Jackson had hired renowned firms to assess his public impression

Washington, July 06: Michael Jackson had hired two renowned firms while handling child-molestation charges in the early 2000s, so that he could have insights into how the public viewed him.The late King of Pop’s attorneys had roped in The Polling Company, a well-known Washington firm, to learn about the public impressions of the star.

Jackson’s legal team had also teamed up with Dezenhall Resources, a secretive crisis communications firm, in the months before the allegations of molestation were made public to prepare defense strategies against lines of media inquiry and attacks. “The crisis-management objective was acquittal through reasonable doubt, and it was achieved. Restoring the iconic status of his name was never on the table,” the Politico quoted Eric Dezenhall, co-founder of the firm, as saying. Kellyanne Conway, president and CEO of The Polling Company, also said that her poll results found that the claims made during the child-molestation trial were barely affecting the public’s perception of the singer who had become a national celebrity as early as at the age of five. ANI