Tips for dealing with media
There are lots of great tips there from people who've already done it....consent from your children when they are to be involved seems like a vital one. I was thinking that there must be others and found some here:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/dealing-with-media
and here:
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/facultystaff/mediatrain/reporterscall.html
Some tips...
*find out what the interviewer is going to want to talk about
*find out how the information will be used...do they just want a sound-bite, a short news story or is there to be a full back story.
*before going ahead with the interviewer, try to buy time to think about how you will deal with it. Be prepared for negative questions.
*have relevant facts and figures to hand
*be brief, clear, concise and direct - develop the art of the 10 - 15 second sound bite for news and radio stories.
*avoid technical language...even Vanessa with her Oxbridge degree in English? couldn't retain the word "autonomous" accurately! (Mind you, explaining what autonomous means in a few short sentences, might be the relevant thing to do.)
*listen carefully to the journalist's questions
*try to get your three most salient points across
*be ready for the journalist not to know much about the subject
*be ready to correct misunderstandings and use the opportunity to get your most salient points across once again.
*remain calm and pleasant, even when faced by a hostile interviewer.
*tell the truth. If you don't know the answer, say so.
*don't say, "no comment"...say instead "I can't say for reasons of confidentiality" or "I don't have that information" or "I couldn't speculate"...
*if there are tough issues to be dealt with, bring them out before the interviewer does...that way you can deal with them on your own terms. (I personally love using these techniques on people you suspect as being hostile to HE. I just blurt out refutations of all possible criticisms they are likely to think off before they get a chance to open their mouths. With journalists it might be a different matter, but with playgroup mums, it shuts them up completely.)
*never speak "off the record". Nothing is ever safely off the record - apparently.
- - -
Any other essential tips or good ideas that anyone can think of?
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/
and here:
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.
Some tips...
*find out what the interviewer is going to want to talk about
*find out how the information will be used...do they just want a sound-bite, a short news story or is there to be a full back story.
*before going ahead with the interviewer, try to buy time to think about how you will deal with it. Be prepared for negative questions.
*have relevant facts and figures to hand
*be brief, clear, concise and direct - develop the art of the 10 - 15 second sound bite for news and radio stories.
*avoid technical language...even Vanessa with her Oxbridge degree in English? couldn't retain the word "autonomous" accurately! (Mind you, explaining what autonomous means in a few short sentences, might be the relevant thing to do.)
*listen carefully to the journalist's questions
*try to get your three most salient points across
*be ready for the journalist not to know much about the subject
*be ready to correct misunderstandings and use the opportunity to get your most salient points across once again.
*remain calm and pleasant, even when faced by a hostile interviewer.
*tell the truth. If you don't know the answer, say so.
*don't say, "no comment"...say instead "I can't say for reasons of confidentiality" or "I don't have that information" or "I couldn't speculate"...
*if there are tough issues to be dealt with, bring them out before the interviewer does...that way you can deal with them on your own terms. (I personally love using these techniques on people you suspect as being hostile to HE. I just blurt out refutations of all possible criticisms they are likely to think off before they get a chance to open their mouths. With journalists it might be a different matter, but with playgroup mums, it shuts them up completely.)
*never speak "off the record". Nothing is ever safely off the record - apparently.
- - -
Any other essential tips or good ideas that anyone can think of?
posted by Carlotta @ 1:01 AM
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