Bottom line: Attorneys can help turn around negative media coverage of a client accused of wrongdoing by ensuring that photos of the client published by media outlets put the client in a favorable light (literally).
Have you ever been retained by someone who has been accused of doing something wrong and who has already been the recipient of some unfavorable publicity?
Whenever an individual is accused of wrongdoing, notably if it’s a criminal act, news coverage of the accusations are likely to include a mug shot or some unflattering photo that a reporter or other media outlet might just pluck from social media.
Attorneys representing individuals accused of wrongdoing should think long and hard about the messages these photos send to readers. And, an attorney should work with his or her client to send a more flattering photo to media outlets in the hopes that the media will start using the more favorable photo as opposed to the mug shot or unfavorable photo.
Every once in a while, you’ll see this on the national news and on the national scale where you’ll have someone who has been accused of doing something wrong, and you’ll see an unflattering photo of them where they look like they’re a bad person.
And then, you’ll see a photo of them from school or from work or with their family and all of the sudden, you see them in a different light.
Photos play a significant role in shaping how people in the Court of Public Opinion, including reporters, perceive whether someone is a “good character” or a “villain.”
“Good” photos of a person accused of wrongdoing are helpful in helping to slowly turn the tide of negative publicity.
A “good” photo may not on its own get favorable publicity for that person. But the photo—which might run with every subsequent news story about that person’s legal issue(s)—could put the accused in a less damaging light — almost literally —in the eyes of the public.
I had first-hand experience with this phenomenon a couple of years ago.
I represented an individual who was accused of doing some bad things. She was caught on video doing these bad things. And the video went viral. Around the world.
After this person was arrested, the media coverage of the person’s arrest included her mugshot. It was not a good look for her.
So I worked with this person’s family to provide more flattering photos of her to all of the media outlets that had covered her initial wrongdoing.
And guess what?
The media outlets started publishing these photos.
It did not hurt that my client was an attractive woman who had the classic “girl next door” look, and that media outlets knew that photos of her would get clicks from online readers.
But a client doesn’t have to look like the “girl next door” or the “guy next door” in order to benefit from the way that good photos and good imagery of them can help them in the Court of Public Opinion.
When attorneys representing clients accused of criminal or civil wrongdoing want to begin turning the tide of negative publicity and having a client’s story told in a more favorable light, one easy thing to do is to go to reporters who are covering the story and give them more flattering photos of the client.
When an attorney does so, he or she should tell the reporter that the attorney thinks that the mugshot or the other photo unfairly portrays the client in an unfavorable light and that the attorney would like the reporter to use the new photo because it tells a more complete picture about the kind of person the client really is.
If a reporter plays ball and runs the new, more favorable picture, the attorney and the client will be on the road to turning around negative perceptions of the client in the Court of Public Opinion.
Bottom line: Attorneys can help turn around negative media coverage of a client accused of wrongdoing by ensuring that photos of the client published by media outlets put the client in a favorable light (literally).
Wayne Pollock is the founder and managing attorney of Copo Strategies in Philadelphia, a national legal services and communications firm. Attorneys and law firms enlist Copo Strategies to engage the media and the public regarding their clients’ cases (to help resolve those cases favorably), and to engage the media, referral sources and prospective clients regarding their firms (to help bring new client matters in the door). Contact him at waynepollock@copostrategies.com or 215–454–2180.