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Two Lessons Candidates Should Learn from Imus

Mark Montini

April-19-07

Imus Lesson #2: Sound bites shape reality.

The amazing thing to me about the Imus story was that it all came about because of a five second clip from his show. Let's do the math. I believe he was on the air three hours a day. Let's just estimate his show was live 200 days a year. That's 600 hours of air time each year. Multiply that by the 25 years the Imus show had been on the air and you realize that Imus ultimately lost his job because of FIVE SECONDS of a 15,000 HOUR career.

Just to further illustrate the point, 15,000 hours is 54,000,000 seconds. Five seconds is .00000925% of 54,000,000. Amazing, isn't it, that someone could lose their job over .00000925% of their performance over a 25 year career?

People who have actually listened to Imus' show know that his comment about the Rutgers basketball team wasn't out of character at all. Simply put, that's Don Imus. For him, it wasn't racist or sexist, it was comedy. That's what he does. Listen to 15 minutes of any of his shows and you'll hear the same kind of stuff being said about his broadcast team, candidates for president, corporate executives, his bosses, and even himself.

I actually liked Imus' show. He's a great interviewer and extremely funny 98% of the time. From time to time he says stuff that I think is off-color or wrong but I understand that it's just Imus being Imus and, as he acknowledged in the Rutgers situation, he perhaps took something a little too far (COMMENTARY: something Jesse Jackson has never done, right?).

So how can the man say similar things day after day, year after year with no outcry and then one day lose his job over it?

That's the power of a sound bite.

You see, I'd bet 95% of the people calling for Imus to be fired had never heard his show. The only thing they'd ever heard from him was the infamous five second clip about the Rutgers basketball team. As a result, they formed their entire opinion about Imus based on a five second clip - it's really no different than the five second sound bite we hear about (mostly criticism) today.

Like it or not, the five-second sound bite is a powerful part of communications today. Ignore it at your peril.

Most people who hear about you during your campaign will have no idea who you are. They'll have no idea if you're a good person or a bad person. They'll have no idea if you're honest or dishonest. They aren't going to know all that much about the issues you're discussing on the campaign trail, either.

So, the impression they have of you personally and the issues you advocate is going to be framed by the five second sound bites they hear and read in the media.

What's the lesson? You better have memorable 5-8 second answers for questions like who you are, why you're qualified, why people should vote for you, and where you stand on key issues. Why? As the situation with Don Imus illustrated, those answers are going to define the reality of your campaign. Whether that reality is helpful or hurtful depends on how prepared you are.

Read Imus Lesson # 1

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