Let's Take a Spin

One of the oldest and most reliable tactics in the spin doctor’s playbook is timing. Not timing in the sense of urgency or preparedness, but timing designed to minimize attention. The maneuver is simple: release contentious, embarrassing, or politically inconvenient news immediately before a holiday, during a long weekend, or at a moment when public attention is predictably elsewhere.

The logic is straightforward. News consumption drops sharply around holidays. People travel, celebrate, unplug, and disengage from daily information cycles. Newsrooms operate with reduced staff. Follow-up questions are delayed. Public reaction is fragmented and muted. By the time normal routines resume, the story has often lost momentum, displaced by newer headlines.

This tactic is sometimes referred to as “burying the news,” though nothing is truly buried in the digital age. The information is released, technically satisfying disclosure obligations, but under conditions designed to blunt scrutiny and accountability. The hope is that by Monday morning, public outrage will have cooled, journalists will have moved on, and decision-makers can claim the matter has already been addressed.

The practice is not limited to governments. Corporations, institutions, and organizations of all kinds use it to announce layoffs, settlements, cost overruns, or unpopular policy changes. Friday afternoons before a long weekend are especially popular. So are the days immediately preceding major holidays, when attention is naturally diverted.

While legal, the tactic raises ethical questions. Transparency is not merely about releasing information; it is about releasing it in a way that allows meaningful public engagement. When timing is used to avoid that engagement, it undermines trust and fuels cynicism.

For readers and citizens, recognizing the tactic matters. When controversial news appears at a strangely quiet moment, it is worth asking why now. Often, the timing tells you as much as the content itself.

At The Hamiltonian, we recognize the hallmarks of spin and have no regard for it. It is a cheap tactic that proved effective ages ago when it was new. Today, it is a hallmark of evasiveness and a lack of respect for the public. 

At The Hamiltonian, we do not hesitate in calling out this tactic even though, as a result, we are sometimes as welcome by some entities as a skunk would be at a tea party.