Do you really need media training?

By Kate Betts

I have heard it said that doing a media interview is a bit like having a chat and that dealing with reporters just involves common sense.

So, what happens then when things start going off in a direction you don’t want them to? The interviewer starts asking about tiny detail that isn’t really important or doesn’t know the subject at all or asks you a really awkward question. What do you do then?

Imagine the scenario – you have gone on live radio to talk about your new campaign/ service/ product and the presenter starts asking you for your views on the latest political hot potato. Or you find yourself explaining that your cause/ service/ product is not the same as a competitor and, no you don’t really have any views on that latest TV reality programme.

And then the interview is over and the traffic news is telling listeners about the queue on the motorway and the producer is shuffling you out of the studio and thanking you for coming in, and all the time you’re thinking ‘but I never said anything about the new campaign/ service/ product’.

It happens and it happens a lot.

Don’t assume you will get asked questions that lend themselves to what you want to say. The radio station only want an entertaining interview, they don’t care about your agenda.

I worked for years as a radio studio producer and guests would always ask how they had done when they emerged from the studio.

I would say (half-truth, half not, because I hadn’t really been listening) ‘yes, it was great’. What I meant by that was: you didn’t swear, you didn’t go blank, you answered in more than monosyllables and you filled the gap up to the traffic news.

The fact that you didn’t manage to get across your points doesn’t bother the interviewer/ reporter/ producer. We have different agendas.

So, if you are going to do an interview about a positive issue, prepare. Work out the points you want to get across and how you are going to do that. You can learn techniques that help you get your points across and take more control of the direction of the interview. It does help if your points are relevant and not a million miles from what the interview is about in the first place; or you really will sound like a politician.

It’s important to get your points across in an interview about something positive; it’s absolutely vital in a negative interview. And if you are not confident? Well, maybe media training isn’t such a bad idea.

Related Courses

Handling media interviews