A friend of mine is reading John Grisham’s bestselling novel The Appeal. It describes a powerful, special interest group’s effort to buy an elected judge. Grisham spoke frankly about his assessment of the “real life” potential for this scenario while promoting the book in 2008. The central theme is disturbing enough, but it’s not the only part of the plot that can keep you awake nights. My personal favorite is the characterization of a shadowy, PR firm that uses its considerable resources to shape the political environment in favor of a particular candidate. No price tag is too high, no message is too inflammatory and no image is too deceptive to use in placing their man on the bench.
My friend and I recently traded thoughts on The Appeal. Our conversation, news reports about the high anxiety among average Americans and the Oklahoma City Bombing anniversary leads me to reflect once again on the power of words. They do have power, tremendous power. Whether we are wordsmiths, pundits or politicians; those of us who stake our careers on communication can’t simply embrace that premise when it suits us and reject it when it doesn’t. How often do we use words and images to appeal to our audience’s most unflattering instincts; then try to disown those messages when someone takes it all too far? Psychiatric “profilers” tell us Timothy McVeigh was motivated, at least in part, by the same over-the-top, distorted, anger-filled rhetoric that seems to galvanize many people today.
I spent much of my TV news career listening to a constant drum beat from consultants. “Know your viewers. What’s in the story for them?” ”Will it grab their attention?” “Does it scare them?” ”Will it p&%s them off?” The more of those questions we answered in the affirmative, the better. “Why should they care?” asked the consultants, ”You have to make them care.”
Please don’t misunderstand. I think “audience-benefit” is and should be the hallmark of effective communication. But I also believe that in our efforts to “make them care,” we too often fail to be careful.
Tags: anger, anxiety, audience-benefit, communication, deceit, images, John Grisham, PR firm, rhetoric, The Appeal, the power of words, Timothy McVeigh, viewers
