Media training – five risky questions a journalist might ask
Why do journalists ask difficult or irrelevant questions? As we explain in our media training courses there are various reasons for this. The first is that they’re a hungry young reporter looking to get you to say something beyond the subject of the interview that they’ve been commissioned to do. To some extent you can’t do anything about this. You just have to be prepared.
But another reason why a journalist will ask a question that it completely left field is that you’re simply not giving them enough information. If your answers are too short or if they are not relevant to the subject matter and to the audience, then the reporter will have to look around for something else to make a story.
Media training courses
The good news is that you can reduce the chances of journalists asking difficult of left field questions. In our media training courses, we advise people to take the initiative during media interviews and to remember that they are the expert. They will almost certainly know more than the person asking the questions.
However, here are some of the tricky questions that we put to the participants in our media training workshops and how we advise people to handle them. We should stress that our aim is not to make anyone look foolish. It’s about testing people and giving them a realistic media experience in a safe space in which they can make mistakes and learn.
1. What do you think of what your competitor is doing?
Now, you might think that another player in your area is acting in right way, or you might believe that their strategy is completely absurd. Obviously, the latter will make a better story for a journalist because we’re always looking for confrontation and disagreement. Two different takes or opinions on an issue will help to make an interesting article. The problem is that we’ll then go back to your competitor and replay to them what you’ve just said about them. Before you know it, you’re in a slanging match with another company and, worse still, you’re promoting that other company rather than yourself.
An article that should have been about a new product, initiative or service that you’re launching or important positive changes that you’re introducing has now become about a row between you and another organisation.
How to deal with this? The short answer is: don’t talk about the competition. In our media training courses, we look at a range of techniques that interviewees can use to move away from difficult or controversial subjects and back onto their key messages. Using one of these lets you focus on what you want to talk about instead of getting drawn into promoting a competitor.
2. What’s your personal view?
Many of the senior executives on our media training courses have strong views about relevant issues. In our media training for CEOs, we’ll often ask them during the role play media interviews for their personal view.
Journalists will frequently ask people about what they, personally, think because we’re looking for the human angle. We also like authenticity and spontaneity. The problem is that when you’re doing a media interview you are speaking on behalf of the organisation. Whether you think something is a good thing or not, whether you think the regulator has made a mistake or not, or whether you have particular views about what organisations are doing in your sector really doesn’t matter. The problem is that expressing an opinion here can put you at odds with your colleagues and the rest of the organisation.
PR and comms teams
As we explain in our media training courses, the trick in a good media interview is to sound human and spontaneous, as if you were speaking as thoughts come into your mind. However, you’re actually ensuring that everything you say has been agreed by your PR company or comms team beforehand. Finding the words and phrases that you can feel comfortable with to express your organisation’s key messages can make you sound authentic, personable and human. But they’ll also work for your leadership team and communications experts.
3. Should the government do more – or less?
Most of us have pretty strong views on what the government is or is not doing right. The same is probably true of an industry regulator. The problem is that by getting drawn into a debate here you’re giving the journalist a great story but doing yourself no favours. In our media training courses, our trainers, who are all working journalists (operating under strict non-disclosure agreements), will encourage participants to express a view about the government or a regulator.
It’s surprisingly easily done. If you are asked a question like this, even if you have a strong view, we recommend that you explain politely but firmly that you’re not going to get drawn into commenting on anything that the government oil regulator does. Here too, in our media training workshops, we can help you to get back onto your key messages and away from this risky area.
4. While I’ve got you here…
We’ve all heard this on the Today programme and other news and current affairs output. It’s usually asked of politicians. It might be that one of their colleagues has said something embarrassing or that a leaked document is grabbing the headlines. In this case their spin doctors will have warned them about this, and they’ll be ready to avoid commenting.
But other non-political interviewees might get this question. In one of our media training workshops for lawyers we threw the participants a few questions about controversial judgements or statements from companies which we knew were their clients. In the role play interviews during our media training courses for think tanks as well as asking about the research or report that’s relevant to the interviewee, we’ll also throw in another question. This will be related to the subject but will be controversial. If the interviewee starts discussing it, they could embarrass the think tank they work for.
5. Have you got anything more to add?
Asked at the end of an interview, this sounds like a very innocent question – but, then again, some of the most dangerous questions ones do. Our media trainer journalists will often use it in real life just to check that they haven’t missed any important points after they’ve been interviewing somebody about a particular subject. As well as being useful to a reporter it can work well for you as an interviewee. It’s a good opportunity to add anything that you’ve missed. It also allows you to summarise the points you’ve made so that, especially for a print interview, they’re the last thing the journalist here’s before they go off to write up what you’ve told them.
So, what’s the harm? Well, the risk is that you tell the journalist something new. It might be that you introduce an idea or reveal something that you hadn’t previously mentioned and hadn’t planned to. In one of our media training courses recently the public relations advisor who was observing shared a story about a client who had done just this after the interview. Feeling pressured to respond, he revealed a range of new products still under development. The PR advisor had to beg the journalists afterwards not to report on it. So, if a journalist asks you this question, repeat and reiterate your key message.
Add another example or proof point to back up that key message if you want to but don’t say something completely new. Even if this additional comment isn’t disastrous in itself, it could still become the focus of the interview rather than all the key messages that you’ve just given the reporter.
Media training courses
We hope that you find our examples of these five apparently benign but potentially risky questions useful. In our media training courses, we can help you to deal with these and other difficult questions and to gain more control of an interview to produce positive media coverage. We’re ready to help you, just get in touch, thanks very much. You can follow us on LinkedIn here.
