Aug. 15, 2007
Over the past few months I've been helping my new officemate, Amanda Metskas, get some positive media attention for Camp Quest. This week we averted what might have been a PR disaster, and I thought it would be helpful to share this story with HNN readers since you may one day find yourself in a similar situation.
A little background first.
Camp Quest, Inc. is the first sleepaway summer camp aimed at children from humanist, atheist and other freethinking families. As president of Camp Quest, Inc., Amanda works out of the offices of the Institute for Humanist Studies in Albany, N.Y. You may have heard Amanda on the most recent HNN Audio Podcast speaking about her work and playing some excerpts of interviews she recorded with the campers and staff of Camp Quest West in California.Amanda gives support to the six Camp Quest programs in the U.S. and Canada. She's also working to develop new camps. Since Camp Quest campers come from all over North America, it's important to get the word out about these programs through the media.
And that's where our recent story begins.
On Tuesday morning, a radio interview with Amanda about Camp Quest aired on the "Faith Matters" section of NPR's program Tell Me More. The interview itself went well, and it would have been a public relations coup for Camp Quest and for freethought in general except for one thing, the headline: "Summer Camp Teaches Anti-Christian Beliefs."
When Amanda first showed me the headline for the radio interview on the NPR website, she was dismayed. Camp Quest is not "anti-Christian." It's a summer camp where children learn about freethought while also participating in traditional summer camp activities.
I agreed with Amanda that it was an unfair headline that could even damage the reputation of Camp Quest.
But instead of hiding our heads in the sand, we decided that Amanda should contact the segment producer and ask her to change the headline to something more accurate. It's difficult to be polite at a time like that, but I advised Amanda to be as nice as possible when she contacted the producer. She assured me that she planned on being diplomatic.
And she was.
Shortly after Amanda respectfully asked the producer to change the headline, it was changed to "Children's Summer Camp Teaches 'Free Thinking'." That's a much better headline all around -- it's positive and, more importantly, accurate. And the headline was changed before most web users even got the chance to see it.
The producer was very apologetic for the original headline, and explained that the headline writers for the website don't always get it right. (They are, after all, only human.)
The lesson I'd like readers to take from this story is that sometimes the media makes mistakes that could hurt the image of humanists and other freethinkers. But before you get angry (or decide that there's a media conspiracy against atheists), try to think of a way to solve the problem. Reporters, editors, copy editors and webmasters are people, too. They make mistakes, but most are eager to correct them. You can usually accomplish your goal by being respectful and offering helpful solutions.
To listen to Amanda's Camp Quest interview on NPR,
click here.
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