arthur solomonAfter watching many hours of the Benghazi committee question Hillary Clinton yesterday, there are several lessons learned that should be used in client media training, regardless of your political leanings.

Despite the nasty and rude questioning by several of the Republicans on the committee, especially by committee chairman Trey Gowdy, Peter Roskam and Jim Jordan, Ms. Clinton remained calm and composed. By doing so, she made these congressman look like shrill attack dogs.

Lesson to Remember: When on TV, even under aggressive media questioning, controversial clients can look good if they remain calm.

Despite the same questions being asked time and time again, Clinton gave the same answers.

Lesson to Remember: Never agree to have a controversial client go on a Q & A TV program unless you are certain the client’s answers will be consistent no matter how the questions are phrased.

Tell your client to refer to notes when answering attack questions.

Lesson to Remember: The old maxim that a client should not refer to notes is from a playbook written about the time Moses came down the mount with the Ten Commandments. There is nothing wrong with referring to notes. The reporter will often do so.

Clients should not “free lance” answers if they don’t have all the information at hand.

Lesson to Remember: There is nothing wrong with saying, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

Never let a question that contains wrong information go answered.

Lesson to Remember: Clients should tell a reporter the basis of the question is wrong. Not doing so gives the impression that the wrong information is correct.

Despite the reporter demanding a “yes” or “no” answer, questions should be answered only with complete sentences.

Lesson to Remember: “Yes” or “no” questions are gotcha questions. Clients are not obligated to play the reporter’s game.

Conclusion: What ever advantage the Republicans hoped to gain from the hearing was lost because certain members of the GOP acted like badgering, harassing prosecutors. In comparison, Ms. Clinton and Democrats on the committee were calm, never raising their voices.

Lesson to Remember: PR people should not agree to let a client go on television unless they are positive that the client can remain calm under aggressive questioning.

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Arthur Solomon, a former journalist and senior vice president/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, is a frequent contributor to public relations and sports business publications, consults on public relations projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].