All apologies: Red-faced after the fallout

BY MICHAEL FOX

Former All Black Robin Brooke has joined a growing list of famous faces increasingly turning to publicists to help them manage the fallout following high-profile incidents.

Broadcaster Tony Veitch, Maori Party MP Hone Harawira, ACT MP Rodney Hide, and French rugby star Mathieu Bastareaud have all been forced to apologise in New Zealand in recent times after embarrassing incidents, and increasingly famous faces are turning to publicists to help them manage the fallout, media experts say.

Brooke's apology last night on national television was managed by Star Public Relations who have a long list of high profile clients, including Veitch's ex-partner Kristin Dunne-Powell.

Brooke was accused of groping a 17-year-old girl at a resort in Fiji at New Year and assaulting her friend who tried to intervene.

Last night he told TV1's Close Up that he sincerely regretted his actions, saying he had had too much to drink, and that he was apologising on national television because he needed to "put something right".

"There are no winners in this whole situation and I am truly sorry it ever happened ... I've let myself down."

Canterbury University journalism lecturer Jim Tully it has become "increasingly common" for people to call on public relations experts or media managers to assist them in such situations.

"I think it’s just the age that we live in that people will seek advice on how they can minimise the damage, basically," he said.

Mr Tully said the strategy of offering exclusive interviews was a "time-worn" technique to limit damage when dealing with such situations.

Families Commissioner Christine Rankin also went public last year following allegations she had been having an affair with the husband of high-profile Wellington real estate agent Margo McAuley, who took her own life.

"In return for an exclusive you may agree that certain questions might not be asked and they may be phrased so that it's an opportunity for you to make a prepared statement, almost," Mr Tully said.

"I'm not suggesting that happened in this particular case [Brooke] but it can happen and it has happened."

It was best to be up front, rather than giving an issue momentum by going into hiding and to apologise unreservedly.

"If you’re going to apologise, you apologise. If you fudge it, it seems reluctant or highly qualified then it defeats the purpose," he said.

Public Relations Institute of New Zealand president Graeme Purches said that hiring a publicist or media manager did not mean people had something to hide, as it was often perceived.

"It's just hiring another professional who knows the ropes and can help with the process."

Publicists could help ensure their client's side of the story got across in a "very difficult media environment".

"It doesn't necessarily mean someone's done something wrong."

Brooke had been the subject of a media beat-up and was in a different situation to some one like Maori Party MP Hone Harawira, who eventually apologised to the nation after sending an email where he accused "white motherf...ers" of "raping" Maori land.

"If you stand for public office you automatically put yourself in a frame where there is going to be high levels of public scrutiny," Mr Purches said.

"That clearly was a case where there's some wrong doing and the hand should have gone up early on and said I've done something wrong."

In Brooke's case, his Auckland PR company Star Public Relations, advertises its expertise as "reputation, media and crisis issues management”.

SOME HIGH-PROFILE APOLOGIES

February 2010: Former All Black Robin Brooke apologises for allegedly groping a 17-year-old girl while on holiday in Fiji.

November 2009: Maori Party MP Hone Harawira apologises for an expletive-laden email.

2009: Musical big-head Kanye West was forced to grovel after he stormed on stage at the MTV music video awards and interrupted the acceptance speech of Taylor Swift, saying the gong should have gone to Beyonce.

Swift looked crushed, Kanye was booed and he later issued this apology.

"I feel like Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents when he messed up everything, and Robert De Niro asked him to leave. That was Taylor's moment, and I had no right in any way to take it from her. I am truly sorry," he later said.

2009: In one of the more bizarre incidents, French rugby star Mathieu Bastareaud was forced to admit lying after he claimed he had been attacked on his way back to his motel in Wellington. He later admitted he had fallen over drunk and hit his head.

2008: Former broadcaster Tony Veitch apologised for assaulting ex-partner Kristin Dunne-Powell.

March 2008: Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer apologised and resigned in 2008 after his involvement with a high-priced prostitution ring was revealed, saying he had set high standards and not met them.

October 2006: Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was forced to renege after he told college students that if "you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq".

1998: Former All Black hooker Norm Hewitt hit rock-bottom after smashing his way into the wrong hotel room in Queenstown.

He apologised and admitted a drinking problem and the incident saw him turn his life around.

1998: In one of the most publicised and sensational apologies in history, former US President admitted to having oral sex with intern Monica Lewinsky.

- © Fairfax NZ News