Last week, The Daily Wire announced that co-CEO Jeremy Boreing was stepping down from his role to focus on more creative efforts for the digital media titan.
And then…they didn’t say anything. Anyone. No one at The Daily Wire commented on the co-founder leaving his executive position. Which seemed…strange, especially for a brand built on the reputation of its hosts saying whatever they want — without the fear of repercussions — whenever they wanted.
That lack of comment about the situation let rumors run rampant. Former hosts and those at rival digital entities began talking about the situation. And that fed the news cycle about the situation. For nearly a week, no one at the company truly addressed the situation publicly. Not Ben Shapiro, who many turned to as the expected person to break the silence, who co-founded The Daily Wire with Boreing. Not Matt Walsh, not Michael Knowles. Nobody spoke up or spoke out.
Logic dictates that’s the correct way to operate in these situations. It’s the age-old adage about music radio station: You can’t be hurt by the songs you don’t play.
Except you can be hurt by what you don’t say these days because if you don’t address uncomfortable situations, they fester. And the longer you let things fester, the more deep the infection becomes.
So I was surprised that it took until Shapiro made an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show to address the situation, where he strongly denied some of the rumors that had come about The Daily Wire. He went as far as to call them “bullshit,” which is somewhat strong language for Shapiro.
Companies, brands, and leaders often get into the mind space that you can’t address each and every thing people say about them. But there does need to be some awareness that some things are going to land and loom larger than others.
Let me preface this by saying: I am not making any insinuations here. I know nothing of the behind-the-scenes workings at The Daily Wire. But I do understand how it would be very simple to see the co-founder of one the most successful digital media enterprises stepping down from his role as co-CEO could be fodder for some to talk and take shots at the outlet.
So, when the company released a statement that said Jeremy Boreing was leaving his executive position to focus on other projects, it was easy to be skeptical. Because we often forget that we’re not the only ones with B.S. meters. Everyone has one. And when you start to detect bovine excrement, it’s difficult to think it was actually a bowl of Fruity Pebbles and your nose was deceiving you.
It’s why I have always taken the approach that if someone got fired, laid off, quit, or whatever other reason why they’re no longer a part of your company, station, brand, or show: you just flat-out address it. You don’t have to tell the whole truth. You don’t have to tell the entire truth. But you do have to tell the truth.
If your audience is used to someone being in a position and they’re suddenly no longer there, it’s insulting to just gloss over it as if nothing ever happened. And The Daily Wire did that. But they didn’t do it flawlessly, which led to a little bit of damage control that could have been avoided if someone — legitimately, it could have only been Shapiro — addressed it the same day in one of their shows.
If there was some internal strife, it’s easy to dispel by someone sharing on their show, “Hey, we’ve made some changes we’re really excited about it. Jeremy Boreing is super passionate about this project and we feel like his time is going to be best spent on focusing on that going forward. He didn’t love the parts that operating the company on a day-to-day basis entailed, so we’re putting him in the best position for personal success.
“Going forward, Caleb Robinson is going to serve as CEO of The Daily Wire. Nothing else will change and you won’t notice anything different going forward, but I just wanted to address that to squash any rumors or anything that might have come from that change. Moving on…”
It truly is that simple. But so many in the media industry get that wrong. Even if leaders want to pre-produce a script for their talents to read and not deviate from, that’s better than just skipping along as if everything is sunshine and rainbows when it clearly isn’t.
When I was about 10 years old, before getting on the bus for school one day, I said goodbye to our family dog, a 12-year-old black lab named Spanky. When I got home from school that day, there was a chocolate lab at Spanky’s dog house. I asked my mom where Spanky was and she said “Spanky’s out at the dog house.” Clearly, that wasn’t Spanky. When pressed, my mom replied “I said that’s Spanky, damn it. Also, we changed Spanky’s name to Godzilla.”
It was insulting to my intelligence, which I admittedly hadn’t given my parents much reason to think was all that robust.
But that is how you treat your audience when you simply ignore the fact that something — whether it be personnel or any other change — is different about a product they’ve grown to become familiar with and enjoy.
I give so much credit to Mitch Rosen of 670 The Score, who encountered a similar situation last week when the station cut ties with longtime host Dan Bernstein after a series of uncouth social media posts.
He went on the station, made the announcement that Bernstein was no longer affiliated with the brand, and that was that. While it was clear the directive to talent on the station was to not discuss the incident, the on-air hosts weren’t told not to address Bernstein’s tenure with the station, their interactions with him, and how they felt about the former colleague.
And to put that edict in place would have been a dumb one. You can’t erase the memories and minds of your audience, especially after letting go of a host who had 30 years of familiarity with the station’s listeners.
When something goes down, and it’s almost universally negative, be upfront. Be honest. That’s how you built the audience in the first place. If something happens, address it. That doesn’t mean you have to dwell on it, but to pretend as if your audience is too inept to put two and two together is outrageous.
If you’re not telling your story, someone else is. And the chances they’re telling it accurately the longer you wait to address it. Control the message, even if it means you take a hit in the interim. You’ll be better off — and more credible in the eyes of your audience — the next time a similar situation arises.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
