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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Robin Cohn

Aired June 07, 2003 - 18:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Stewart is trying to get in front of the scandal. She has set up an Internet Web site and put an ad in "USA Today" to take her message to the public. But will the woman who can whip up anything in the kitchen, be able to put the right spin on this? Well, the book, the "PR Crisis Bible" is a how-to guide for responding to scandals. Robin Cohn is the author, and she joins us now from New York. Miss Cohn, if you were advising Martha Stewart right now, as to how to turn PR public relations in her favor, what would you tell her to do?
ROBIN COHN, AUTHOR: Well, actually, I would tell her she is very late. But in this case, what she is doing is preaching to the converted, and in this case it's OK because she is giving them a vehicle in which to show their support through the e-mailing. But it seems that, you know, there are people who either love her or hate her, and I don't think it's going to change public opinion much. I think public opinion could have been changed very early on in the game, if she'd come forward and said something. Because as of what's we've been hearing the story for a year, and I think, it could have certainly been cleared up a lot faster.

KOPPEL: So, what did you think of the ad that you took out in "USA Today" and the idea that she has now established her own Web site that dealing with the charges?

COHN: Again, I think for those who like Martha Stewart, it's fine. I think, it's time that she did take some action, and I think this is a good first step. But again, I don't think it's really going to change the way people already perceive her, because we are talking about perception, not reality here.

KOPPEL: Well, I think we need to separate the PR aspects of this out, because one part of this has to do with Martha Stewart hopefully winning in trial, and the other part has to do with Martha Stewart's stock not continuing to drop and perhaps even rising as it did after the news yesterday. So, how do you deal with these two aspects?

COHN: It's very difficult, because on one hand, you have consumers who like her, and on the other hand you have investors and advertisers. And very frankly, in a way it's almost the time to lay low or after this is all through, because we don't know what's going to happen. And I think, on the business side, everybody is really uncomfortable, because they don't know what to do, and that's very hard to address.

KOPPEL: So, how do you think you can continue with the brand of Martha Stewart and keep the business aspects of this moving forward without taking her name off of it?

COHN: It may be that her name does go off of it for a while, depending on what happens. But again, those who buy her products will continue to buy her products, but at this point, I think, it is not an appropriate time to use her name.

KOPPEL: All right, well, I'm sure, we will be following all of this closely, in the days ahead. In fact, CNN is going to have more on this. I want to thank our guest first, before we move on. Robin Cohn in New York, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 7, 2003 - 18:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Stewart is trying to get in front of the scandal. She has set up an Internet Web site and put an ad in "USA Today" to take her message to the public. But will the woman who can whip up anything in the kitchen, be able to put the right spin on this? Well, the book, the "PR Crisis Bible" is a how-to guide for responding to scandals. Robin Cohn is the author, and she joins us now from New York. Miss Cohn, if you were advising Martha Stewart right now, as to how to turn PR public relations in her favor, what would you tell her to do?
ROBIN COHN, AUTHOR: Well, actually, I would tell her she is very late. But in this case, what she is doing is preaching to the converted, and in this case it's OK because she is giving them a vehicle in which to show their support through the e-mailing. But it seems that, you know, there are people who either love her or hate her, and I don't think it's going to change public opinion much. I think public opinion could have been changed very early on in the game, if she'd come forward and said something. Because as of what's we've been hearing the story for a year, and I think, it could have certainly been cleared up a lot faster.

KOPPEL: So, what did you think of the ad that you took out in "USA Today" and the idea that she has now established her own Web site that dealing with the charges?

COHN: Again, I think for those who like Martha Stewart, it's fine. I think, it's time that she did take some action, and I think this is a good first step. But again, I don't think it's really going to change the way people already perceive her, because we are talking about perception, not reality here.

KOPPEL: Well, I think we need to separate the PR aspects of this out, because one part of this has to do with Martha Stewart hopefully winning in trial, and the other part has to do with Martha Stewart's stock not continuing to drop and perhaps even rising as it did after the news yesterday. So, how do you deal with these two aspects?

COHN: It's very difficult, because on one hand, you have consumers who like her, and on the other hand you have investors and advertisers. And very frankly, in a way it's almost the time to lay low or after this is all through, because we don't know what's going to happen. And I think, on the business side, everybody is really uncomfortable, because they don't know what to do, and that's very hard to address.

KOPPEL: So, how do you think you can continue with the brand of Martha Stewart and keep the business aspects of this moving forward without taking her name off of it?

COHN: It may be that her name does go off of it for a while, depending on what happens. But again, those who buy her products will continue to buy her products, but at this point, I think, it is not an appropriate time to use her name.

KOPPEL: All right, well, I'm sure, we will be following all of this closely, in the days ahead. In fact, CNN is going to have more on this. I want to thank our guest first, before we move on. Robin Cohn in New York, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com