorded audio or video or it was all on TV. My advice is don't wait. Don't get upset. Post a comment. I mean, these days every media outlet typically has a comment section where you can comment and set the record straight let people know right away and say, actually, what I said was and then state what you said rather than restating the entire negatives now, the media outlet doesn't have that I would send an email to the reporter Enter the editor right away so that you can correct the issue right away.