Exercise developed and produced by:

Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies

National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism

Office of Justice Programs, National Institutes of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

How Leaders Can Confidently Step Up to a Reporter's Mike

Transcript  [Listen to this talk] [View the slides]

DR. INGLESBY: John Burke is smart, funny, provocative, and very constructive in his comments, so I'm sure you will greatly enjoy John Burke and your lunch time presentation. John.

MR. BURKE: I broke one of my golden rules by coming here. I really try to talk only to audiences that are not in a position to judge the truth or accuracy of what I say, and this is probably the most experienced and sophisticated audience I've ever presented to, so this is going to be a new experience for me. And I'm not using my computer, so this should be a new experience for me too.

Everybody is a media critic, and everyone you speak to on any public health issue at any public forum, actually is judging you against a very high standard, the anchors, television anchors, and they can tell right away when you're screwing up. We've already talked about body language. We do a lot of teaching on presentation techniques, and the fact is that the intuitive aspect of being an audience member carries much more weight than the intellectual aspect. And people can tell your voracity and your attitude, and the degree of your conviction intuitively better than they can by what you say. People are reluctant to believe what you say. They believe their sixth sense.

When I'm talking to smart people, these are always people that read, and have read a lot, and they worry about adjectives and conjunctions, and the average person out there doesn't. In fact, I find that most people don't read much at all. They buy papers but they self-select what they read, so the traditional concept of the media, this old newsboy inside the kiosk isn't accurate, because that's not where most people get their information today. Most people get their information instantly from digital and telecommunications. And the fact is that your story, whatever it is, whether it's West Nile, or Anthrax, or plague, is going to run with or without you. And it's imperative for everybody in a position of authority, particularly your bosses and their bosses to understand that you need to have your material in advance, because when you develop it on the fly as so many of our speakers have alluded to today, it comes off as on the fly, and you jeopardize yourself.

And as scientists, and engineers and medical people, you carry the burden of this debate about accuracy versus speed. And it's an academic debate, because the audience is actually pretty indulgent. They know that you won't have all the information. The trauma is in your head, not their's, so it's much more important today to be fast than to be accurate.

The ideal objective for everything I'm saying today would be that all the Fox news channels and the local news channels, and the 24 hour CNN, and the talk radio shows would actually select spokespeople from this informed group rather than go out and find those jackasses that they find, who are apparently waiting in limos outside. So we should make one of our objectives identifying informed people and sensitive people as sound sources, and putting a list together maybe by geography. The same way we put URLs together for information, we should identify people that are competent to do this, and have the courage to put their careers at jeopardy.

The fact is that today, and most of the clients I deal with don't have the luxury that you have. When you're subject to a bioterrorism attack, you're guiltless. You don't have the mental agony of having to deal with dirty hands, and shame, and guilt and doubt because you're the cause of it. Most of the clients I deal with have that aspect to deal with. And the fact is that when you're dealing with a crisis event like an attack, the audience comes to you. They're waiting for you to talk. They're already assembled. Usually, it's the other way around, we have to go out and find the audience, but today everything is instant, and it's global. And the amazing thing is it works both ways, so if you're the health commissioner of Des Moines, Iowa, your day will be upset because of something that happens in Bogota, or in Florida. If somebody -- I mean, whatever happens will be on the news, and local people will be asking you questions about it, so you can't think that you have any protection by geography. You don't. You have to be prepared, as prepared for all of these crazy things, whether or not they happen in your zone of impact, if I can coin the phrase.

And you have to think in terms of pictures. I like to show pictures because I found pictures make presentations much more memorable. And pictures are a very important part of understanding the media, because you have to think in terms of pictures. And you have to think in terms of T.V.

Rodney King. You know, I live in New Jersey and for years I noticed that there was a good chance on the Parkway if somebody was pulled over it would be a black person and not a white person. And at that time in my hometown, I noticed that youngsters who were pulled over more often than not would be people of color. And I said that's going to come back to haunt us, and I know activists complained about it, but it got nowhere until there was video tape. And the video tape changed everything.

The President of the United States within two days charged the FBI with doing something because there was video tape, because TV is powerful and emotional, and it sets the tone for media coverage. And it has been for 15 or 20 years, so I'm not telling you anything that you don't know.

The important thing to take away from this presentation is that it alters reality, that little things that in this room that might be insignificant, suddenly become enormous when you put them on the big screen. So, I mean, Trent Lott knows this. We all know this, because we've seen it time and time again. And you have to appreciate that. And I'm going to say something that it may be provocative, especially to people who hold themselves to a high scientific standard, but any time you're presenting to the public, you have to think of it in terms of a performance. You want it to sound like a conversation, but it's not a conversation, it's a performance.

Roger Ailes wrote a book about 20 years ago called You Are The Message. It was most breast-beating about how he created Ronald Regan, but there's a great amount of information in that book that gets you to think about the importance that you, the person, plays in communicating the message, because we're not judging what you say. In fact, what you say is less than 7 percent of what people take away from the exchange. What you are, and how you appear, and how you sound is 93 percent of communication. And those of you who have studied body language know that this is well documented by a guy with the interesting name of Birdwhistle, and I remember that.

T.V. alters reality. In a room this size, well there's the White House briefing room and there's three little guys babbling into what looks like a pencil from far away, muttering, and they might just as well be those people who push the shopping carts full of clothes the way they're off there muttering. But at 6 and 11:00, they're shaping public perception, and they're interpreting what you say. And your job is to make it impossible for them to misinterpret what you say. And T.V. is your avenue to do that.

And I want to make this point. I know there are journalists, respected journalists in the room who I have to be careful what I say about what I really think, because they'll sit in judgment and think I'm cynical. But when the media misinterprets what you say, it's because you haven't done your job, and you have to turn your perception upside down because your job is to make it impossible for them to interpret.

There's no way to prevent them from deliberately misinterpreting, and occasionally that happens, particularly on the news magazines, but in the case of an emergency situation, the burden is on you to make the message understandable, and to make it impossible to misinterpret, and I'm going to show you some examples of that. And you face something that your predecessors never faced, and it gets worse every day now.

Everything is potentially news because video is ubiquitous. I mean, who -- I can't even shoplift any more in any of the -- it's terrible, but you know what I mean. Any time you're making a public appearance, there's a good chance that you're being recorded, so -- and I'll tell you what, as a videographer, I can follow anybody. I can follow Mother Theresa around and guarantee you that I have an expose if I take enough tape, because eventually we all do dumb things. We all violate basic rules. Anybody can be made to look foolish.

In the face of a public crisis, that's not what the media's job is, but people will be judging you. And your performance is judged against a very high standard, so your responsibility is to do a good job, and to remember that it's a performance. And I will repeat myself several times on that issue.

Now I talk about T.V. because in our classes we use T.V. We make people get up, because nobody learns to improve any better than somebody that you video tape and show them their own performance, because we're all horrified by our own performance, but the second time you videotape them, there's 100 percent improvement. But T.V. has impacted the print media, so that's why you see -- I mean, I had to put this in because I noticed it at the airport. It's the swimsuit edition of National Geographic.

The reason is, there's a finite number of dollars to be spent on the media, and everybody is competing for that same dollar. And because T.V. is so powerful and impactful, the print media, even National Geographic has to be provocative, so that's why you get stories, and these are real headlines. "Is your toaster killing you?" It was a big expose, and I'm going to show you a tape, "Are your muffins killing you?" That's a piece of tape that I'm going to show you. Major stories, because they have to compete with the emotionalism of T.V.

It gets personal too. There's high personal risk. Several speakers said that today, and if you go through it, you know, especially if they're going to talk to your former classmates or former co-workers, or those two people you just fired last week, there's a good chance that you'll become a story. And I'll tell you from personal experience, I always find out the guy we just put on CBS Evening News didn't really graduate from Harvard even though, you know, he's the director of quality control, or the director of personnel. You have to make sure whoever you choose to be the spokesperson you vet internally. And it's like being a presidential appointment, you really have to be careful because mistakes are interpreted as conspiracy, not only by the media, but by the public. We suspect you, especially those postal workers.

I want to tell you what goes on inside a reporter's head. It really isn't personal. There is such pressure on them to file or to get something or, you know, the 24 hour news shows, they -- if you've been watching the coverage of the Columbia disaster, you see how they're repeating the same thing. They're dying for one scrap of additional information or to find another guy who operates a garage who found a piece of trash, who can tell them how exciting it was that the trash fell in front of his -- you know, this is brought to you live and exclusively by XYZ. But the fact is, all they want from you is a thousand words or 30 seconds, or 15 seconds, and your job is to make it so compelling that they'll use it. And it has the message, you know, be prepared, be smart, or whatever the message is.

They need updates, so your job is to update them. Now that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you where the investigation is. An update could mean let me show you the equipment we use to analyze this. It's just something that I can write about, that informs the public, that shows I'm doing my job, that makes me look smart. It gets down to very interpersonal and venial information sometimes, and you don't -- that's what they want, they want updates. And they want pictures.

I say this all the time. For a lot of people out there, are you familiar with the Charlie Brown cartoons? The adults in Charlie Brown all sound the same because kids can't understand what the adults are saying, so that wah, wah, wah, wah, that's what most people sound like from the scientific community to reporters, honest to goodness. And you leave them to their own devices if you get too scientific. That's when they're going to ask you, have you ever considered suicide, or whatever the miscellaneous left-field questions are. You cause the problem. You're going to say they didn't ask the right questions. You don't wait for the questions. You have messages. You try to control the situation, and give them information that they find so compelling they won't interrupt you with those crazy questions.

They prefer drama. That means is this the biggest, is this the worst? Who are your enemies? What will your critics say? That's part of the nature of the game. You may not consider it fair, but that's what sells papers, and that's the reality, so when you're walking across the stream, you've got to deal with the current. And they prefer a top dog. They would like to talk to their chairman or the president, or the commissioner, so they're going to -- if you're not the commissioner, they're going to treat you as if you're a second-class citizen. You have to be confident enough to do the job, and the burden is on you to do it.

Now unfortunately, there's a history of investigative journalism. When I went through Columbia, it was during the Watergate era, and people -- young students who were younger than me. I came out of the service and went to graduate school. Their objective in life was to bring down a president. That was the new goal, or bring down a department. That's expected.

Now they may miss the savings and loan crisis, but they're going to find out about that nanny. But that's the nature of the game, so you have to expect it. It's really not personal. It's not personal, it's part of the job. And you've got to stick to the science and don't get drawn into those issues, and take all the stupid questions seriously.

They don't understand you. I use this picture all the time because it's a metaphor for the media. Ted Kopple I think is one of the brightest of all broadcast journalists. He can actually conduct a conversation without cue cards. It must be that Canadian education. I don't want the school people to get upset, but he really is a smart guy. And he's a thoughtful guy, but we always assume that because they're nodding, they know what we're talking about. That's a theatrical device, that nodding. Most of the time reporters have a difficult time understanding what the hell you're talking about, so don't think when they're nodding and you know, thoughtfully stroking their chin they understand. The burden is on you to make it simple, to create analogies.

When the Stock Market crashed in `87, he was the News Director of Nightline, and I guess it was the ABC Evening News then before it was called Nightline They had to figure out a way to describe the Stock Market, because 75 percent of the American public wasn't invested, and most reporters didn't really understand what happened, except that their portfolio was down, so they were looking for ways to talk to the public, because they believe the public has about a ninth grade comprehension level. And somebody came up with the -- I think it was Ted, he took credit for it. Let's have Kermit explain the Stock Market, so Kermit came on. Well, Ted, and he simplified it, and it wasn't offensive because it's Kermit, so who's going to -- you know, if we talk down to them -- so I want this image burned in your mind. One of the best broadcast journalists in history interviewed a sock. Okay. Just keep that in mind.

I want you to think in terms of pictures, and by pictures I don't just mean photographs or video images. I also mean word images. What were the most compelling things we heard this morning, anecdotes about old people, stories that were flesh and blood, and concrete. That's what draws you in, and that's the way to control an interview, by giving people real flesh and blood. And it sounds so easy, and people nod like crazy and say I got you, John, and then they go out and talk about health care delivery. And my neighbors in western New Jersey think it's a UPS truck. You have to try to put yourself in the audience's mind.

Now this was one of the most watched events in history, the World Trade Center attack. And there must have been a billion pictures taken, and videos taken of that event. But what the media looked for is what they call a moment. They want something that captures a very complex situation, and boils it down into something that we can all understand in an emotional way, like remember the National Geographic swimsuit edition. We want an emotional response.

Well, Time Magazine picked this photo of all those photos, and editors and T.V. producers all over the world have to decide what image do I need to represent this? How can I best communicate that? They think about this. They have photo editors to think about it, and this was a spread that I got off the internet of British publications. Look at the unanimity. These were all different editors who had to decide. They know what they want. They're looking for something that simplifies things.

Your job, and your staff's job is when I'm trying to communicate a public issue, what image can I provide them that is emotional and compelling, but communicates the importance of whatever action I'm advocating, whether it's quarantine or we saw some images yesterday from New York about insecticides being used in New York against West Nile disease.

You have to paint the picture, you have to provide the picture. And I'll tell you what, in an interview, if you can provide a picture or slide, you're dominating the interview, because you're controlling what they focus on. And it's a great way to dominate for your -- now it has to be a good image. Like we'll be hearing from Sheriff Moose tomorrow. They showed images of trucks and things, and they gave an 800 number, and it was the wrong number, and there was no truck so, you know, there is an accuracy requirement.

This I just took the day after the Columbia. Same thing, everybody had to decide how do we capture the emotion? How do we capture the moment? What can I put on there that screams buy me. Read what I say about this event, and it's amazing the unanimity. You have to think like a photo editor. You have to think -- in your presentations you have to think what image can I provide? I'm not just talking about pictures.

Ronald Regan, I remember one of the most compelling speeches was when he went to Normandy for an anniversary, and he was talking about Omaha Beach and the invasion of Normandy. And they were at the graveyard of all the Allied soldiers that died, and all these gravestones behind him. And he wanted to make a memorable dramatic speech, and how did he deal with it? He chose a single person, a human being, flesh and blood that they focus the camera on, who lost her dad. Never met her dad. She wrote a letter to this dad that she never met who died on Omaha Beach saying, "Dad, I thank you for what you did", and it went on in that vein. And Ronald Regan with that masterful presentation read the letter. And really, it's hard to keep a dry eye when you hear something like that.

It's the same, that the best newspaper in America does, The Wall Street Journal. We think that the public can't deal with complex issues, but they start by talking about a guy with a mule in the mountains of Peru, and how the mule needs new shoes, and how he drags these coffee beans. And you're in there and you say oh, my God, poor Pedro. And by the fourth paragraph, we're talking about the price of coffee, the price of gold, international trade, and you're there without even realizing it, because they know that it's concrete and graphic information, and human stories that draw us in.

I've got to show you these, because we remember -- we don't remember any speech by Lyndon Johnson. We remember the Vietnam War in terms of Pulitzer Prize winning photos. I say Vietnam War to classes, even young kids who weren't even alive and they have images of the Vietnam War. This is one of them. The Tet offensive assassination. You all know what the other one is. What is it? Exactly, the napom girl. And nobody knows what the -- we all think Americans did that. It was actually South Vietnamese pilots that dropped the napom in error, but we just remember the picture. It's because it's a metaphor. It captures the complex insanity of war, and the violence and brings it into -- Tieneman Square, this picture appeared on the cover of every publication the world over, because it capsulized. And I -- see those two girls up there, the New York Times had a hundred year publication, the best photos in a hundred years, and they used that in their ad to publicize the photo exhibit, because it's the best of the concept that I'm talking about.

The title of that is, "Miss Teenage America 1972. Who do you think won?" It captures a moment. It tells a story, and that's what you have to do. You have to simplify things down with your words and pictures.

When issues go public. As I said, you know, disaster is on your side because you're guiltless, so the credibility and the momentum is yours to lose. We're not holding you guilty until after. Then we'll hold you all guilty like they are now with the NASA is on trial.

I wanted to make a point that Monica made, that ignorance is the ally of panic. And the enemy in dealing with a disaster, and controlling a disaster, is information. But it's useful information, not abundant information, but useful information, and understandable information.

You need to -- well, here I guess I could sum up this part of the presentation by I agree. Everything that everybody's talked about, I agree with. In a real crisis situation your systems are overloaded. You lack coordination. No matter how much time you put into it, and what I've always found is when you deal with people who have beautifully written crisis plans and statements, they're written by staff, and in the actual emergency, senior management takes over, and never invite the staff in to -- they never look at the plan actually. It may be different among enlightened groups like yours, and the media here starts before you do.

You wind up -- the worst thing to be caught without in a crisis is a radio or a T.V. Even the Pentagon is watching CNN to find out how they're doing because -- well, they were anyway. You have to be able to monitor the media and react to it. And there needs to be some infrastructure for sharing information, current information so you know the status of things.

The public can overreact if we're not prepared. And in today's environment, my key message is you have to be prepared in advance. You have to have the statements in advance, not merely answers to questions, but statements of policy in advance. We call them contingency statements. They're pre-approved. Everybody signs off on them. It's something to say.

The issue came up that it's okay to say I don't know. It is okay to say I don't know, but it doesn't inspire confidence. And we deal with plant managers who have explosions or fatalities, and the media wants to know instantly what happened. And the honest to God nice guy plant manager says I don't know, and the neighbors say get that jerk out of here. Put somebody -- so we try to teach what we call affirmative language. And it's that thousand word concept.

"Well, we haven't identified the source of the problem, but let me tell you what we're doing", so you take the advantage, you take the momentum. And you're telling them stuff you know, you have the information. It's just that you can't respond to the question literally, because if you do, you're going to kill yourself. The longer you've been around, the more garbage you have in your head, the more dead skeletons you know in every closet, so if somebody asks you an open-ended question and you take them literally, you're not only going to assassinate your own career, but you'll probably drag the whole institution down. And that's why I say there are two rules for crisis management, crisis communication. One is, never lie. And the second rule is, it depends, because it always depends on the personality, on the situation and you really have to be flexible and fluid.

Common mistakes, you know about them because you've all experienced them. The finger pointing is what I hate. And the one thing I want to warn you against is this organizational self-absorption. Don't get up and tell me how hard a night you had, or how difficult, how hard everybody is working. Talk in terms of -- you know, you can say that to your staff, but that's not -- that's valuable time on T.V. there. We don't want to hear it. That's your job. We don't want to hear that.

Everybody has seen this, but the point I wanted to make there is we're very judgmental. And if you seem not -- to be working on the fly, we're going to -- you're history. Spokesperson is credible, is critical rather. Remember only 7 percent of your total communications is the words you're saying, even when people want to know what they should do, because they're judging you. And at first in a case of new impression, first impression, they're skeptical. They're skeptical because of their history with our government.

I remember. I lived in Trenton when we had the Legionnaire's Disease. I remember that. I remember the crazy stories the first day about Legionnaire's Disease. Now Legionnaire's -- we had a client that had Legionnaire's Disease, and they were terrified that all their employees would sue and run away, and we brought an epidemiologist in and we said please describe it as Legionella Pneumonia. And he did, and they said oh, okay. It was as simple as that. But credibility involves likability.

I know it sounds crazy, but if we had to choose the best spokesperson on any issue it would be Bill Cosby, because all the research indicates that Bill Cosby has the highest Q rating in T.V. And a Q rating is likability and credibility. And these concepts don't come from me in my experience. I'm going to the master. This is Dale Carnegie, and he's right. The man was a genius. You have to be knowledgeable, but you can't be an egg head, and you have to be consistent or it doesn't matter, but you have to be likeable. And we always say smile and show enthusiasm. Well, it's hard to smile when you're talking about the World Trade Center, but be genuine. Show people, and be sympathetic and be understandable. I mean, it's so obvious but it's hard to do. It's like pole vaulting. We all understand the concept, but it's hard to do.

Likability, that's -- I usually have Bill Cosby, but we're in Washington so I put the Chief over here. Be genuine. Talk in terms of the audiences' interest. Don't talk about what's important to you. Show enough common sense to talk about what's important to them. And if they ask you dumb questions, respect them and treat them straight.

And this is very important because, you know, body language is very critical. Each of us, and if you're a Type A, and you're an A student and you have this little monster in your head. And you stand up here, and as you're talking it's telling you they know that. They're smarter than you. Who the hell do you think you are? Do you have a lisp? Is your -- and that, you know, it might be from mother, it might be from sister you carry it, but the important thing is, be so familiar with your subject matter that you don't think about yourself. Think about the messages, and I talk about messages, and messages are important. And it's important to have them in advance. Like I said, the more you know, the more trouble you can get into.

You're the guest, and recognize the risk and take charge. Don't let the microphone rule you. You've got to stand your ground and take charge. And there are exercises that you could do to improve that. The questions, CDC put a book together for communications guide. It has great -- ten million questions that you can anticipate being asked on Anthrax, but this is the basic questions. And the other one is a horrible question, could you have prevented this? Well, of course. But then you open the liability issue. Prepare with your staff before you go public with these questions, and this will be on the website, so I'm going to move forward.

Be brilliant in shaping your message. Johnny Cochran beat the pants off millions of dollars worth of scientists by saying if the glove don't fit, you've got to acquit, because it was the right message for that audience. It gave them the information they needed to vote the way they were predisposed, and DNA evidence be damned. And I'm writing a book about communicating complex information. And if I can, the title is going to be, "If The Glove Don't Fit", because that's the perfect example of the perfect message.

Be concrete and human. Tell the story, tell how you felt, tell what you said to your mother about this, because it humanizes you, and it creates a link with the audience. And don't talk about health care delivery, talk about the nine year old baby named Tonya who's in the emergency room crying, because that's what people understand. It's familiar.

Take charge. Never go out there unless you have somebody with you who will tell you your zipper is open, your tie is crooked or whatever. And there's a big debate about telling everything and telling it immediately. I say you don't have to tell everything. Just make sure everything you do tell is true. And you don't have to know everything, but don't say I don't know. Say well, here's what I can tell you, and here's what I'll do to get that information for you, so that you sound like you're in charge.

Remember that reporters are walking cameras, so if they turn their recorder off, it doesn't mean they stop thinking. If the camera lights go off, it doesn't mean you're home free. Everything a reporter sees or hears is fair game. There was a big story in the Times about Pat Rousseau who's running Lucent, and in the middle of it they said she took the extraordinary step of conducting this interview in a room with only one picture rather than her office. Well, what does that have to do with anything? But that was the reporter's perception, so it becomes part of the story. Reporters, and don't relax. It's not a conversation. It's never a conversation. You sit down with Larry King and you think he's really interested in you and your background. It's not. It's a performance. And from the time the reporter comes in the door to the time the reporter leaves, it's a performance, and that's your job. And it may be your job, if it's not your job.

And I say use for example. Force yourself to say for example, let me give you an example, let me tell you what happened in Wisconsin or Milwaukee. Great story, repeat your key points, and use boomerangs and setup phrases. It sounds stupid, but all you need sometimes when you're asked a question is four seconds to get your mind in order. And that four seconds can save your career. Rather than going this way with it, you go this way with it. So we say embed these setup phrases because they also tell the reporter what's important. And 15 minutes later when he or she is writing the story, you say well the most important thing I can tell you is, and they put a little star in the margin. And later on when they're trying to figure out what was important, there it is just like you said. And you speak in whole sentences, so you don't say as I told you earlier, and then blah, blah, blah, blah, because I'm not going to use that as a sound byte. You want a total sound byte.

Great sound byte. Bob Dole, his wife was being named the Cabinet Secretary, and he was there. I think it was either Regan or George Bush, I, and he said, "I regret I have but one wife to give for my country", great sound byte, you know, but he thought about it. It all boils down to this. Our first priority is this, they say people can only pay attention for about 17 seconds. Then you have to rewind their tape. These phrases rewind the tape, and they put framework, and they force you to summarize. That's important, because we can ramble on. Five nevers, never lie, never repeat negatives, never say anything you don't want to see in print, never get angry, and you wouldn't think you'd have to say it, but I have people running away all the time, and it's a great shot, you going down the hall.

The key is preparation. I'm going to show you two pieces of tape. This is -- you need media contingency plans that people are aware of, that they'll use. So it should be like flip cards rather than documents. You need contingency statements, statements that you thought through and worked through, and video taped yourself saying so they're on the tip of your tongue, so you can say well, I'm glad you asked that question, Ted. Here's the way we approach a problem like that, and suddenly, you know, this guy is on top of things. He's not doing it on the fly. It's because you've practiced.

Designate and train spokespeople, and evaluate them carefully. Don't put anybody out there, and then leave them hanging, because everybody knows what you should have said Monday morning. Why didn't you tell Mike Wallace that? And simulation exercises, you know, the phones have to ring. It can't be -- we prepare material for people and they say oh, yeah, I got it. I got it. Well, let's do it in front of the video. I got it. I got it. And they get out there and you hear this loud sucking sound. Okay.

Can I play the video? Okay. I want to show you, it's going to happen, you know, there's no way around it. And thank God you people are here, and you've made it a priority to try and pull our public health structure together to respond to it. But I want to show you a guy who made some mistakes, because this is an example of what I want you to implant in your mind. He's an epidemiologist just like you, and this was the day when the big story in America, because nothing else was happening, was "Your Muffins Are Killing You." Now maybe 15, 17 years ago, some place, some competitor of a big muffin company did an analysis of the ingredients, and found parts per billion of methylene dibromide, so as a competitive strike they said you better check into this. I think those muffins are going to make your head explode or whatever. And it was a big story. In fact, it was on Nightline because Princess Di was healthy that night, so the company that made the muffin mix did not want to go and defend their poisonous muffins. They said, you know, I got these Washington think tanks, like the Food Manufacturer's Association, and you've got all these experts who, you know -- have one of your guys go out and defend us generically, so that we don't associate. So this guy's called, the epidemiologist is brought up from the basement. They give him a suit, and he calls everybody he knows on earth and says I'm going to be on Nightline. And everybody gives him advice, make sure you do this, use analogies. And you only have 30 seconds, but what they didn't tell him was that means -- the recipe for a good 30 second spot is add shortening. They didn't tell him that, so he tries to say everything in 30 seconds. And I want you to listen to this like an informed viewer. Ted Kopple has no idea what he's talking about. You will, but in the background you can hear Ted Kopple cough because he's waiting for this guy to take a breath so he can interrupt him. And Ted Kopple has an earphone, and the producer is saying get this guy off. They're turning to Johnny Carson. He's deadly, and he's going on and on. And suddenly that little monster, he realizes this is going on a little long. I may be adding too many -- and you can see his face start to -- he has this dissonance occurring his body language. And finally, Ted Kopple says what the hell are you talking about? And Ted Kopple, the guy who spoke to the sock, is one of the brightest people on T.V. Please roll tape one, go the video tape.

(Video Tape Played.)

MR. BURKE: I've carried that tape for 17 years for exactly this purpose. God knew what he was doing. I have another tape here. It's a tape of somebody who did the job well. It's Rudy Giuliani at that press conference when they're talking about the exposure of the little girl, and it's hastily called. Now I want to say something about Giuliani. He's been doing -- he has a radio show at this point, every Friday on WOR in New York. Every week he deals with the toughest news media in the world who are out to kill him because they hate him, so this is an experienced spokesperson. So when we glorify him, it doesn't mean that everybody should aspire to a performance of this nature, but we can learn from it. But it's like tennis, you have to practice, or golf which is even worse. You have to practice. You have to develop the right muscles before you can perform this way. But the key point I want you to take away is something that I think Neil Cohen put into his head when the mayor said, "Tell me, doctor, is it is, or is it ain't Anthrax?" The doctor said, "We're using an abundance of caution. We're taking an abundance -- in an abundance of caution we're doing this." And he's a politician. He picked that up, and he used that phrase repeatedly to reassure people. And he just tells them -- he's not telling them anything that's awe inspiring. He's just explaining things in simple language what's being done, and this prevented hysteria in Manhattan, no matter how you define hysteria. After people saw this, said oh, good, they're taking care of it. You know, where's Archie Bunker, or whoever the prevailing Archie Bunker is. Please play the tape.

(Video Tape played.)

MR. BURKE: You can stop the tape. It goes on and it comes across the ticker excessive caution, taking excessive caution. We feel comforted. He does a good job, and part of it is he's built such a reservoir of credibility from the 9/11, and we don't always have that.

So to summarize, I agree with everything everybody has said today. I think that this audience understands what needs to be done. We understand that like pole vaulting though. It's very important to actually rehearse and prepare the material in advance, and don't assume -- don't look in a narrow sphere of what might happen in your facility or your location, because with instant technology, anything that happens anywhere will -- you'll receive questions locally. And you have to prepare those good messages, and come out strong and take control.

I hope I've been helpful.

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