Telling lies never pays, except when it’s the right thing to do
IMAGINE your phone rings and a senior journalist from a leading media outlet is on the other end wanting “a chat”, in effect, to interview you. What should you do? Tell a “white lie”. Let me explain.
“A chat with a journalist “ is not a chat, it’s a conversation with a purpose, conducted by a professional – a journalist, who records what you say, and can report it directly to their readers, listeners or viewers.
Yet it never fails to astound us how often senior executives take calls from journalists and find themselves having “a chat” without thought, preparation, or the good sense to check some basic facts first.
Put it this way, if we said there is a person from ABC Radio on the phone now who wants to record everything you say and broadcast it to 1.2 million listeners, and by the way, can you take the call? You’d think twice. And you should.
But because most media interviews are conducted down the phone, and we use the phone all day in business, there is an understandable tendency to under-estimate the importance of “a phone chat” with a journalist. It fact many executives think they can just wing the phone interview and too often the results speak for themselves.
When talking to a journalist, no matter how innocuous the conversation may seem, you are acting as an official company spokesperson. What you say can be taken down in evidence and reported as the official company-line. If that’s true, why wouldn’t you buy time to prepare properly?
Taking time to prepare for a media interview is essential. If it means telling a “white lie”, by saying you are in a meeting to buy time to get your head around your key points and prepare properly, then do it. It’s right because the points you end up making in the interview will be well thought out; it’s right for the company because their spokesperson will be prepared, and; it’s right for the journalist, who will appreciate your well-thought out answers.
Luke Roberts. Founder Spokesperson Media Training
Thanks Luke. This is great advice. It has certainly happened to me before, and more than once! I guess being in the swing of things during the day, and taking lots of phone calls, it’s easy to treat the call from the journalist as just another conversation, when really the alarm bells should be going off. The bit about doing the journalist a favour by being more prepared is something I hadn’t considered before. I will now feel less guilty about rescheduling that “chat” for a bit later on.
What about the necessity of always being available to the media? I thought journalists don’t take too kindly to you putting down the phone – especially if they have a pressing deadline. Don’t you take the risk that they will call and get a comment from your competitor instead, or stop calling you altogether?
Thanks Eric, you are right. It’s a slight risk, but one worth taking in my view. Any journalist worth their salt will allow you a bit of time to meet their deadline. The key thing is to buy yourself time, 15 minutes is often long enough, to carefully consider your best possible response. Speaking off the top of your head without a bit of thought results in weaker media quotes
You are 100% correct in what you say! So many people just love chatting, but then they see the paper the next day and that nice wee chat will have turned very sour!
I’ve just tried this strategy and it worked really well! I told the journalist I’d call back in 5 minutes, prepared myself, thought about what I wanted to say, then called back and did the interview. It was a much more satisfying and successful experience than the last interview I did. Of course, the test will come when the article comes out tomorrow…