LSU coach Kim Mulkey's Washington Post attack just fanned the flames
An exploration of the 'prebuttal.'
A few weeks ago I learned a new word: Prebuttal. Surprisingly, this did not come from my two kids and it is, indeed a real word from the PR world. Simply defined, it’s when someone tries to get out in front of a story by issuing a news release or holding a press conference to ensure they get the first word on the matter.
I come from the media side of things, but it was immediately clear that the tactic seems risky. And the events described below pretty much convinced me that the prebuttal is a truly terrible idea.
Just before the start of the women’s NCAA tournament, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey sat before a collection of reporters and issued the following statement about an unpublished Washington Post story:
Like most of the country, this was my first notice The Post was writing anything about Mulkey. And, like most of the country, this was my reaction:
Obligatory disclosure for transparency: I worked for The Post for nearly 10 years. I worked in the Sports department for most of that time. I immediately knew the writer of the Brian Kelly story Mulkey referenced in her remarks, and I knew how good Kent Babb is at his job because I’ve had the good fortune to edit some of his work. I could not wait to see what was in this story. And now, because of Mulkey’s press conference/declaration of war, neither could the rest of America.
Get your popcorn ready
Here’s what her comments did from an audience perspective: This was arguably the most anticipated women’s NCAA tournament in history, featuring an undefeated South Carolina team, an ascending legend in Caitlin Clark and Mulkey’s own LSU Tigers looking to repeat as national champions. Amid all of those story lines, all feeding the pre-tournament preview story frenzy, she took what had been a rumored scoop — mysteriously teased by SI’s Pat Forde on Twitter/X March 22 — poured a generous amount of kerosene around it and ignited it with fire and brimstone. Now that she was addressing a story that had not even published yet, everyone could see the flames. And by threatening a lawsuit to “hold these kind of journalists accountable,” she was fanning them.
I asked one of my contacts who now works in PR after a long run as a TV news producer what they thought of the prebuttal strategy in general.
“There aren’t many cases when I’d recommend using a prebuttal,” they said. “Most of the time, the downside risk of attracting more attention to a negative story is not worth the upside gain of discrediting the allegations before they are made public.”
That last bit there is interesting in that even Mulkey didn’t know the full extent of any potential allegations. At the time of Mulkey’s comments, she would not have seen the story, nor would have anyone outside of The Post. She and her advisors, and lawyers, would have been working off a series of questions sent to them seeking comment. From those, they apparently inferred it was a hit piece.
At this point, they faced a choice:
Have Mulkey answer the questions and participate in the story. (This seems like a non-starter for her.)
No comment and decline participation until after the story publishes and then respond to any allegations. (Probably advisable.)
Selectively address, refute or no-comment the questions via the university and its/her lawyers to keep Mulkey’s voice out of it. (Which they ultimately did. But also, they could … )
Strap up Mulkey with a flame thrower and put her in front of a microphone when only portions
of the story could be ascertained. (Get your popcorn ready.)
I have no unique insights into Mulkey’s decision making, nor do I know anything about the questions submitted to LSU and the answers received by The Post beyond what was published in the story. What I do know is that by holding the press conference and attacking The Post, Mulkey and LSU made a big bet with imperfect information, one that carried a lot of risk.
It’s clear from her comments that Mulkey never wanted this story written. Now, whatever was going to be in the story, true or false, a lot more people were going to read it.
So what is the upside in this prebuttal strategy?
“The goal is to take the teeth out of a story before it’s made public,” my TV-news-turned-PR contact said. “You’re trying to set public perception and persuade people to support you before the damaging information comes to light. That way you already have some portion of the public backing you, and ideally your side of the story is prominently featured in any coverage of the allegations.”
Did it achieve that? Perhaps to a degree. LSU fans seemed to rally around her. And she was interviewed on ESPN shortly after the story published, prior to the Tigers’ Sweet 16 game. In that interview, Mulkey noted she had not read the story (which seems reasonable before a major game) and took the opportunity to publicly question the timing of the story’s release. Note to non-journalism types: Timing for a story’s publication includes a number of variables, including when the piece is finalized by editors, reviewed by lawyers, figures to command maximum attention from the audience and, occasionally and sadly, just because something is needed to fill a hole in the print section. Whether the timing is fortunate or unfortunate for the story’s subject just doesn’t factor in.
The story’s timing was definitely not surprising though given the point about maximum audience interest. LSU’s Sweet 16 game served as a great news peg for a deep profile of its head coach. And because of Mulkey’s pre-tournament prebuttal (I will now never stop using this term every chance I get) that audience was primed to receive the story.
This is a pretty interesting conversation I saw between Dan Le Batard and The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill that came out between Mulkey’s press conference and the story’s publication. It’s worth a watch … but you can probably fast-forward for about a minute when you hit the “big balls” digression.
When Babb’s story did publish, ESPN included it in all of its tournament coverage — a live report and Mulkey interview before LSU’s Sweet 16 game, splashed across the headline stack on ESPN.com, updates on SportsCenter. It also spread like wildfire on social media … even if it didn’t drip with the gory details some of those readers may have been hoping for.
In reality, the story was not a “hit piece,” as Mulkey suggested, but rather a carefully reported profile that included on-the-record quotes from her family, former coaches and players. It presented a full picture, including her coaching achievements and quotes from players supporting the coaching tactics that some other of her players questioned in the story.
The story soared to the top of The Post’s most-read section and remained there over the weekend. From what I was told by a former Post colleague, millions of readers had clicked on it before it started to fade from the news cycle. Below the Google News box, The Post’s story remains the top Google result when you search for “Kim Mulkey” after her Twitter and Instagram account (at least in my algorithmic experience).
“For Mulkey, I thought her decision to get ahead of the story completely backfired on her,” the former news producer said. “By getting so angry about a story that wasn’t even published yet, she drew so much more attention to the story. She drove at least two news cycles around a story that probably wouldn’t have received much coverage on what turned out to be a very busy news weekend.” [Note: This was the same weekend when Shohei Ohtani’s translator was fired for allegedly stealing from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts.]
Was there another reason beyond self-defense?
In an examination of Mulkey’s approach that included another story — a very misguided column from the L.A. Times, for which the columnist subsequently apologized — Front Office Sports media columnist Michael McCarthy raised this possibility of Mulkey’s approach to The Post’s story:
Could it be that Mulkey, a master motivator, has been playing all of us? It’s not hard to imagine that she used the threat of the Post’s “hit piece” to galvanize her team to a Sweet 16 win over a talented UCLA team. Her in-your-face presser last week took the pressure off her players and put it squarely on her—and it’s not terribly hard to imagine an invigorated LSU running the table for a second straight national championship.
Mayyyyyybe … but that move seems miscalculated as well, especially considering, at the time of press conference condemning The Post a week before facing UCLA, LSU was still a favorite for its first two tournament games and that L.A. Times column wasn’t even a half-cooked idea. And again, this tactic comes at the cost of drawing a lot of attention to things you probably don’t want prospective recruits reading.
While there may not have been any career-damning evidence or allegations, The Post’s story did include criticism of Mulkey from several former players who felt their sexuality led to poor treatment during their time playing for the coach. Even though Mulkey’s lawyers denied those claims in the story, because of the pre-story hype driven by Mulkey’s statements there were a lot more people who saw those claims and will get to decide on their veracity. True or false, if people don’t see them in the first place, do they have any impact?
“The bottom line for me is Mulkey created multiple negative news cycles that were completely avoidable,” the former producer/current PR worker said. “If she doesn’t comment in the press conference, the story would’ve had much less oxygen.”
I’m curious to get your thoughts on this. So please, if you found this case study intriguing, please respond in the comments and provide your POV. I’m especially interested if anyone sees any wisdom in Mulkey’s response that I do not.
But … about the prebuttal. To me, by embracing the prebuttal, it feels like it’s inevitable a lot more people are just going to see a part of you that you don’t want them to see … like, your butt. And, at least in this instance, it seems to have been about as effective as Kevin Bacon trying to maintain order at the end of “Animal House.” Count me as a skeptic of its strategic value moving forward.
Coming Monday: Why Taylor Swift is a world-class audience expert.
Hi, I’m Mike. I’m a former editor for The Washington Post and ESPN. In 2024 I founded and now operate Launcher, LLC, a digital media consultancy operating out of Arlington, Va. Want to work together? Reach out on LinkedIn.