I Was a Spokesperson for Public Officials for Decades and Sorry, Ronna, It Is Never Your Job to Lie
At the heart of the Ronna McDaniel / NBC News debacle last week was McDaniel’s absurd claim that it was OK for her to spread Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 election being “stolen” - a lie she now admits she never believed - because that was her party’s position and as Chair of that party, it was her job to tell the lie.
No. No. And hell no.
Her job was to tell her party, and the American people the truth. It’s called leadership.
I want to add some “behind the curtains” perspective to this discussion, based on my own long career as a frequent communicator and spokesperson for political figures and public officials.
After several years working as a reporter in Iowa, approximately (cough, cough, ahem) years ago, I moved to a new career - Communications Director/Press Secretary/ Strategist and spokesperson for candidates for public office, members of the US House and Senate, political parties, and even presidential candidates - in Iowa and nationally.
From 1974 - 2013, I was in the hot seat daily, helping craft statements and speeches, writing press releases, fielding calls and answering questions from the news media. I worked for two United States Senators, three members of the US House of Representatives, two presidential candidates a state political party, and others.
Most of the time, it was my pleasure to do so. Covering government and politicians is hard and difficult work. I knew that, deep in my bones, from my own time as a reporter. Information is often difficult to obtain, even when you are in the government or the middle of a campaign, much less outside looking in. Yet, the people have a right to information about what their candidates really think and what their public officials are actually doing.
The people have a right to ask questions and have those questions answered. Honestly.
Often, it’s the news media doing the asking on behalf of the people.
Sometimes the questions I was asked, I wasn’t happy to have been asked. Sometimes the statements I helped public officials craft were on topics we would rather not have been discussing that day. We had other things we were trying to talk about that day and an unexpected line of questioning would sometimes blow us off course, into territory we would rather have avoided, for any number of reasons.
But I can assure you - and Ronna McDaniel, too, if she’s reading this - I never considered it my job as a spokesperson for a candidate or public official to lie for them or pass on information I felt was suspect, much less thought was a flat out lie.
It is never a spokesperson’s job to lie to the media or anyone else.
Ever.
About anything.
McDaniel’s position as RNC Chair was a different than mine, but the principle is the same. We both spoke frequently, publicly, and on the record on behalf of the people and organizations for whom we worked. Both of us had an obligation to do so honestly.
McDaniel, by her own admission, didn’t see it that way. She failed that test. Miserably.
In my nearly 40 years as a spokesperson for public officials, candidates, and political parties, I was only asked one time to provide an answer to the news media that didn’t “smell right” to me. Not bad for a track record of nearly 40 years. I thank the public servants, candidates and party officials whom I had the pleasure and honor of working for and sometimes speaking for in exchanges with reporters, for that record.
How did I handle that one time?
I certainly didn’t think it was my job to lie - or more likely in this case - pass along information that was simply self-servingly not accurate.
Sometimes lies are born from wishing so hard that the lie is true that the claim is not adequately vetted. The “wisher” doesn’t do their due diligence to make sure the information is true before passing it on. They usually know that’s the case, too, but proceed anyway.
That’s how those kinds of lies enter public discourse.
I was not convinced that what I had been asked to say was a deliberate lie, but I was convinced there was enough wishful thinking involved that I was not going to repeat it as a fact. Its accuracy had to be confirmed with certainty.
I pressed my boss at the time for more information to help establish its accuracy. The answers were not reassuring. They were a bit vague, suggesting the original vetting - the hunt for accuracy - had been inadequate. There were enough disconnects in the answers I received - whether deliberate or inadvertent I never knew - that I decided not to provide that answer to anybody. The likelihood of it being false information was simply high enough that I was unwilling to use it.
I told my boss that I would not say what he had asked me to say.
I did not tell him that I was prepared to resign if pressed to say it.
Thankfully, it never came to that. But any public spokesperson for a government official or candidate for public office - RNC Chair or Communications Director - needs to be prepared to do the same thing: resign and walk out the door right then and there if pressed to put out information they themselves do not believe is accurate or true.
I lived by a code that used to be widespread back in the day among public spokespeople: “Your word is your bond.” I believed then, and believe now, if you get caught in a lie, your career as a spokesperson is over. Your word is worthless. And you are, at that point, useless to everybody..
Just ask Sean Spicer. Or Rudy Giuliani.
Ronna McDaniel learned that the hard way last week. The corporate suits at NBC who hired her also came to understand it when faced with an on-air mutiny by some of its biggest stars last week. At one time those reporters all relied on McDaniel for what they thought was accurate information and got burned badly by her.
The reporters - the real journalists in the room - understood instantly that a “contract liar” belongs no where near the insides of a news organization. They would not stand for it.
Good for them.
Score one for democracy.
Which brings me to another point that needs to be made in this discussion.
The need for candidates and public officials to speak honestly, and for their spokespeople to do the same - even when it is difficult to do so - goes well beyond the need to safeguard their own reputation so they can keep doing their job.
Democracy itself depends on vigorous, informed and honest discourse. If all we are doing is debating lies, democracy doesn’t work. We need debates and discussions that are a search for the best policy, not the most effective and fastest lies.
Disagree with each other? You bet. Slip into heated exchanges on occasion over those disagreements? Sure. It happens. But that’s how ideas, facts, and perspectives get fire tested, even if it isn’t pleasant to watch, listen to, or to find yourself in the middle of the firestorm
The discussion must be honest.
Our differences must be honestly aired and debated.
That’s how the Founding Fathers envisioned our democracy would work.
It is the only way it can work.
Those who think their job is to lie - or in McDaniel’s case, to spread the “Big Lie” she now says she never believed in the first place, but parroted anyway because she thought her job contract required her to do so - are no friend of democracy, and certainly are no friend of the free and independent press our constitution rightfully protects, and America’s democracy needs to function.
Contract liars, after their contract is up, certainly do not belong in a news room pretending to be journalists.
“Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains” is a weekly political commentary, analysis, and opinion column, delivered by email to subscribers. It is also available on the Substack.com platform. It is part of The Iowa Writers Collaborative (IWC) which publishes the work of some of Iowa’s best writers and thinkers.
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What an honest and refreshing piece of writing. It seems like we’ve become so used to hearing lies from politicians and government officials that we’ve become inured. This is so dangerous. Thank you for your steadfast truth telling, and your courage.
Thank you, Barry, for pointing out that the right thing to do is to tell the truth. It makes me sad and frustrated that we've reached the point where this may no longer be general knowledge and people need to be informed of this. When was this forgotten? Or more likely, when did it start being ignored? Kudos to you for having the courage to stand up to your boss when the truth was involved. If I could "wave a magic wand," everyone would react in this way and do what's right. Dream on....