What Was Said at the Mic: Press Conference Analysis After the Annunciation Catholic School Shooting

There are no words that can capture the horror and the evil of this unspeakable act. That was Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry. And this week's episode of the podcast, I just want to take a look at the events that happened in Minneapolis. This is going to be a different episode one because I have a co host joining me, longtime news anchor, investigative reporter Greg Floyd. Greg, thank you for joining me this week on the podcast.

Thank you for having me, Molly. I wish it was a happier podcast.

Yeah. This is not the best topic for you and I to jump in on a podcast together, but. But you're the one who alerted me to what had happened, and I didn't even know that this happened in Minneapolis. Longtime listeners know I'm from the Twin Cities. I've talked about things that have happened in the area, certainly in 2020 with the killing of George Floyd, and then more recently in June, the killing of State Representative Melissa Hortman, along with her husband, and the shooting of another State representative, John Hoffman. I think his name is in his wife, Yvette. So there's a lot of things happening in Minneapolis.

It's a lot for a community to bear when you really think about it.

It is. And this one rattles you because it's children. It's so much. This is a hard topic, but the reason I thought to do the podcast episode about this in particular is because I've been watching the news reports, I've been watching the press conferences. You've been reporting on it.

Watching and reporting. And it's tough. Even as you and I were going over the clips again here right now, we get emotional. There is so much emotion involved because it is children involved. I hear that one line about older children protecting younger children. Think about what played in that church.

Yeah. Okay. So even though this is a Minneapolis story, clearly this is a national story.

Yeah, this is a human story.

Oh, a human story. Oh, that's interesting how you say that. So we've watched these again, but you and I have not given each other's feedback on this at all. So let's look at it from an anchor point of view. And also, reporter, you put packages together, you been to press conferences, you know what to look for. And then I want to give my thoughts from a PR crisis management, media training perspective. And I don't think we're going to look at this in a highly critical way. Want to look at all the important elements that are critical just when a situation like this happens.

Yeah, I would agree. It's still raw. It really is.

So overall, There's Jacob Fry. He's standing there. You and I are looking at the press. So this is the morning that it happened. The visuals here. This is an audio podcast, but many people, I'm sure, saw the clips. If you didn't watch it on television, you watched it on social media. Greg, from an optical point of view, like we're looking at the optics. You've been to press conferences before. You've had to put packages together from a press conference. What do you think? Looking at Jacob Fry right now, standing at one mic and what's happening behind?

I think he's still in a state of shock. He's still stunned. This is his community. He's acting in this news conference as an advocate for the families and for the children and for his community. And again, he's a Democrat. Doesn't matter in this case. He's also a human being. A couple of times he goes toward what could be the cause of this, but he quickly gets away from that, I notice, and just keeps going back to the children and the families in the community.

What was the line? What was really like the best soundbite, if you will, that got grabbed. Did you notice it when you were reporting on it?

I assume you're talking about thoughts and prayers, and these children were praying. And obviously, you know, that is a standard. That's the politics of it. Some people offer thoughts and prayers, and other people say, well, that's not enough. I think that's what he's trying to say there without getting too deep into the politics of it.

Don't just say, this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.

These are kids that should be learning.

With their friends as a news anchor, as a reporter. When you hear a statement or read a statement about thoughts and prayers, what does it mean to you?

It means they're trying to deflect from some of the causation.

Yeah. And he leveraged it into what I think is probably one of the best soundbites I have ever heard in a tragedy.

And he did it in a minimalist way. He didn't keep going back to it and pounding his fist about it. He said it once and he moved.

Back to the families, and once was enough. So the optics of this. So him standing there, no jacket, he's in. In front of law enforcement. So just looking at this photo. Tell me about the optics on this and what you see.

I don't want to get to the politics. I just bend over Backwards to not be political. But it does look like he's a hands on guy who's there and who's stunned by this because it's his city, it's his people.

Now, just from a media training aspect, let's say you're there. What do you think when the backdrop is just all police here and then you see the police trucks and everything, like where they set this up. And also one mic. There's no lecturing what happened to the days of all the mics here. Is this just one pool Mike?

Yeah, there's a moat box down there that all the mics are being plugged into. This shows the enormity of it. All those police vehicles and all these people who are there. You've got senators and the governor and actually he was at a different one. I think it just shows the enormity of it and the fact that they want to try to give the community some answers and some reassurances as quickly as they can.

Also, just from an optics point of view, he's not wearing a jacket, he's not wearing a tie. Just recently he's on the job. Exactly. And I recently gave that advice to a client who is speaking and that's exactly what we wanted to show. I said roll up the sleeves and take the jacket off because now you're getting down to business. Which really I think that's what he's doing. He's doing the job as a mayor and. And that's what mayors are there to do. They're there to respond and they're there to also offer information, but really is to take control.

Yes. And he's trying to show that. And again, he's trying to show he's the advocate for his city, for his families and he wants to make sure the right messages get out about the families.

And would you say you were watching this from a journalist point of view? How do you think he did?

I think it came across very well.

I want to move on to the next person. And this is Police Chief Brian O'. Hara. This took place in Minneapolis, but in St. Paul for years you would hear police chiefs, they all had the last name like o'. Hara. This is like such a throw.

Commissioner o'. Hara. Sure.

So he's standing here, same thing, at the same mic, which I do think it makes it less chaotic like that. You don't see those mike flags anymore from all the stations.

Right. Who's there? Who's not there? Yes.

You watch this from a chief point of view. From a police chief, how do you think he did very.

No nonsense, very straightforward. Trying to get out the facts he could. And being honest. He was honest. When asked a question, he either gave the answer, he said, I don't know the answer.

Yeah, I like that, when people can admit they don't know the answer.

Yeah. This is an evolving situation, a developing situation. And again, I mentioned the word raw before. It's all still so raw. He hasn't seen this before, I'm sure. Two dead children and more than a dozen others hurt. Sure, he's a tough guy, police chief, but he's human. And this has got to be hard for him standing right there.

Now, here's a question I have that took place here. This is when he repeats the question a lot.

How many kids have the bow.

How many children there were. I don't have an exact. The question was how many children at the school. Okay, so do you hear how he repeated the question? The first time that I listened to it, we could hear it because the question from the press, from the reporters are picked up on the mic so everyone can hear the question. Then he repeated the question. I know he wants to make sure that everyone hears, but is that necessary?

I think it is. I think he's a man who knows that he has a television audience, the entire cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the state of Minnesota and the nation. He realizes that repeating the question can also give you a chance to regather your thoughts, gives you a chance to repeat it. Now it's in your head again, and now you can give a good, coherent answer.

Yeah. So I mixed on it because on the one hand, because he had to repeat the question every time, I think it made it difficult from an editing point of view. They always had to edit that piece out. But you're absolutely right. It does allow you time to gather your thoughts. But saying it over again actually helps you come up with a good answer because you're already saying the first answer.

I think he's coming up consciously trying to help the television audience, not knowing, are they hearing the question. Well, his answer makes sense if you don't hear the question. So he's taking care of that, too. So he's accomplishing a couple of things with that.

I think so 100%. He was media trained?

Absolutely. Yep.

And he did a great job. Now, the next one was the principal. Now, on your newscast, did you ever watch the principal at all? Did you ever talk about the principal or use any of his quotes?

I was watching it live. And yes, we did, because again, I mentioned it before, when he said it was older children protecting younger children. That gives you such a visual in your head. There was a little boy, not obviously in the news conference, but who was. A soundbite of him was used over and over, who talked about how he dropped to the ground. And then his friend Victor covered him up.

I just ran onto the pew and then I covered my head. My friend Victor, like, saved me, though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit. He's really brave and I hope he's good in the hospital.

And again, that puts such a visual in your head. And I mentioned you before and I haven't done it yet. I want to find out who Victor was and what became of Victor. We know that all the other children survived, but who is Victor? I haven't seen a story about him yet, and I want to.

Yeah, that is an incredibly touching story. Now, speaking about the students and the kids, one other spokesperson who we've seen a lot in the Press, Matt DeBoer, he's a principal, Annunciation Catholic School. He went up again to the mic.

He we lost two angels today. And please continue to pray for those still receiving care. We can't change the past, but we can do something about the future. There's an African proverb that says, when you pray, move your feet. So I beg you, I ask you to please pray, but don't stop with your words. Let's make a difference and support this community, these children, these families, these teachers. Never again can we let this happen.

Also noticing so far, all the videos that we watch, no one had notes or note cards.

Yeah, you're right. Again, it just happened. And they're reacting in real time to.

A real tragedy and different from a lot of press conferences we see where there's a lectern where people will have notes, or in some cases, they might even bring out a teleprompter. Every person coming up was standing at one mic looking out at a sea of reporters and just chaos behind. And they're speaking so clearly and coherently and with just such compassion.

Yeah, you're right. I think many of them knew that they had to be. They were going to be a voice for the families and for the students and the calm and the way they were also gathered. And there may have been a briefing right before, too. The facts as they had them were probably fresh on their minds. But again, some people, like the principal deboer, were not just talking facts. They were talking feelings and emotions. And you don't need a note card for that.

Oh, that's good. You don't. You're absolutely right. You just mentioned though that they had a briefing beforehand. What do you think what happened before this press conference? First, from just the news point of view, the reporter point of view, how do people know to go to the press conference? How they know to show up? And which type of reporter are you sending to cover something like this?

You're acting quickly, you're sending your best reporter. And I bet each TV station who's there has several reporters there and they're all covering different angles. Some may only focus on the principle, some may only focus on the politics of it. Some are also going to just want to focus on the nuts and bolts. How many are deceased, how many are injured? What do we know about the shooter? There's one reporter who's just doing a nuts and bolts story. There's a reporter who's doing reaction story. Minnesota, they were on wall to wall for hours. They're doing a number of different angles to this story. So you need a number of reporters.

You just mentioned wall to wall. So I was watching some of the live coverage back east and you're watching in New York. I happen to be watching the feed from. I used to work the CBS affiliate, WCCO in Minneapolis. So this wall to wall talk about being a news anchor because you've had to anchor wall to wall, I assume, 9, 11, election night. What is it like to be an anchor having to cover a story like this from the studio?

There's lots of difficulties to it. You don't want to say anything wrong. I was watching WCCO also and I did hear them say a number of times, they made a real point of it saying we're not going to put stuff on television that we see on the Internet, we're going to put stuff on television. True. We are not in a race to be first, we're in a race to be right. Those are the exact words I heard their anchor say a number of times and I admire that. They also changed anchors a number of times. I had it on my desk all day long. So they had anchors coming in probably on different shifts. But that was a common theme I heard throughout the day. We are going to really try to give you the correct information, not what we just hear willy nilly. That could send you in the wrong direction and could end up being misinformation.

And that is so important nowadays because so much information comes from online, but also when a tragedy like this, it's in the community, it's families, it's even More heightened what's happening because you have kids and that misinformation and rumor control is so important.

Absolutely. We knew fairly quickly that it was two young children, the 8 and the 10 year old, who were killed. And we had good numbers on the number of injured children and adults. And I think that was important. We also knew right away that the shooter had died. That at least people then knew that there wasn't a threat to their community, an immediate threat. There was no gunman out there. This was all important information to let the community know where things stood.

Now let's move back to the press conference. Let's talk about the principal. So the first time he came out and you could see his back to school uniform, he's wearing khakis, he had a pink shirt. He was wearing like a light green tie. He looked like a great Catholic school principal. Even has the cross around his neck.

To any of our students and families and staff watching right now, I love you. You're so brave and I'm so sorry this happened to us today.

How do you think he did when he came up to the mic?

I thought he did pretty well. He gave you a really good picture of what the church and the school is like. As I watched this, I kept getting pictures painted in my head because I thought that the speakers, he and the mayor did a good job of painting that picture. And you could just tell that this was a man who was heartbroken for his children.

And he kept talking about his children. I thought he was exceptional. Now, all the people that we've mentioned so far typically are in front of a microphone. A mayor is going to be in front of a microphone, a police chief, they're going to be trained. They're all going to be trained. But a principal is not typically media trained. I've actually trained a principal in the Twin Cities area, but it was for a different topic. But they're used to standing in front of a room and capturing people.

Right. They may not be media trained necessarily, but they're public speaking trained. They know how to get their message across to parents and students. And in essence, that who that is who they were talking to. They were talking, talking to a nation full of parents and students who are watching this.

Oh, well said. I like that how you said a nation of parents. Yeah. Because he put it down to his audience. He was like speaking to the audience. He's typically speaking to you and I both mentioned that we watched the Archbishop Bernard Hebda press conference, him speak here. He's also done a lot of Media interviews against someone else who's most likely been media trained. And priests, again, are used to speaking in front of congregations. They're used to being public speakers. But he did something at his turn at the mic that you and I both noted.

I would never want to correct a principal, but Principal DeBoer said it wasn't.

So clear where would be the source of hope.

And brothers and sisters, we have to be men and women of hope. He corrected the principle, which, I don't know, was a little bit of a nails on the blackboard moment for me. Whether he agrees what the principle said or not about hope, that's what he was correcting. He says, I hate to correct a principle. And then he talked about his version of hope. And everybody's flying by the seat of their pants here, obviously, so I can't fault him too much, but I wish he hadn't used that terminology. Here's this principal who. It's amazing he's not in tears, incapable of even speaking, speaking, and he's so eloquent. And then to say, I got to correct the principal on a matter of opinion, not fact. Again, everyone there is doing their best in untenable situation.

I think what happened is, I think the principal, he was memorizing a lot of things. He was quoting scripture and a proverb, an African proverb. I think he had so many things in his head. I think he misspoke. I think when he said there isn't hope, I think he wanted to say there's always hope, but he just misspoke and he just kept going. Do you think he. He misspoke?

It could be. He said it was just so brief, too, what he said. I think he said something about there's no hope in what happened today. And maybe he just meant in that, in the moment of when it happened, there wasn't hope. But now there's obviously hope coming out of it because the community is coming together. So, yes and no. I'm not sure he misspoke. It may just. He may not have used the very best words to get across what he was thinking in his.

I think he was trying to tie it together. And you could see how he plotted out what he was going to say and how he was going to do it. And I thought it was great. And like you, for Hebda to come up and correct him was such brad form.

The archbishop could have said it in a such different way. He could have said, the principal mentioned hope. I want to make sure people know that we do have hope going forward. And then not saying the words. I am correcting the principal.

Exactly. To go out of his way during a live feed to correct it.

Yeah.

I thought that was incredibly bad form. The next one was Harper Moisky. She was this 10 year old girl who was killed. Her parents, not surprising. They did not speak at the microphone at all. But they issued a statement. Do you remember reading the statement from the family?

Yes.

Okay. Some of the things they said. Harper was a bright, joyful and deeply loved 10 year old whose laughter, kindness and spirit touched everyone who knew her. And this line, as a family, we are shattered and words cannot capture the depth of our pain. That writing is so true, isn't it?

And Harper's light will always shine on. Yes. Again, it's nice to learn a little bit more about the young person and about her family.

I was surprised to see a parent get up to a mic and speak.

I have no idea how he was able to do that. And he was strong. And he painted again that nice picture of his son Fletcher. And he's got the principal's arm around him the whole time.

What did you think of that though? Because at first when I saw it, I watched it on the phone, my first initial response was, are these two dads? That was my first thing. And I had to watch it on my computer. Once I got a closer look, I went, oh, it's the principal standing behind him with his arm.

He does look different there in this shot. He does look different. But obviously he was there to try to give strength to the father who got through this incredibly well. And heartbreaking to watch. It is again, we got to learn a little bit more about Fletcher. And it again humanizes. Not that even just the thought of an eight year old being dead doesn't strike you as a human, but he humanized his son and the tragedy even more.

It's so heartbreaking to watch. And when he stood there. So he's standing in front of the church and it is their press conferences. Here we see now a bank of mics are there. So it's not a typical all hands, jic, joint information command center type of a situation. This is a press conference from Annunciation with what they had to say. He wore a shirt, a blue shirt with birds on it. And I had to take a moment to look at it. And typically you wouldn't wear a shirt like that at press conference. But it made me wonder, was that Fletcher's favorite shirt even maybe could be.

Or it could just be a dad thinking, I'm not gonna worry about what I look like in front of the camera, it never. The thought may not have even crossed his mind. He's thinking about his son and his family.

Yeah. And the principal who's standing, he's dressed differently. He's wearing a T shirt. Future filled with hope. The branding of the school, which is something I encourage with clients a lot, especially at press conferences when there's video. Because sometime, sometimes you don't know. And even in my case, when I was looking at my phone, I didn't know who that was. I didn't know it was a principal. But now when you're watching it on camera, even if you don't see his name tag, which many people can't read it, you can put it together easily. So from an optics point of view, I do think it helps. Little things like this at the moment, they may not seem like they matter, but they also matter because it's information.

And when I see with the principal there, he's the man who's advocating again for his school. He's not thinking, I'm on national television and I need to put on a nice shirt and a nice jacket. I'm putting on what the name of my school. I'm working to help families and help students. There's so much to be done at that school to help the survivors. Not even the other students who were injured, but all the other students who weren't injured and the trauma that they're going to face for a long time. That's your point man right there. Who's going to be the man on the front lines helping all those other students cope with this, what they saw and what they experienced. It's like wearing the T shirt is just like what we talked about with the mayor. He's just a guy who's rolling up his sleeves and wanting to get to work and helping.

Absolutely. Absolutely. So overall, watching this coverage, and you watched far more than us.

I did.

As you said, it was on all day. I think our country is so accustomed to disasters and tragedy, it's almost expected people will turn on the television anytime and think, okay, what's happened today? There was something about this press conference or all the press conferences that I was watching. Maybe it's just because it's my hometown, but I thought it was incredible.

It was. Let's not forget that Minneapolis is one of the best media markets in the country, and that may have helped get the message out more. Not that any city wouldn't have done that, but Minneapolis is well known for its news coverage. And I don't want to make this about the news people any way, shape or form, but I'm still looking at this picture of the father and the principal. It's just hard to look at and talk at the same time.

Yeah, it is. But overall I thought it was incredible. All right, everyone, thanks for joining us on this week of the podcast. This one was a tough one and it's really difficult to bring in just the media element when there is so much tragedy happening in Minneapolis. We're watching it on the screens. Certainly we're not going to make this political in any way, but this is a hard watch. But boy, was it an easy listen to these people, to these spokespeople. So that's why I just wanted to take a moment in this podcast to highlight and choose one episode where we could really highlight the amazing work not only from the media market and the Twin Cities and kstp, wcco, fox, kmsp, and also Carol Levin. The work that they did there was wall to wall coverage, but also all the spokespeople that did just an incredible job there. So that's all for this week on the podcast. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.