George, Cindy are public-relations flops

George, Cindy are public-relations flops

George and Cindy Anthony will appear on CNN's Larry King Live Wednesday

Hal Boedeker

11:28 AM EDT, May 12, 2009

Larry King teased last night to George and Cindy Anthony's appearance on his CNN show on Wednesday. "A lot of traffic on our blog about it," King said. He asked viewers to take part in the conversation at CNN.com/LarryKing.

The tragedy of toddler Caylee Anthony mainly drives interest in the perplexing story. Casey Anthony has been charged with murdering her daughter.

But the media performance of George and Cindy, Caylee's grandparents and Casey's parents, sustains the public's interest, too. George and Cindy have done just about everything wrong in public-relations terms, says Ron Sachs. His Ron Sachs Communications in Tallahassee deals in crisis management.

"It's as bad as it could get," Sachs says of the way the grandparents have conducted themselves. "It's a runway train off the tracks, and that usually has one outcome: disaster."

The problem?

"There's a stunning lack of discipline in how the story is told," Sachs says. "When crimes are alleged, long before you get to a court of law, you're being tried in the court of public opinion. If you don't speak, it's almost an admission of guilt. If you speak and perform poorly, it's worse than an admission of guilt."

Sachs says the grandparents don't come off as likable, and they've been overexposed.

Mason Moore, director of public relations at Fry Hammond Barr in Orlando, says he would have advised the couple to keep a lower profile. "I didn't see any positives from them having such high visibility in the beginning," he says. "They were so visible and outspoken from the beginning. It damaged their credibility."

Mark NeJame quit as the Anthonys' attorney in November, saying he couldn't help them if they wouldn't take his advice.

"My heart goes out to them, but I continue to spend my energy and time addressing things that might not need to be addressed if I had better control of the case," NeJame said then.

Brad Conway has taken over as their attorney, but evidently he hasn't been able to exert control either. The Anthonys made the huge blunder of agreeing to an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, then talking to other outlets, such as CBS' "Early Show."

The result: The queen of daytime television dumped the couple. And in this media world, it's never wise to anger Winfrey.

Now the Anthonys have turned to CNN's King. They appeared on his show in December, the night before Caylee's remains were found.

People who have followed the case will watch to see how King pushes the couple to answer questions. Will they say something of value? Or flub another opportunity?

"Anybody in that jackpot of trouble needs to tell their story," Sachs says. "They don't need to look like Brad Pitt. They have to be a regular person who's believable. They have erred on the side of being pathetic, but not sympathetic. It's one of the worst cases I've seen of a poor performance on a giant stage when the stakes are life and death."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-casey-anthony-george-cindy-anthony-cnn-051209,0,4012840.column