Preparing for a media interview

Find out what you are agreeing to

The request usually arrives in a hurry: a producer on the phone, a journalist on email with a deadline in two hours. The temptation is to say yes or no on the spot. Take five minutes to ask some questions first. You are entitled to the answers.

Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code says that people taking part in a programme should normally be told, at an appropriate stage, the nature and purpose of the programme, why they were asked to contribute, what kind of contribution is expected (live or pre-recorded, interview or discussion, edited or unedited) and the areas of questioning. The code calls the result “informed consent”. BBC Editorial Guidelines set out the same list and add two points worth knowing: your contribution may be re-used, and it may be available indefinitely and globally.

So ask:

• Which programme or publication is this for, and who is its audience?
• What is the story, and why do you want me in particular?
• Is it live or recorded? In a studio, down-the-line from a remote studio, on the phone, or at our offices?
• How long will I be on, and when will it run?
• Who else are you speaking to?
• What areas will the questions cover?
• What is your deadline?

Print journalists work under the IPSO Editors’ Code rather than Ofcom’s, but the same questions are reasonable, and most reporters will answer them.

Decide whether to do it

Saying no is sometimes right: the story is not yours to tell, the timing is wrong, or someone else in the organisation is better placed. But declining has consequences. If a programme makes significant allegations, Ofcom’s code (rule 7.11) and the BBC’s right of reply guidelines say those concerned should normally be given a fair and timely opportunity to respond. If you decline, the broadcast should make clear that you chose not to take part, and may include your explanation (rule 7.12). “The company declined to be interviewed” is rarely a good look. A short written statement is the minimum.

Know the format

Each format asks something different of you.

Not sure what a term means? The jargon buster has the rest.

Build your messages

Start with the audience, not the organisation. Who is watching, listening or reading, and what do they need to know from you? Then decide the three things you most want them to take away. These are your key messages.

Each message needs something to prove it: a fact, an example or a short story. A message on its own sounds like an assertion. A message with a proof point sounds like knowledge. Where you can, turn the proof into a word picture, something the audience can see. “We have cut waiting times by 40%” is a statistic. “A family who waited ten weeks last spring would now be seen in six” is a picture.

Finally, write the one sentence you would most like to see quoted, and say it out loud until it sounds like you rather than a press release. Our interview planner walks you through all of this and prints a one-page brief. There is also a blank briefing sheet (PDF) if you prefer paper.

Write for the clip

Broadcast news uses short clips. A study of US network news found the average candidate sound bite fell from 43 seconds in 1968 to about nine seconds by 1988, and later research found it has stayed around there. A comparative study of British election coverage in 2001 found an average of about 12.5 seconds.

At broadcast pace that is not many words. A standard broadcast journalism text puts British radio reading speed at about three words a second, or 180 words a minute, with television a little slower. So a ten-second clip is roughly 25 to 30 words. The practical test: could any one sentence of your answer be cut out and still make your point? If the point only arrives at the end of a long answer, the edit may not include it.

Paste a draft answer into our soundbite timer to see how long it takes to say and which sentences run long.

Prepare for the questions you dread

Every spokesperson knows the question they are hoping will not come up. Write it down, along with the four or five others like it, and answer each one out loud. Then do it again. The first time you say a difficult answer is the hardest, so it should not be in front of a microphone.

Many awkward questions follow a small number of patterns: the hypothetical, the false choice, the loaded premise, the demand for a guarantee, the request for a one-word answer. Recognise the pattern and you can answer the question properly rather than being steered by it. Our tough question drill puts fifty of them to you against the clock and explains what each is trying to do.

Bridging, and its limits

Bridging means acknowledging a question, answering it, and moving to the point you want to make. Done well it is simply good conversation. Done badly (“That’s a great question, but what’s really important is…”) the audience spots it instantly and trusts you less. Answer first, then bridge. If you cannot answer, say why.

On the record, off the record

These phrases sound precise and are not. The Cambridge Dictionary defines something said off the record as something you do not want reported. Many journalists use the phrase to mean information they can use without naming you. “On background” and “not for attribution” vary between newsrooms too. The Poynter Institute’s advice to journalists is that any such agreement should be reached before the source says anything.

The safe rule for a spokesperson: you are on the record unless you have explicitly agreed otherwise, with that journalist, before the conversation started. Even then, anything you say may inform what gets published.

Embargoes

An embargo asks journalists not to publish information until a set time. In the UK it is a convention rather than a legal obligation, which works because news organisations want to keep receiving embargoed material. PR practitioners commonly set a lift time of 00:01 so that morning papers and broadcasters can run the story at the same moment. Put the embargo time at the top of the release, and do not send embargoed material to anyone you would not trust with it.

On the day

• Check the news that morning. The story may have moved since you agreed to take part.
• Arrive early, or join a remote link early, so you are not settling in as the red light goes on.
• On television, look at the interviewer, not the camera. If you are down-the-line, the lens is the interviewer.
• Assume every microphone is live, before the interview starts and after it seems to have finished.
• Keep still. Swivel chairs, clicking pens and rustling notes are all audible.
• If you make a mistake on a pre-record, say so and offer the answer again. Most producers would rather have the clean version.

Doing it from home or the office? Read our guide to looking and sounding right on camera from your desk.

Afterwards

Do not expect to see the piece before it runs. BBC Editorial Guidelines say the BBC does not normally allow a preview of its content, and that requests to withdraw a contribution before broadcast would not normally be agreed. The same is broadly true elsewhere.

Make a note of what you said and to whom while it is fresh. If something published is significantly inaccurate, ask the outlet to correct it: the IPSO Editors’ Code (Clause 1) says significant inaccuracies must be corrected promptly and with due prominence, and that a fair opportunity to reply should be given when reasonably called for. For broadcast, Ofcom’s fairness rules apply. Most corrections are agreed with a polite call to the news desk rather than a formal complaint.