[kayodelycaon]

Having helped run a furry convention, there are times you need to talk to members of the media. Otherwise, you have zero input in the narrative.

If you make the response boring or used a canned legalish message, it doesn’t allow them to say you didn’t talk to them.

A better rule is: don’t let anyone untrained talk to journalists.

[charcircuit]

The narrative already gets decided ahead of time and often there is nothing you can do to change it. In my opinion it's better to accelerate the distrust of journalists.

[kayodelycaon]

The general idea of the narrative might be set, but many times I see a company’s response in the story.

You usually have some influence. Enough people are smart enough to read between the lines to make it worth trying.

Perfect example: I had to fire someone from staff rather promptly. The reasons were serious even that not responding to questions in timely manner would have been a fatal error for the convention.

Unfortunately, there are times you can’t opt out of the game because opting out is a response. Silence will be misconstrued as support.