FE Magazine 2009 No. 5 Sep-Oct - FRPO

• Vocalize your responses in advance. Knowing a subject thoroughly and crafting a written
response in the clearest, simplest terms are helpful. But you won't really know how clearly
you can explain something vocally until you do just that. Start with a sympathetic listener
on your home turf.
• Supply background material beforehand. It helps an interviewer to have explanatory information
on details he or she may not have known enough about to ask. Your function should
be to comment on issues and situations, not to conduct a seminar on what those issues are
for the interviewer.
• Maintain some control from the beginning. In a face-to-face interview, begin if there's time
by asking the interviewer about his or her background. It will make the following conversation
sound less like the interrogation of a hostile witness. You can't do this effectively in a
phone interview.
• If the interviewer is a novice, it helps to reinforce your credentials
as the expert in this matter. Don't treat the novice reporter
with disdain because it will come back to haunt you. If the
interviewer is highly knowledgeable, you've been forewarned.
• Don't be misled by the apparent simplicity of questions. If
you are worth being interviewed, there is news value in
quoting you directly.
• Don't answer hypothetical questions. You might turn them
around by explaining what your organization's policy has
been in the past, but there's nothing to be gained by locking
yourself into a position based on a hypothetical situation.
• Don't presume to redirect the story line. You may well prefer
news coverage of something unrelated to what the editor or
reporter wants to write or broadcast about. The interviewer
may listen politely, but if what you say is considered a nonstory,
you've wasted time -- yours and the interviewer's.
...if you're a business
leader you owe it to
your shareholders,
your employees, your
customers and
suppliers to enhance
your organization's
visibility in the
marketplace.
• Never buffalo a reporter, even a novice. You'll only get away with it as long as the interview
itself lasts. Eventually, your comments will cross the desk of a much more worldly editor or
producer, who will recognize bafflegab for what it is. Story killed!
Fair Exchange • September / October 2009
A Final Thought:
If you expect to be the subject of media attention on a regular basis, consider media training. Its
personal development at its best and if you learn how to deal with the news media, you can deal
with anyone. F
David Eisenstadt, Fellow PRSA, Fellow CPRS, is Founding Partner with The Communications Group Inc.,
a Toronto-based public relations consulting firm serving corporate clients across Canada… www. tcgpr.com
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