Saying you’re being respectful to an interviewer or co-contributor in a media interview can come across as the exact opposite – disrespectful – as the UK’s Minister of State for Illegal Migration, Michael Tomlinson, demonstrated in an excruciating interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He was being interviewed by Mishal Husain the day after the British government’s Rwanda bill under which illegal migrants could be sent to the African country passed in the House of Commons. The full exchange is at the bottom of this post. But first ACM Training’s head media trainer, Richard Uridge, deconstructs the interview for the benefit of anyone who finds it difficult to deal with interruptions in this the latest episode in the Z to A of Media Training.
With thanks to the Conservative MP for providing an object lesson. Or should that be an abject lesson?
Here you can listen to the full interview. Copyright, of course, resides with the BBC. It’s nearly 11 minutes long but both educational and, if you’re into politics, entertaining.
Why it’s important to keep an eye on the bigger picture
Being aware of what’s going on elsewhere in your sector is a vital part of preparing for media interviews.
Here’s an example from the world of politics. The UK Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, had been asked on to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to talk about Israel’s response to Iran’s attack and the involvement of British forces in that. But no interview is an island, so to speak. And Mr Shapps is asked first (more usually it’s last) about a much less important but more immediatey topical issue from the narrower – and in this case murkier – world of party politics.
The lesson? Make sure you know what’s hot in your world and know how you’d respond to questions on these tangential but topical issues always striving, of course, to steer the interview towards what you were initially invited to talk about.
What happens when journalists focus all of their attention on one aspect of a story? Their readers, viewers and listeners – your audience as an interviewee – can lose sight of the bigger picture.
So Richard Uridge has recruited a very famous pair of hands to help him explain how you can avoid being driven solely by the questions you might be asked during a #mediainterview
He’s used the controversy over #ULEZ and an interview given by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as a case study.
Look out for the enigmatic smile in this the latest episode in the Z to A of #mediatraining which, we should add, is equally applicable to the Q and A element of a #presentation
Here’s the full interview with Sadiq Khan that I refer to in this video. It was first transmitted on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and the copyright remains with the BBC. Khan does successfully steer the first question towards the bigger picture. But his opening response, timed at just over a minute, represents only 11% of the interview. He did try to return to the bigger picture towards the end but he was talking about the compelling health case for ULEZ only 18% of the whole interview – too little time for what is literally a life and death issue.
The interviewer is Mishal Husain and in her opening question she’s referring to Irene Bacon, one of those who drives an older, non-compliant car, is in a lower paid job and is struggling to pay the ULEZ charge or switch to a less polluting vehicle – even with the incentive scheme.
There’s often tension between academics and journalists when it comes to communicating science and technology to a lay audience. “You’re dumbing me down,” cry the scientists. “Your’e making it all too tricky,” counter the hacks. There is a middle way as media trainer and broadcaster, Richard Uridge, suggests in this e the latest episode of the Z to A of Media Training: W is for Wising Up.
Agreed to give an interview to the media? Want to know if it’ll be adversarial or conversational? Then find out using our hot or cold interview style predictor. Not a very catchy name we’ll grant you. But it does exactly what the name suggests.
Our media trainer, Richard Uridge, indulges in a little bit of journalistic finger wagging answer in this, the latest episode in the Z to A of Media Training (sister series of the Z to A of Presenting – because why start with the letter A when everybody else does)?
Most media interviews are what are called one plus ones: one interviewer plus one interviewee. But one plus twos – an interviewer and two (or more) interviewees – are on the increase , especially on rolling news channels.
So what’s it like being interviewed alongside another contributor? What are the potential pitfalls? What are the benefits? And what should you look out for beforehand?
ACM Training media trainer, Richard Uridge, provides some answer in this, the latest episode in the Z to A of Media Training (sister series of the Z to A of Presenting – because why start with the letter A when everybody else does)?
Want to know why I could get away with robbing a bank?
Because years of editing radio programmes with razor blades have removed much of my fingerprints. If you want to avoid journalists removing many of your important points in a media interview then you need to be disciplined so that your words – and your reputation – don’t get shredded.
And here’s how, in the first of a brand new mini series from the people that brought you the Z to A of Presenting (because everyone starts with A) – the Z to A of Media Training.
One of the downsides of self-guided online learning is that without the live interaction of face-to-face training you can’t ask your trainer questions as you go along. So we’ve launched a new service at ACM Training called “Ask the Owls” to complement our Thinkific courses. The idea is you ask questions about media, communication and professional development issues and our experts (the owls) do their very best to provide the answers.
Here our media trainer, Richard Uridge, answers a question emailed to asktheowls@acmtraining.co.uk by a delegate on one of his courses who wants to know if it’s possible to be ready for an interview in under five minutes.
ACM Training’s communications expert, Richard Uridge, answers a question from a professor of civil engineering who wants to know if it’s possible to prepare for a media interview in under five minutes.
Whether you’re sitting a self-guided course at your own pace or taking part in a live trainer-led session, asking questions during online training is (or at least seems to be) a whole heap harder than it was in the days of face-to-face learning. So our AskTheOwls service is designed to make asking questions simple and bridge the gap between old and new delivery methods.
In this short video our media and comms expert (owl), Richard Uridge, answers a question emailed to asktheowls@acmtraining.co.uk by a university professor who’s often asked to comment on issues that aren’t quite her area of expertise and wants to know if giving an interview in these circumstances is a good or bad idea.
Our media and comms owl answers a question submitted by an academic.
There was a time when I was growing up that I didn’t see much of my sister, Joanne. She’d joined Toddington Amateur Dramatic Society (TADS) and for long periods was busy rehearsing for her next role along with the rest of the cast. Or at least that’s what she told our mum and dad. Now I’m clearly not a very good brother because I don’t remember many of her performances. I think she may have played Liz in Billy Liar (or maybe I’m confusing her with Julie Christie). But what I do remember is neither Jo nor Julie ever missed a line and both had a magnificent stage presence.
Joanne Uridge playing Liz in Billy Liar.
Why? Because actors rehearse, rehearse and rehearse again so that when the curtain opens and they walk on stage they hit their marks and they hit their lines. Doesn’t matter whether they’re walking the boards before a modest audience at the village hall or in front of a sell out crowd in London’s West End.
So why would anybody stand in front of an audience ten, fifty, a hundred, a thousand times larger without rehearsing? An audience so big it wouldn’t fit in the world’s biggest auditorium. But they do. Every day of the week. In media interviews. And it’s hardly surprising that they fluff their lines.
In my media training workshops I explain that interviewees must think of themselves as performers. That although there is no obvious stage or proscenium arch (especially if they’re doing a down-the-line radio interview from home) they are, in effect, walking onto a stage with an audience of potentially millions. That frightens them. More than a bit. But it helps make the point that if actors rehearse for performances in far smaller actual theatres, then so should interviewees for their performances in the far, far larger virtual “theatres” of radio programmes and podcasts, television networks and online video channels such as News24 and YouTube.
When my sister was at home she spent hours pacing up and down muttering words under her breath. Learning lines is, of course, a big chunk of the actor’s craft. But actually learning lines verbatim, committing a script to memory, is one of the worst ways of rehearsing for a media interview. So what’s the best way to prepare for a media interview? Here’s my six step rehearsal guide.
Distil your key messages from the subject matter. Stick to three or four and try to condense them down to bullet points. Underline the functional word (or words) in each bullet point . Divide a blank screen or sheet of paper into three columns and write these functional words (the essence of your key messages) in the left hand column.
Add up to three carefully selected facts and figures per key message to column two. These facts and figures provide the evidence and speak to the rational part of the the audience – their minds, if you will.
But we’re emotional creatures too. So to engage the audience’s hearts as well as their minds, think of a story or two (they don’t need to be very detailed) to help illustrate your key messages and jot these down in column three. At ACM Training we call this a planning matrix which I’ll happily concede is a rather lofty way of describing a piece of paper with a few scribbles on it. But believe me it can work wonders and turn a fuzzy, unfocussed and unstructured interview into a masterpiece.
Open up your smartphone stopwatch app or countdown timer and outloud (yes, really) practice putting the words on the matrix together into coherent sentences and paragraphs of approximately 30 seconds each. Each time you do this choose different components so you don’t, in effect, end up learning a fixed script but you become well versed at what’s called extemporising lots of different versions.
Once you’ve got the hang of this bit anticipate the questions you might be asked. If you’re likely to be put on the back foot during the interview try especially to predict the hardest questions. For example, will you resign? Or, who’s the blame?
Then practice dealing with these questions and moving on to your key messages, facts, figures and stories. As before, try to bring your responses in around 30″ long. It’ll be harder because, short of ignoring the questions entirely (like some politicians), some of that time will inevitably be taken up dealing with the question leaving you less time to move on to what you want to talk about. Have a quick listen to this podcast on why a question and response instead of a question and answer approach is the best way of handling media interviews. When you feel comfortable delivering your key messages – illustrated and evidenced in a variety of ways – irrespective of the question and have got the feel for speaking to length then it’s showtime! Providing you don’t sound slippery or evasive and have struck the right tone. But those are other lessons for other posts.
Actors rehearse. So should interviewees. Remember you’re on a stage of sorts. And while you can’t see their faces the audience is potentially huge. So break a leg as they say in show-business.
