Lindsay Boswell: media relations genius
Howard Lake | 11 October 2010 | Blogs
Tributes have been flowing in for Lindsay Boswell left, right and centre – and justly so. Most of these concern his leadership on such projects as establishing self-regulation for fundraising, promoting membership or moving the conference from Birmingham to London (mmm).
I’d like to contribute a short story that exemplifies Lindsay’s skill in dealing with the media.
When I was editor of Professional Fundraising, Penny Stephens and I used to get in freelance support to help us with the news every other issue. My freelance journalist of choice was one of my best mates, Pete Mason, the editor of Ethical Performance, who is also one of, if not the, best journalists I know (Pete also had a knack of always getting through the person he wanted to speak to first time of calling – a skill that always seemed to elude me and Penny).
My way of working was to provide Pete with a list of stories I wanted him to follow up, a briefing to the story with angles or ideas he might like to explore, and a list of contacts. One such story about six or seven years ago was about something the Institute were up to (really can’t remember what) and we thought they needed to provide a bit more justification for doing it (or something like that). So I briefed Pete to talk to Lindsay.
Pete dialled the IoF’s number, asked to speak to Lindsay and, as usual, went straight through. I heard Pete having a long chat with Lindsay, asking questions, pursuing responses, throwing in different angles and asking for Lindsay’s reaction, and then, after about 10 minutes, signing off.
“How’d it go?” I asked.
“Yeah, good,” Pete replied, “he answered all my questions. It was a good interview.”
So Pete got down to reviewing his notes and writing up the story. After another 10 minutes or so, I glanced over at Pete and saw him leafing back and forth through his his shorthand, going over and over the same pages.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Pete looked up with a slightly bemused expression and said: “He didn’t really answer any of the questions at all.”
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.