Governor Mark Sanford bad Public Relations

Governor Mark Sanford
Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina, had an adventure in Argentina --- or was it on the Appalachian Trail.
Mark Sanford claimed he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail when he flew to Argentina to visit his mistress. There was a situation where they needed him to come into work and he was not on the Appalachian Trail. They sent out search parties looking for him. When he returned, he proceeded to tell the press everything about his misadventure, rambling for extended periods of time, apologizing for his infidelities.
This whole situation should have been dealt with differently. First, he could have come clean with his family before going to the press. He should have had come up with a plan before dealing with the press. Sanford should have prepared a statement instead of rambling. Also, he did not need to tell every sordid detail. The public was feeling news fatigue in this instance. Many times he would tell the press stuff even when not asked a question. He also did not need to apologize to everyone under the sun. When the press did ask him questions he would tell them too much. I believe the appropriate statement should have been “I made a mistake in my personal life and I intend to work on reconciling with my family. I am working hard for my constituents and will continue to do the best I can for them. What happened is personal, not related to my work as governor and I intend to keep it private, the way family matters should be.”
He most definitely should not have had an 18 minute ramble. He did not control the information released to the public and he did not do enough to shield his family, mistresses or himself from the media. This was a difficult situation but could have been dealt with more effectively and discreetly. It should not have been headline news.
An alternative approach to a similar media event was the recent Tiger Woods “press conference” to address his personal problems of infidelity. While this was not really a press conference, Tiger Woods made a prepared statement and entertained no questions from the media. He had allowed the media frenzy to calm down (after more than two months of silence) and had some private time with his family before offering this public statement. In it, he apologized for his misconduct, his poor judgment and publicly criticized the press for making a media circus of his personal life and harassing his family.