Public Relations | Media Training and Preparation for Interviews

Peter Jennings, the late ABC News World News Tonight anchor, was fond of keeping his correspondents on their toes. He would routinely ask his reporters an unexpected question on-the-air, perhaps as a way of determining which correspondents lived up to his high journalistic standards. They occasionally fumbled their answers, looking amateurish in front of millions of viewers.

I was thinking of this recently when I realized that few fears make our media training students as uneasy as “going blank” during a media interview.

It’s a legitimate fear, especially since we’ve all seen a spokesperson with that “deer in headlights” look when the correct answer escapes them.

The good news is that with a little bit of preparation, you’ll never go blank again.

Mr. Jennings’ correspondents developed a useful system to get out of the interview intact. When asked a question they didn’t know the answer to, they would never say, “I don’t know, Peter.” Instead, they would tell their anchorman what they did know.

Here’s an example:

BAD

Peter Jennings: “How much money are Republicans putting into their tax cut proposal for the elderly?”
Correspondent: “Well, I just saw this proposal for the first time five minutes ago, so I’m not sure yet.”

GOOD

Peter Jennings: “How much money are Republicans putting into their tax cut proposal for the elderly?”
Correspondent: “Well, you know Peter, that’s one of the questions Republicans and Democrats will likely be squabbling over for some time. We know that the proposal contains a five percent cut in the capital gains tax, and would give an additional cut of $30 billion to small businesses.”

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO

If your interview is not live – say a print interview or a taped broadcast interview – it’s okay not to know an answer. Just tell the reporter you’ll be back in touch with the correct answer as quickly as you can find it.

But if your interview is live, and you’re asked a question that leaves you totally blank, view the question as an invitation to tell the reporter what you do know on that topic.

It’s important to note that this device may not work well in an especially hostile interview – an aggressive reporter will ask follow-up questions to determine whether you know the answer or are bluffing. But the vast majority of interviews (I’d say somewhere in the neighborhood of 95 percent) are friendlier in tone, and most reporters aren’t looking to embarrass you.

Telling the reporter what you know may not be as good as really knowing the full answer – but it’s a whole lot better than being caught staring blankly into the camera’s headlights.

Brad Phillips is the founder and president of Phillips Media Relations. He was formerly a journalist for ABC News and CNN, and headed the media relations department for the world’s second largest environmental group.

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Tags: media, public, relation, interview, training