“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” —Alexander Graham Bell
It began as a front-page story by award-winning Kansas City Star reporter Christine Vendel about a young man who created a Web site listing more than 1,300 names, addresses and photos of Johnson Countians who have been arrested.
Matthew Creed, 30, of Shawnee then took his Website, blabbermouthkc.com, a step further: He offered to delete the information for a fee of $199.99.
He also sent out letters to some of those arrested noting, “We have already started blabbing to the world about your release from jail,” he wrote. “And we wanted to make you aware of our services, as we kind of have a big mouth.”
Yes, Creed does have a big mouth.
First, his interview with Vendel did nothing to make him seem even remotely sympathetic to readers. His site wasn’t even mentioned until the 15th paragraph. He pledged to donate 10% of his fees to charities, but he still came across as either a blackmailer or extortionist.
The Star story clearly showed that Creed had really not thought through his message points (if he had any) before doing the interview. He called himself an “entrepreneur” at one point. He then said folks can be removed from his site by performing 180 hours of community service or attending 90 Alchoholics Anonymous meeetings. Where did that thought come from?
In fact, angry folks on the Internet have fired back at Creed by printing his name, address and making threats against his family.
Yes, his Star story was an unmitigated disaster.
As if Creed had not done enough damage to his integrity and credibility in the Star interview, for some strange reason he thought going on the “Dana and Parks” RadioActive afternoon talk show Friday hosted by Scott Parks and Dana Wright might be a good idea.
Not a wise move. (We will link to the interview when it is up on the KMBZ site.)
Parks had been a newsman and news director at KMBZ for years before moving into talk radio. Wright was a bonafide pit bull investigative reporter at KCTV before joining Parks earlier this year. As they say, this was not their first time at the rodeo.
It was ugly. Creed seemed to be no more prepared for the KMBZ interview than he was for the Star story. He even did the interview in-studio, which again was not wise since he was virtually trapped. Not only did they have him for a late lunch, but the show’s callers also piled on.
Creed might still be on the floor in the studio…
Doing a media interview without clear objectives you hope to achieve is never a wise move. Preparation is the key to success.
It’s a lesson Mr. Creed seems to be learning the hard way.