Yesterday, Jonas Sjöstedt was elected the new leader of the Swedish Left Party. From a PR perspective, he is a good choice. Sjöstedt is charismatic and intelligent and he can do very well in media for his party. But he must whip the people around him into shape first.
“Doing well in media” isn’t a small thing in today’s politics. Swedish authorities have a tendency to view media as an authoritive power with a mind and an agenda of its own, but for politicians, the media is the stage.
In this day and age, you can’t say about a person that they are a good politician if they can’t handle the media. It’s like saying that a person is a good actor but at the same time acknowledging that the actor can’t really handle the stage, the cameras and the audience.
The Left Can’t Do Worse
Unlike the former Left Party leader Lars Ohly, who couldn’t help himself coming off as a smug individualist with an ego greater than the party, Sjöstedt has the qualities needed in a leader.
But I have serious doubts when it comes to the adminsitration behind him. His appointment got really tainted by the fact that a great portion of the online buzz as well as the media coverage revolved around him living on one of the “finest” addresses in Sweden; Östermalm.
The Neighborhood Bashing
When approached about this by one of the biggest newspapers in Sweden, Sjöstedt proclaimed that he simply had to live there becuase they had a good deal since the lease on the apartment is tied to his wife, a Swedish diplomat.
“It is a very boring neighbourhood and we will try to move elsewhere,” he argued.
A clever columnist at one of the nation’s largest dailys pointed out that there are actually sites where Sjöstedt could browse for new apartments—if he so badly wanted to relocate from that dreadful rich neighborhood.
Personally, I have no problem with party leaders who are paid well, who lives well and who are well supported in any other way. I don’t feel more sympatethic towards politicians who irons their own shirts or do their own dishes. I care about how they are shaping public policy. But, I’m not Sweden. I’m not news media.
Be Prepared, Goddammit!
Anyone with a basic PR degree or a little news media experience could have guessed that both media and the public would go with that story. Just as we can know now with a great deal of certainty that the Swedish left will have to deal with issues of hypocrizy time and time again in the foreseeable future.
So the question is why Sjöstedt’s administration hadn’t prepared him any better for these questions? If there was an Q&A, did someone really think that the issue would go away with a message that tells people to don’t mind the leader’s living situation simply because he thinks the neighborhood is boring?
If he really hates living in an exclusive neighborhood, why isn’t he a man of action and do something about it? In the eyes of the public, the answer is pretty clear; he kind of likes having a nice apartment, just as he likes having a good salary and some national celebrity recognition to go with that.
Whip ‘Em Into Shape
I wouldn’t blame Sjöstedt for any of this. He has a job to do now and he will have a great responsibility and possible even greater expectations on his performance. He should have an administration making sure that the basics are covered.
Each and every individual have background or persona discrepancies. If it’s not where you live, it’s something else you have done or said. This can be quite easily anticipated and with proper management and messaging, it doesn’t have to be an issue. Or at least not a bigger issue than it needs to be.
And this is important. If you mess up with the basics, chances are that valuable media coverage will be “used up” for those messes instead of constructive messaging supporting the party’s public policy agenda.
Juholt—A Cautionary Tale
The Socialist Party got to taste this medicine not too long ago when their leader Håkan Juholt was caught red-handed regarding his living situations. He admitted that things hadn’t been properly handled and that mistakes were made and he apoligized, even though he in the same breath always mentioned that he was innocent since he didn’t really know the rules.
After this scandal, Juholt couldn’t push his own agenda in the medi for several months. And that’s the main issue, not the living situation. If the leader is unable to talk about his or hers agenda, then he or she becomes a serious burden for the party.
The important thing for Sjöstedt isn’t to move as quickly as possible to some worn-down suburb with high crime rates, struggling schools and weak tax revenues. Because if his living situation wasn’t an issue, the reporters would surely have found something else to highlight in some sort of embarressing manner.
The key is to be well-prepared at all times and spin issues by changing the perspective or lessen the blows and then get back into the driver’s seat as quickly as possible to reinforce your strategy.
Because make no mistake about it. There will be enough challenges ahead and politicians at this level need a professional administration to take care of these issues—proactively. It’s their job to make sure that their leader – or in this case their candidates – are ready for the tough questions.
