Back to: Media Interviews online
Things to do:
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Remember your key messages
Your messages should be a thread running through the entire interview. Consistency and repetition are your way to ensure as much as possible that the journalist takes away the right information and the right angle, and puts these into print or broadcast. Make a point of trying to include one of your positive messages in every answer you give. It can be an intellectual challenge to turn questions and conversation around in this way without sounding strained, but it is an invaluable skill to master.
Use facts, examples and anecdotes
Examples help to illustrate, substantiate and bring to life each of your messages. Use examples that are appropriate to the media that will publish or broadcast your interview.
Give good quotes and sound-bites
Give short and clear quotes. If you come up with a good phrase while practicing for the interview, remember it. Use strong and lively language and short sentences so that your words can be edited easily. You will probably only get a few sentences of your own direct speech in a print article, or 15 seconds in an edited news broadcast.
Be open
Journalists and their audiences respond well to interviewees who come across as friendly, non-defensive, accessible, normal, calm, and human. You want the journalist and viewers or readers to warm to you and empathise with you: this will translate into attention and trust for your messages.
Be honest
Giving a little ground where you can do so without causing damage makes you seem reasonable and inspires trust in whatever else you say. Honesty is a very powerful positive signal.
Body language
This is particularly important for television interviews, but also plays a role in any face-to-face interview. If you sit up straight, make eye contact and speak naturally, you will more readily inspire trust. If you cross your arms, avoid eye contact and swivel in your chair, your lack of comfort will be apparent and this will hurt your credibility.
Brand your answers
Wherever possible (and without seeming contrived), use your brand name. (Branding is not just for corporations but also for institutions.
Don’t say “reforms have been made …”, say “the Council of the EU is working hard to help resolve this and feels strongly that …”. Get your name out there. Too many spokespeople get the message right but forget to say who they are. When that happens, audiences do not register your brand and therefore don’t change their views or behaviours towards it.
Object to loaded questions
If a question is based on incorrect information or a biased proposition, say so. Otherwise, you may seem to accept this view implicitly.