Are There “Rules” When Speaking to Reporters?

People who aren’t used to doing media interviews often ask me about what I call the “rules of engagement.” I’m asked “Are there rules when dealing with reporters, or things I need to know?” Like any business, there are things you need to understand and the better you do, the more successful you’ll  be when you deal with the media.

A common question I get is whether you can get questions from reporters in advance. Generally speaking, the answer is no because the reporter doesn’t want to take the time to think about the questions in advance and send them to you. They’re ok with telling you want they want to talk to you about, but don’t normally want to give you the questions in advance. It is however, becoming more common for people to get advance questions from the media because of the use of email and text messages.  It never hurts to ask.

You should also understand when you get asked to do a media interview you won’t have long to prepare. There are some exceptions, but usually a reporter will want to interview you on the phone right away, or schedule an in-person interview within three hours. You then need to decide if you want to do the interview and what changes in your schedule you’re prepared to make to do it.

Although most people I work with are concerned that the media will try to make them look bad, that’s not the intention of reporters, editors and technical people like camera operators. They want to make you look good and try to pull the best clip from the interview to fit in with their story and make you look knowledgeable. Quite frankly, most reporters just want to get your interview finished and get on to the next one.

On that note, remember that if you stumble over your words, or forget what you had planned to say in a recorded interview, there’s nothing wrong with asking the reporter if you can provide that answer again. The reporter only wants one or two good sound bites and won’t mind repeating the question.

Every media training session I do concludes with on camera interviews, followed by a critique of how each person did. It's amazing the number of times I use the same advice to those I am working with - "You need to slow down."

Speaking too quickly is a very common problem for those who don't speak to the media on a regular basis. It's easy to understand why since most people have extra juice flowing and are somewhat uncomfortable because they're doing something they're not used to. What tends to happen is they "spew out" the key messages they have been given instead of "communicating" them properly.

Try to speak slower, but with more presence for just a single day. It likely will feel a little strange, but I would be willing to bet it can make you feel stronger and give you more confidence.

Remember, there's no gold star for saying it quickly, just for saying it well.

Next Question: Are There Questions From the Media I Shouldn't Answer?

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