Lance Armstrong looks to make peace with media - 06.10.2008

By Paul Gallagher

You turn your back on the media at your peril. No one knows that better than seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong is making a comeback for the 2009 tour to, not only in pursuit of personal glory but to promote a global fight against cancer. And he knows he has to take a far more constructive approach towards reporters this time than in the past.

Armstrong admits that he turned his back on many journalists during the 1999 Tour de France after the French media gave him a rough ride over unproven doping charges. In 2006, an independent Dutch investigator appointed by the International Cycling Union cleared the Texan of doping during the tour.

“I didn’t go out of my way to make friends with the French media,” Armstrong told Vanity Fair magazine, announcing his return to professional cycling. “In fact, I was combative. I was unavailable, arrogant, and I was that way to a lot of them. Anybody who wrote a negative article: Done. Never speak to them again. I won’t do that this time.”

Armstrong has recognised that, in professional sport, the media spotlight is simply a fact of life. There is no escaping it and the best way to control the media is to work with it and not against it. Journalists have got a job to do and boycotting reporters or ignoring them won’t improve the write up you get the next day.

The stakes are higher on his comeback trail. Armstrong’s new priority is getting political and financial backing for a global fight against cancer, which kills 8 million people a year, more than AIDS, malaria and TB combined. His LiveStrong organization may even have a global cancer summit in Paris in its sights ahead of next year’s tour with names like former U.S. President Bill Clinton and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg being mentioned.

The 37-year-old Texan who is entering the 2009 Tour under a vigorous anti-doping regime to dispel any notion that drugs helped to propel him to victory also plans to use a press conference marking his return to the sport to make clear that he never cheated, winning the Tour de France seven times fair and square.

Armstrong is demonstrating just how important it is to harness the power of the media to get your message across and to reach decision makers around the globe. This time around, Armstrong plans to welcome all journalists as he prepares to compete yet again in one of the world’s most demanding sporting events.

“From the bitterest rivals I’ve ever had in the pressroom: Get on call. If you’ve got a question, ask it,” Armstrong said. “The constituency that I represent,” he told Vanity Fair, “is now cancer survivors.”

Dealing with the media can be stressful, intrusive and frustrating, but it is the price top sportsmen and women pay for success.

Rene Stauffer, in his book The Roger Federer Story, Quest for Perfection, highlights how effectively the Swiss tennis star has managed his relationship with the media.

“When he first started to play professional tennis, he constantly astounded reporters after interviews by thanking them for having come to his match and his press conference,” Stauffer said. “They [athletes] have to give interviews after every match – so press conferences have become as much part of the game as showers and massages.”