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Useful Tips for Media Interviews – How to Get Your Message Across

Media interviews are a powerful way for you to communicate important information to the community, your peers and your business partners.

To deal effectively with the media, it is important to remember that what you say will be for the public record, so be prepared and completely clear about what you want the audience to know about and remember. If you are unsure, contact the media team for advice and assistance.

Interviews for the News

Media interviews will typically be for print, radio or television. In the case of news stories, only brief quotes or short, sharp sound/vision "grabs" may be required. In such cases it is important that you get your "key messages" across quickly and succinctly.

As a rule-of-thumb - develop just three or four key messages that can be reinforced and reiterated with ease.

Key messages may relate to a positive announcement - such as news of an exciting research breakthrough or a new course offering, or they could be your response to a serious issue/debate in the media.

In interviews dealing with controversy, journalists may try to draw you into commenting on issues or topics that will help them create a more exciting story and could leave you feeling on-the-spot or in-the-firing-line. Sticking to your four key messages will help you keep control of the interview and ensure your messages get reported, not what the reporter wants to write or broadcast.

Conversational Feature-Style Interviews

At times you may be interviewed for magazine-style feature stories or for topical discussions on radio and television. Such interviews will generally seem more relaxed and conversational. Even at these times it is important to stay focused on your key messages and avoid being sidetracked by journalists who may want the interview to follow a particular agenda.

Without being stiff or robotic, find ways to draw the conversation back to your key messages and rephrase important points so listeners/readers clearly understand what YOU have to say.

Some extra hints and tips

• Find out as much as you can about the story/interview the journalist is doing and be clear about the context your interview will fit within.
• Ask the journalist for their list of questions in advance, in some cases they will be willing to provide them - though not always and you should not expect them to.
• Write down your four key messages in a brief, clear format and practice sharing them with someone before the interview.
• Avoid the use of jargon or complicated words - phrase your responses to be understood by the audience viewing or listening to the interview.
• Be enthusiastic while also maintaining your composure.
• Do not rush to answer a question, take your time to consider the appropriate response and stop talking when the question is answered. Silence after you have finished your answer is OK and makes the journalist work harder to fill it - not you.

If an interview is centred on a controversy, it can be useful to have a "back-door" that can enable you to withdraw from the interview once you have had your say and forestall further difficult questions. For example - let interviewers know that you have only five minutes in which to answer their questions before you must attend another meeting. You might have a colleague standing by to keep track of the time and prompt the withdrawal.

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