How NOT to say "No Comment"

Great story in yesterday's WSJ about the subprime mess -- in classic Journal fashion, they looked at the intertwined relationships of players in the mortgage business, tracing the story from the misfortunes of a single homeowner up to giant multinational financial institutions that invested in mortgage-backed securities, including securities whose returns were dependent on the homeowner continuing to pay his mortgage. If you're at all interested in understanding the subprime situation, I recommend it.

Buried about 75% of the way into the story, though, was a media relations "teachable moment."

The story was about the tribulations of "Colorado truck driver Roger Rodriguez," who over-mortgaged his home in Westminster, CO. After he took out his mortgage, it was packaged into a security and sold to investors, including James C. Kelsoe Jr., a senior portfolio manager at the asset-management unit of Morgan Keegan & Co., a Memphis, Tenn., investment firm and unit of Regions Financial Corp.

When the mortgage market was riding high, so was Kelsoe's fund. But after the crash, his returns suffered, as Rodriguez and others started defaulting on their loans. "At the end of August," the Journal wrote, "Mr. Kelsoe's Select High Income Fund posted a loss of nearly 28% for the month -- dead last among its peers for the year and for five years as well, according to Morningstar."

Naturally, the Journal sought comment from Kelsoe. Here's what they got:

A Morgan Keegan spokeswoman said Mr. Kelsoe wasn't available to comment because he was focused on managing his funds.

Every moment of the day? 24/7? Of course not. This was just a way to duck the interview, to say "no comment" without saying "no comment." In my trainings, that's exactly the strategy I recommend, with one additional element: your dodge needs to be plausible. As in, "Sorry, I can't help you, that information is confidential." That wouldn't have worked in this case, and in fact, I'm not sure there's any plausible dodge in this situation. So the best strategy would have been to simply say, "Sorry, Mr. Kelsoe's not available for an interview," and hold your ground with that.

When you use an implausible dodge like the one above, the journalist will usually find a way to embarrass you. And they did a few grafs later:

In a letter to a Memphis newspaper, Charles Reaves, an attorney who had invested in one of Mr. Kelsoe's funds, wrote that Mr. Kelsoe was "hiding under his desk" and "should have the fortitude to face the public and explain...what he intends to do."

Bottom line: don't hide, and don't use implausible dodges. But if you don't want to talk, just say so and hold your ground. That's your right.