Ep 161 Woody Allen Does Crisis Communication June 9, 2016

Crisis communications the Woody Allen way.

Speaking the show about effective speaking in public to the media, at work and in life. Speaking with TJ Walker.

So, folks, this is a sensitive subject, and I do realize even by bringing it up, I open myself up to attack. But I just decided when I started this program that it was going to be primarily about you, helping you with issues that relate to media training, public speaking, crisis communications. And I'm going to try to give honest answers to questions to help you. And if some people want to attack me, well, that's a part of the deal, I guess. So I want to talk about Woody Allen's recent crisis in the news. Some of you may say, well, if TJ just doesn't spend all of his time attacking and vilifying Woody Allen as a child abuser and a child molester, then TJ is basically apologizing and defending a child abuser, and that makes TJ horrible. Well, that's not what I'm doing. I can't control you from leaping to those conclusions, but I do think there are important lessons here to those of you who care about the craft of crisis communications and trying to figure out what to do. I am not passing moral judgment on Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, or any of the characters involved. A little more background. Just a few weeks ago, you heard me use Woody Allen as a positive example of someone who doesn't know technology, doesn't own a computer, doesn't know email, but still has tremendous artistic output by putting out a new movie every year and has done so for 50 years. Just a few days after that recording of that show, the news came out where his son, Ronan Farrow, put out a story basically vilifying Woody Allen once again for being a child molester, having allegedly molested his daughter. Well, Woody's daughter and Ronan's sister. This happened just moments after Woody Allen was at the Cannes Film Festival and receiving all sorts of awards and doing media interviews. So here's the part that I think is of interest, interest to those of us who care about the practice of crisis communications because Woody Allen did something highly effective. Again, I don't want to seem like I'm pre. He very well may be guilty of molesting his daughter. And just because I say he did one thing well with crisis communications doesn't mean I'm saying that lets him off the hook. Woody Allen by any stretch is an odd man. I happen to have enjoyed a lot of his movies. But he's certainly odd having married someone who was his daughter stepdaughter at One point, the whole family. The more you look at it, there's an awful lot of odd things going on there. That doesn't mean I'm siding with one side or the other, but I want to dissect exactly what he did, how he handled this. Most recent, we'll call it a crisis the Media.

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So here's what Woody Allen did when these charges came out from his son. Ronan Farrow, who is a media figure in his own right, briefly hosted his own network news program on MSNBC and is someone who's a Yale graduate and highly credentialed individual, very successful young man. Ronan has a lot of juice with the media. So when he put out these charges and attacking the Hollywood establishment for essentially wallpapering over Woody Allen's abuses, it got a lot of attention. So the media did come to Woody Allen asking for his reaction. Here's what he said. And he said, I've said everything I'm going to say and I made a complete. He basically made a complete case in an op ed in the New York Times in 2014. He said, I bowed out of the thing in 2014. I've said everything I'm going to say. And I would refer you to. He's basically telling people. He refers them to the op ed piece he wrote in 2014. Now if you're interested, I would urge you to read that. All you have to do is go to the New York Times, type in Woody Allen 2014 or Woody Allen op ed. You will see it. I don't know what really happened. There is a school of thought that says anytime someone alleges sexual abuse, you should automatically assume the alleger. I'm not going to weigh into those debates. All I can tell you is I think any fair minded person who reads Ronan Farrow's piece has heard Mia Farrow and then reads the entire op ed from Woody Allen will find some things that are persuasive and interesting and at least get you to look at this from a different perspective. After reading Woody Allen's defense and his side of the story, what I think is fascinating about what Woody Allen did is at the time it must have seemed painful. He went through allegation after allegation after allegation. It was a very lengthy op ed. He put a lot out there. He put his perspective out there and whether you agree with him or think it's all a pack of lies, you have to concede that he at least dealt with these issues in an extremely thorough way, in great detail. And what he did there. And I have to, and I'm not on Woody Allen's payroll, folks. I'm not defending him, but I have to assume he had some high powered crisis communications advisors working for him, saying, let's put it all out now. It's going to be painful, but these issues will surface in the future. Every few years, other things happen. It's going to come back. If you put everything out at once, essentially dump it all, give your perspective, then you can, with a straight face, take reporters. I've already answered every issue that has come up. I refer you to the 2014 op ed piece. So that is basically what he did. And I have to give him credit, it was an effective strategy. The issue did get some attention in the media. But Woody Allen's defense of basically, I've answered all the charges in great detail in 2014 came across as credible. Now, I had read it at the time, but I forgot what he said. I went back and read his op ed piece and I still have to tell you, he certainly may be guilty. He may be the worst child abuser ever, but when you read his side of the story, it is highly persuasive and there is a thoroughness there. He's definitely not saying, I refuse to deal with this or I refuse to talk about it. I do think it was a smart strategy. You can say the media is biased in favor of him because he's a big star. I'm sure there's a part of that. But in general, the biggest bias most media have is towards sensationalism and sexual scandal. So reporters are going to want to cover a story like this and make it bigger and bigger. I think Woody Allen did the best he could do to minimize this media crisis. Now something else happened at the Cannes Film Festival. A comedian stood up, made a joke about him. Woody Allen was in the audience. It wasn't considered polite or respectful in this sort of an audience, according to some. But a comedian stood up and says to Woody, you shot so many of your films here in Europe and yet in the US you haven't even been convicted of rape. That was a reference to Roman Polanski, another well known director who in fact convicted of raping a 13 year old many, many years ago. So it was a joke. Some people laughed, some people thought it was wildly appropriate. Reporters then went to Woody Allen. Now he could have made this a much, much bigger story. More headlines by acting outraged, condemning the comedian. But he did something smart here. He says, I am completely in favor of comedians making whatever jokes they would like. I'm not a censorship person. I feel they should come out and make whatever jokes they would like. By doing that, he didn't seem petty, he didn't pour gasoline on the fire, and he didn't make it a much, much bigger story. And you have to say, that's just smart. I'm sure inside he might be hating that comedian. He might be gritting his teeth, but he said the one thing that would diffuse the issue the most. So it's a tough issue to talk about, folks. I mean, no one wants to really think about child abuse. I have a child of my own. It's a distasteful topic. And I certainly don't want to seem like I am giving advice to child abusers of how to get away with that's not it. But there are lessons here, folks. And the biggest lesson I want to get across is if you feel you're in the right and you're being attacked unfairly or whatever the attacks are, lay it all out in an extraordinarily comprehensive way. Answer every single issue. But then you can say, I'm done. I've answered everything and refer people back to that. That tends to minimize the stories. It makes it much less interesting to the reporters. And they can't accuse you of dodging the issue. That is an effective strategy, whether you're guilty or not, I'm sad to say. I'm TJ Walker. Thanks for joining me. If you have questions about crisis communications, dealing with the media or giving presentations, please post them here. Wherever you're watching or listening to this program.

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