By Richard S. Levick and Scott Sobel
When the cameras are rolling, it's usually because TV reporters smell blood. Be careful out there.
Television, while offering some opportunities for positive coverage, is unfortunately more likely to call a lawyer, or the client, when the story is unflattering, embarrassing, or scandalous.
None of us is a stranger to the broad-cast media’s propensity for negative coverage ("If it bleeds, it leads"). For example, during 10 of the past 11 years, murder rates in the United States have declined, yet television coverage of murders has gone up. As a result, the general impression is that we live in a more violent society now than we did a decade ago.
If your client has some bad news they do not yet want made public, if the outcome of a conflict is still in doubt, if another party stands to gain a crucial advantage, there is a greater likelihood that reporters are interested in the story right now, long before you have tied up all the client’s loose
