Arthur Solomon  Arthur Solomon
The Donald Trump/Billy Bush “Access Hollywood” saga offers four truisms that apply to the public relations profession today.

1- Nothing is off-the-record.

2- PR attracts aggressive individuals, and many of the people you assume are friends will throw you under the bus if they think you’re affecting their careers.

3- Only the media can decide when a PR crisis is over.

4- Take with a grain of salt what top management tells you.

When the tape was initially made, both Trump and Bush assumed it would remain unused (off-the-record) and for many years it was, until someone found it newsworthy. In our business, off-the-record conversations with reporters may remain confidential for some time, but some reporters will not honor this agreement once that information provides a major story. Never assume something is off-the-record just because you say it is.

According to an October 18 Wall Street Journal story, NBC originally said Bush would not be fired. That all changed when, according to the report, his colleagues on the “Today” show said keeping him aboard would harm the program. In our aggressive business, where everyone is fighting for the next promotion, the “team theory” that has been promoted doesn't jibe with reality. Everyone on a team is determined to show management they're the best, even at the expense of undercutting close agency allies.

The Trump/Bush tape emerged publicly on October 7. Since then, it has become a continuing major story that I believe will have legs for the remainder of this election cycle. Despite Trump’s continual denial of committing the acts described on the tape, denials by his spokespeople on TV numerous times a day, and repeated characterizations of the tape’s language as “locker room talk,” the story lives on. And despite the best crisis communication efforts, it will continue to do so until the media decides it’s no longer newsworthy. In our business, the same is true. Just a few examples: the NFL concussion story; the Volkswagen coverage and the Hillary Clinton home server story. The best crisis pros couldn’t prevent those stories from being continually rehashed by the media, and neither can crisis communications experts at your agency limit negative news coverage.

The firing of Billy Bush for participating in a vulgar conversation was deemed more important by NBC management than the embellishing of news events told by former main newscaster, Brian Williams, who was given another chance and remains employed there. In our business, newbies right out of communications schools would be wise to remember that personal relationships are often more important than staffers who do good work. If you think this opinion comes from a cynic, let me know your thoughts after you’ve been in the business for a while.

So, to the young PR people who aren’t paying attention to this political campaign, I advise your start doing so. You could learn many PR lessons that are not often taught in communications school today.

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Arthur Solomon was a senior VP at Burson-Marsteller. He now is a contributor to public relations and sports business publications, consults on PR projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].