Spinning the spinners

Abstract

This paper, adapted from a presentation at the 2001 ICNA Conference in Blackpool, is an examination of how health professionals can manage the media and apply the appropriate ‘spin’ when a crisis arises. The biggest lesson that can be offered about spin doctoring is that the art of spin doctoring is so much tosh. The public has become very sophisticated about the media and the message, and is very television-literate. People understand mass communication techniques with an instinct that cuts right through the waffle. They see through spin doctors. If you really want to change your image, tell your story, get your version across, then tell the truth, and tell it with passion. That works every time.