All About Readling Between The Lines

     It’s an important media relations skill that you don’t learn in any public relations course. We wish we could do it as easily as Superman. But we mortals have to earn this ability the hard way, through experience.  
   It is known as “reading between the lines.”  The phrase means detecting the true hidden meaning behind someone’s words or actions. The famed Man of Steel is gifted with X-ray vision. He can spot a hidden object with “X marks the spot” accuracy. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could divine our PR clients’ true intentions with such ease?

  In media relations, you’ll meet plenty of people who are cloaking an uncomfortable fact or an ulterior motive. My decade of experience as a newspaper journalist has borne out this observation. One example is an early 2000’s citizens’ meeting in Little Falls, NJ; one of my three coverage towns. This happened during my early reporting years.

  The district headquarters staff of Rep. Bill Pascrell, who represents Little Falls, called a hearing at the Little Falls Civic Center. He planned an evening open mike session for residents affected by the flood-prone Peckman River.

   At that time, the United States Army Corps of Engineers was doing preliminary studies on the flooding problem. The initiative was funded by grants that Pascrell had secured.

  Come showtime, at least 100 people attended, including local activists and council people. However, Pascrell was surprisingly absent. His aides wound up moderating the forum. They claimed the congressman was, “in committee” in Washington on important legislative business.

  I bought that story until an insider enlightened me on what had transpired. The tipster was Joe Scaperotta, an aide to then NJ Senator Norm Robertson.  Scaperotta attended the same meeting I did. He saw right through the “congressman in committee” excuse. He told me the truth a couple days later.

  According to Scaperotta, the congressman, politically speaking, could ill-afford to attend the hearing. There were no new developments on the Army Corps’ flood problem study. Therefore, Pascrell would lose face appearing before an audience with no news. That would weaken the congressman’s image as a results getting leader.

  According to the Scaperotta, Pascrell was upset with his district staff for calling the citizens’ conference.  I vividly remember Scapperotta’s words about the congressman’s no-show act.

 “He was in committee like you were in Paris.”         

   In hindsight, Scaperotta was the perfect person to pierce the smokescreen. As a senatorial aide, he knew the tricks politicians use to look good. I really began to understand that experience is second to none for reading between the lines. Part of the lesson is, as time goes on, you pick up pointers from knowledgeable people. That makes sense, because no one knows everything about everything.  

 As the years went on, I became more adept at reading between the lines. As my catalogue of journalistic encounters grew, so did my reference book for spotting similar situations. I also developed a more probing mindset; asking more questions and taking more dished out explanations with a grain of salt.

   Eventually, I became skillful at seeing the story behind the story. I realized that ability comes with performing your career, and growing wiser throughout time. I saw there is no shortcut to acquiring this.

  No college course or instructor can give you this skill. No class or teacher can cover all the circumstances encountered throughout years of being on the job. You have to be there yourself.   There’s no better education than dealing with various situations yourself, even if it means sometimes playing the fool.

   And don’t be ashamed if that happens.  Chalk it up to living and learning. Enlarging your encyclopedia of experience sharpens your eyesight for reading between the lines. You’ll become better at it.  Increasingly, you’ll discern the real matter at hand and confront it instead of being blindsided by it.  

   In the PR world, reading between the lines of your client’s intentions can make the difference between success and failure.  How can you really craft an effective strategic communications campaign if the client isn’t honesty communicating? How can you be someone’s PR right hand person when the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing?

  We all wish we could read between the lines as readily as Superman uses X-ray vision. Yet, it is much better that we earn that skill ourselves. In the real world, we have to apply that capability ourselves. There is no Superman around to do it for us. And who wants to go through life with a Kryptonite like vulnerability to other people’s shenanigans?