Just playing devils advocate...
So when the press is camped out on your doorstep, knocking on your door and ringing your phone, irritating your neighbors, banging on your windows. all hours of the day and night, and the police said you needed to be available at all times, then leak your personal phone numbers to the press...
You wouldn't hire a professional firm to run a little interference for you so you could do what needed to be done? PR firms are not just hired to spin, they are often there to protect you from the monumental burden of the press. They know how to word things carefully so as to not spur rampant speculation, cause you further problems with the authorities and generally keep you out of trouble.
I don't think most people understand just what it's like to have the full weight and power of the press come down on you.
For what it's worth, I know some people who lost a child to an accident. We live in a small town and it should have been a pretty small story. But because of who the father was, the press made it unbearable for a while. And that is without the national media fanning the flames.
Hell is what it is called.
I don't know what I would do in a situation like this. But I do know, without having gone through it, that I am NOT going to disparage people who try and get whatever help they need in order to survive. I would also do whatever it took to protect my family, and that includes hiring a pr firm even if it made people suspicious.
I wouldn't hire the Ramsey's PR firm.
They did a terrible job.
excellant points.