173: How Jeff Zucker's Resignation from CNN Signals a Shift in Crisis Communications

Well, this was certainly a bombshell from last week. There was a big shakeup in the world of cable news today. CNN President Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned after acknowledging a consensual relationship with a co worker during the Chris Cuomo investigation. Zucker was asked about his own relationship with Gullis. Leadership and culture starts from the top. And if he's not following it, I don't know how they can expect any employee to. Welcome to the Indestructible PR podcast where we use current events and tested media and PR strategies to help you manage a crisis and build an indestructible reputation. The Jeff Zucker story was juicy. And as interesting as it was, well, is what does it have to do with communications in general? There is an interesting layer to this scandal that I think is relevant, a common thread that is happening more and more in these types of crises. So if you are a communicator who handles the social media, the digital engagement, or has eyes and ears on conversations and consumer engagement, you may already know about this shift. So in this episode of I'm going to share what I think signals that huge shift in issues management and crisis communications. Like many of you, I followed this Jeff Zucker story all week. It was fascinating. But the truth is I've been following it for a while because the two players in the story. I remember when Jeff Zucker was NBC, he was there during the nine, 11 days, he was there later. And I've kind of followed his career around. He's just someone who I'm familiar. But I was also familiar with the girlfriend in the story, Allison Gullis, because she is a name. She worked in communication. And I remember when she was first hired at NBC because an announcement goes out and back in the day there was a blog called TV Newser started by someone who's I'm going to mention in the podcast a little bit later on. But I always read that blog and her name was always sprinkled in it. And one of the things I noticed about her name is how often it was attached to a release about her getting a new job. So she was someone that I noted kept ascending up the broad cast ladder and I never knew why. Well, now we know. And it's not a surprise. I mean, geez, what happened at CNN Television News, Please, I mean, really, all industries, I mean, there's always going on behind the scenes, you know, relationships. I mean, this is NBC, after all, the home of Matt Lauer and everything that happened to him. Katie Couric dipped into this story as well with her snarky book going there. Well, she went there and she discussed Jeff Zucker and his very, very close colleague. So the announcement, though, was still surprising because CNN President Jeff Zuckerberg said he was going to be resigning after it was revealed that he failed to disclose this consensual relationship with a longtime colleague, which everyone apparently knew about. It was a very open secret. Jeff Zucker's resignation came two months after he fired Chris Cuomo. And Chris Cuomo, as you all know if you listen to this podcast, was fired after advising his brother, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, how to handle sexual conduct violations. It gets a little messy, but take a listen to this. This is a domino effect that begins with Andrew Cuomo going down the governor's office and then Chris Cuomo being fired from CNN and then Jeff Zucker losing his job at cnn. Brian Stetler, he's the chief media correspondent at cnn. He's wrapped up in all of it, but he did a very good job explaining how it's all connected together. Brian Stetler, he is the one who created the TV Newser blog, which catapulted him first times and now to cnn. And Zucker's statement said as much. Here is it in its entirety. As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo's tenure at cnn, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I worked with for more than 20 years. And Zucker had said this in a memo to staffers that was sent out last week. On Wednesday, he said he acknowledged the relationship, that it had evolved in recent years. He was required to disclose it when it began, but he didn't. And he said I was wrong. There has been a lot of commentary in the press that this was the most unkept secret in the media business. And I should have pulled this quote out. But the funniest quote I read, and I'm paraphrasing here, and they said, coming as no surprise, next to the Pope being Catholic, Jeff Zucker was having a relationship with this woman. But off to the side, Jake Tapper, he's on cnn, used to be on abc. He was the one throwing into the mix that perhaps Zucker's being thrown under the bus because of what's happening in the merger talks with CNN Discovery at and T. So it's getting very, very messy. I'm going to stay away from the mess. You can read so many different articles about that. I want to connect back to why I think this matters to you. As I mentioned in the beginning, if you're someone who works in communication. And you have a sense of that customer experience, of people giving you having insight to the feedback, of people giving you their thoughts on your business and their relationship with you and that business. There's a trend here, a shift that I'm noticing because I've noticed this in my work the past couple years. But it seems like now all of a sudden, 21 into 22, it's spilling out into just the common area, if you will, of all these crises. There is this thread. Now, the thread in the Zucker story certainly is. This is not just a story about a guy having an affair. It's a lot more complicated than that. But the point of the story that intrigued me the most is why it happened. If this was the worst kept secret in broadcast that Jeff Zucker was having an affair with his colleague, the head of corporate communications for cnn, why did he get fired for it all of a sudden? Well, there was the policy that CNN requires staff to disclose when they have relationships. So he did not follow the policy by informing his bosses that he was in this relationship. But nowadays, you can look at any crisis that's happening out there. It's never just one crisis. There is never one crisis just sitting on an island all by itself that everyone is sitting around and looking at that. There's a moat covering and surrounding that one crisis. There is always a drawbridge to another crisis and another crisis. So if you are in the business of planning for a crisis or issues management, or if you're hiring someone to do it, if you're part of it, if you're a leader, always know this. In this day and age, there's always another crisis. It's never just one. So my indestructible PR tip from this entire crisis that happened at CNN and how it relates to you is the way one characteristic that almost guarantees a crisis, it may be a minor one, but it is the definition of a crisis. And that is that it's important to note that there's usually a sense of betrayal. It's never simply a case of extreme dissatisfaction that someone is angry about something or someone wants to uncover something. Because unlike dissatisfaction, betrayal is associated with anger. And that strong negative emotion is what motivates people to respond strongly. Whether you're a customer, a customer who decides to complain on social media, a customer who decides to create a a Facebook group against your organization, or if you are an anchor on a primetime newshour and your brother's lost his job and now you've lost your job for helping that brother oh, that is betrayal. Fredo, brother Fredo, Chris Cuomo, he was betrayed. And if you know, you know that they called him Fredo. Remember the big dust up with Chris Cuomo being Fredo. And in the end, he was the brother that was killed, and he was killed. But Chris Cuomo, which Jake Tapper had said is he's trying to kill us all. He's trying to bring us all down. And he may have succeeded. So that is the big takeaway, the indestructible tip. Look for the feelings of betrayal. Those are the things that lead customers or even internal stakeholders, your employees, to want demands. They want demands for reparation. And if that fails, they need to engage in vengeful behaviors, whether it's online public complaining or going to a lawyer and saying, hey, if you're going to get me for this, what about this guy? There is always collateral damage. That's all for this week on the podcast. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you again next week. Bye for now.