In politics you are either on message or off message. Let’s get to it.
Welcome to On Message, a weekly look at where the battle lines are drawn and who is winning the war of words.
This week… Setting the tone.
For a new governor, the brief period between Election Day and the opening of the legislative session is critical.
There’s no period of the term more packed with high profile speeches. You’ve got the victory speech, the inauguration speech and the state of the state address.
It’s a steady stream of relatively high-profile events that add up to make the critical first impression for most of the public. It’s the transition from campaigning to governing.
And with an ongoing pandemic, the first COVID-related press conference was also a tone-setting opportunity.
And I think the Cox team was really smart in how they handled it.
In this first pandemic presser since taking office, Governor Cox went on the offensive on a topic that was primed to put state officials on their heels. Vaccines.
The message the governor drove was two-fold:
- There’s nothing more important than getting the vaccines distributed
- Made it clear who the next two groups are to get the vaccine (people over 70 and teachers).
This is a smart messaging strategy because it sets a clear tone that the Governor recognizes how important vaccine distribution is and that he isn’t satisfied with how things have gone so far.
Mostly, it’s the right move because he’s not waiting; he’s getting ahead of the difficult questions.
One thing the Cox communication team should be pushing local media to do? How about reporting the vaccine distribution numbers in the headlines every day. Put them right there next to the number of confirmed cases and the number of deaths.
Also, find a way to put a face on the story. Or even better, several faces. Show people getting back to work or back with families because they’ve been vaccinated.
Getting the public’s focus on the vaccine distribution is smart communication strategy… provided you are actually doing a good job of distributing the vaccine.
Of course, good comms needs solid policy behind it. The Cox team has done a good job of dictating the message… now the health department needs to back up the talk.
On the national scene… After the images of Trump supporters storming the US Capitol became the rare un-spinable a story… Twitter and Facebook each suspended the out-going president’s accounts.
While some cried a violation of the first amendment (it isn’t) and others declared it too-litte-too-late, the most interesting question to me is: what happens when you spend the better part of five years becoming the enemy of traditional media only to lose your direct line of contact with the public?
Can you survive it?
Left without his weapon of choice (his twitter account) or his facebook account… or even off-brand Twitter… POTUS had no ability to change the narrative as discussions about invoking the 25th amendment or even impeachment grabbed all the headlines.
Well, with only days remaining in his presidency, we aren’t likely to see anything close to the full impact of social media banishment. But it does show us how incredibly powerful the top social media platforms have become – and why it is sill valuable to cultivate at least a respectful relationship with the Fourth Estate.
It will be interesting to see what lessons politicians derive from this important – albeit brief – case study.
That’s it for this week.
More On Message in the next issue of the Utah Political Underground. Don’t forget to like this video and subscribe to our new YouTube channel.
Check it new issues every Friday at utpolunderground.com.
And you can check out the Underground podcast network, including my conversation with Representative Robert Spendlove. That’s available wherever you prefer to find your pods.
New episodes each Friday.
On Message, is a weekly look at where the battle lines are drawn and who is winning the war of words in Utah politics and beyond. Marty Carpenter served as head of communication for Governor Gary Herbert and has played a senior role in each of the last three gubernatorial races. In this episode, he looks at how Governor Cox has worked to set the narrative on vaccine distribution and the impact of a politician losing access to social media.
Music: Moonshine & Molly by Wilasco (SoundStrip.com)
