"Jon and Kate Plus Governer Mark Sanford"

This weeks news is filled with the stories of marital turmoil. First, we've been inundated with the saga of Jon and Kate Gosselin of “Jon and Kate Plus 8” fame and their marital woes. We've been hearing and reading stories of Jon's alleged cheating, Kate's alleged bullying, and now their freshly announced divorce and the sad consequences for the children. That was quickly followed by South Carolina's Governor Mark Sanford's domestic troubles. First the stories were that he was off in a secret location hiking in the wilderness to “clear his head.” When it was revealed that he was, in fact, clearing his head in Argentina in the arms of his mistress “Maria.” Yesterday's news conference heightened the hype. The media had many questions in their coverage. Did his wife know? Was he going to Argentina to break it off with Maria? What about his children? How does an affair affect a political life. So many questions, so many pundits, so many angles for news coverage.
When a news story takes off like the Jon and Kate drama and the different but equally juicy Governor Sanford saga, the media spins it every which way it can on TV and in print. Each media outlet takes an angle that serves their audience. There's the “saving a marriage in trouble” angle. There's the “how does this affect the kids” angle. There's the question “Can you rehabilitate a career when domestic turmoil rears it's ugly head.” Many many angles are uncovered as the print and video media quote every expert and source on every aspect of a story.
This is why we tell our clients to keep up with the news because it could be your in-road to a booking. If you've written a book about surviving an affair and haven't had much luck getting booked to talk about it, this is your chance. Call the news sources and give them a quote about Mark Sanford. If you're an expert on the fall out from children of divorce, send out a press release with a sound bite about Jon and Kate's situation. If you are an expert in relationship abuse, you should have been all over the Chris Brown and Rihanna story. Stop waiting for someone to call you about a story. Stay on top of the news stories that are hot today and throw yourself into the media mix. Give them sound bites, offer yourself for interviews and opinions. You can be the pundit who gets quoted in the Los Angeles Times, and the next thing you know, YOU'RE the go-to-expert because you were there at the right time.