Early on a Sunday evening is not your typical time to expect a call from a journalist. Not unless there’s trouble afoot…
So imagine my surprise when I was asked to do an interview in around 45 minutes’ time with BBC Five Live on why I don’t like going to the countryside. For the record I actually do, I just don’t do this very often.
Before going any further, I must admit to giggling a little when the producer told me what it was about. Probably for the best, as he decided then and there to let the show’s presenter have a little fun with this one.
So there I was trying to explain why the countryside is not my automatic choice on the weekend while on the other line ‘one man and his dog’ was rather adamant that city folk like me much prefer going to Tesco and looking at their computers…hmpf!
The point of my ramblings – why an ad hoc media request is not a bad thing; what to say if you find yourself in this position and (in my case) what not to say if you’d like to avoid the conversation turning into a row…
I’m touching on just a few points here, but please see our top tips for dealing with the media.
1. Always do your homework – find out what the angle of the interview is, who else the journalist will be talking to, etc.
This is vital. Not only do you get to agree or disagree with the findings of someone else’s often expensive research, you also get a chance at relaying your own research or expertise.
2. Stick to just three (or five, if you have to) key points.
Say what you want to say, elaborate on your key points and, if there’s time, repeat what you’ve just said. The reason, if the interview is hostile or controversial; you keep in control of your message, you don’t get lured into debates on why city folk cannot even identify a sheep or an oak tree and you usually get to give your opinion even if others don’t agree.
3. Try to help if you can.
OK my family of die-hard farmers back in South Africa will probably shake their heads in disbelief over my obvious lack of loyalty, but as I’d already talked about the same topic to Good Morning Wales a while back, I couldn’t exactly say ‘no thanks’. Ultimately, you achieve these two things for free:
you or your business gets a name check
and you have a valuable opportunity to build a rapport with a journalist who could just be the one who calls you when you have to make 100 people redundant.
4. Don’t say anything you don’t want to have repeated on find printed on the front page of the local paper.
Even worse, don’t ever say ‘no comment’ as this usually means you’ve got something to hide and a journalist worth his/her salt will just keep digging.
5. Keep it simple – think about speaking in a soundbyte – everything you need to get across in 30 seconds. So, avoid jargon if you can, keep statistics and figures to a minimum and try and tell your story in an interesting way.
If your last media interview left you shaken or you want to share your own useful tips, please get in touch.
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Neat article- will come back again soon:)
emm. informative )