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By William J Rochelle III, F ulbright & Jaworski LLP and Richard S Levick, Levick Strategic Communications
Imagine the scene. It is a perfectly normal morning in the office. You are happily sipping your almond mochaccino when your assistant announces a call from a writer at a national news wire. The adrenaline starts pumping as you imagine praise from your friends, envy from your competitors, and recognition from your clients on seeing your name in print. But the very next instant the fear sets in and your better judgment whispers to your ego, ‘What if I botch the interview? What if some unconsidered phrase ends up in print, making me look like a fool?’
Despite your desire for 15 minutes of fame, you say to yourself, ‘Is it safe to put my reputation in the hands of a reporter I don’t know and have no reason to trust?’ The answer is of course yes, but only if you know the rules. There are five basic rules to dealing with the press, although there are any number of additions and refinements. These five rules are the fundamentals, to be memorized or even embossed on your telephone. Take them to heart and you will soon learn to enjoy the interview experience. Follow the rules, and not only will this reporter call you back in the future, so will other news writers who have read your quotes and see you as a good source for enlivening their own stories.
Rule 1: Picture every word in print
When being interviewed many people take the safe road by saying up front, ‘This interview is on background. At the end of the interview, go over your notes; tell me what you’d like to quote, and I’ll tell you if it’s ok.’ The problem with this is most reporters don’t like interviews on background and resent those that are off the record even more. By talking on background, you are treating them like an adversary, which means it is unlikely you will be called back or considered as a good source in the future.
There is, however, a simple solution. When you respond to questions, think to yourself, ‘How would that sentence look if it appears tomorrow, word for word, in the Wall Street Journal?’
Now remember, the reporter is writing the story, not you. What you think is important may not be the point they want to stress and they are a wily breed, so don’t make the mistake of being careful only about the statements that you think are most relevant or what you think the writer will quote. Anything you say is fair game if it’s on the record.
‘But,’ you say, ‘I have trouble thinking and talking at the same time.’ Don’t worry. The reporter won’t mind if you speak slowly or pause before answering a question. In fact, they will probably be delighted as speaking slowly means accurate, readable notes. Collecting your thoughts into a coherent, grammatically correct English sentence also enables the reporter to insert your words directly into print.
Of course nobody is perfect. If you find yourself saying something unconscionably stupid or unintelligible half way through a sentence, just stop dead in your tracks and say, ‘No, that’s not right. This is what I really mean . ’ That will give you the time you need to gather your thoughts and allow for a responsible statement.
Rule 2: Keep it simple
You may be the world’s leading authority on a particular subject, but a newspaper reporter isn’t looking for your help on an article for the New England Journal of Medicine. Successful journalists earn a crust by simplifying complicated subjects for the average reader so make their job easy and you will be thanked.
Also, while you are being sought out because you are an expert, speaking like one minimises the chance that you’ll be quoted in the next day’s newspaper. The best source is someone who can explain a complicated concept using a few simple words. If your answer to a question requires a hundred words, your illustrious interviewer will probably be thinking, ‘How fast can I get this turkey off the line and find somebody who can answer my question before I start drawing social security?’
Ideally, answer all questions in one complete sentence of not more than 12 words and limit each sentence to explaining only one thought. News writers don’t quote entire paragraphs anyway. A successful 20 minute interview will probably only result in a ten-word comment attributed to you. Aspectacularly successful interview will still only result in one quote and one or two other thoughts attributed to you by name.
Rule 3: Use interesting language
A newspaper is a business. If you don’t believe me, ask the hundreds of reporters who have been laid off since 2000 when advertising revenues began to fall. News writers are in the business of selling newspapers so the best reporters are those who make boring subjects sound interesting. Help the writer to sell newspapers by conjuring up a phrase using unexpected or interesting language. For example, recently a reporter called me regarding the staggering costs involved in some of the large bankruptcy cases that have surfaced over the last two years. Referring to a particular case where the debtor and creditors are trying to untangle years of accounting fraud, I quipped, ‘You’ve got to ask whether it’s best, like Vietnam, to simply declare victory and go home.’ Comparing a bankruptcy case to an unwinnable war was so unexpected that pretty much the same quote ended up in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal .
Again using language to create a vivid image in the reader’s mind, we were quoted in the Wall Street Journal about a prominent bankruptcy case, explaining that, ‘People who are trying to stop the confirmation steamroller inevitably get flattened.’ Despite having spent 45 minutes on the phone, offering a host of pithy comments and sound bytes that were not attributed, we were delighted with one citation in a major newspaper, especially since the law firm was also mentioned and no other practicing lawyer was included as an expert commentator.
On the other hand, don’t use silly language, or you’ll look silly.
Rule 4: Don’t make predictions
News wires will not write about an aeroplane that lands safely after an uneventful flight, but they never fail to write about an aircraft that does not. If you are an expert on aircraft safety, the reporter may, for example, ask for your prediction about whether a plane with stuck landing gear can make a belly landing without loss of life. Think carefully before you answer.
Predictions are dangerous. Even if you have held an otherwise flawless interview, an attributed prediction is just about guaranteed to annoy or outrage someone, be it a (former) friend, a business acquaintance, or, worst of all, your client or boss. Play it safe by not giving personal opinions but, instead, by spouting statistics. Since you were contacted as an expert, the reporter will believe what you say.
Let’s say you’ve been asked about the eventual outcome of a newly filed lawsuit because you have been involved in similar cases. A safe answer is, ‘In my experience, the defendants in cases like these win nine times out of ten.’
Because you’ve been clear and concise, your answer is much more likely to be quoted in the next day’s newspaper. It allows the reporter to tell readers how the case will probably end up, which is a plus for the newspaper, but you haven’t actually gone out on a limb. You have simply quoted statistics that are hard for anyone to challenge. If the outcome is not so clear-cut, you could say, ‘Defendants win more often than not, but the law has been changing.’ This reply may win the fence-sitting award, but you will sound like an expert immersed in current trends nonetheless.
Rule 5: Take the reporter’s call immediately
Reporters work to deadlines, usually in the afternoon. If you don’t return their call until 4:00 pm, the story likely will already have been put to bed, and your name won’t appear in tomorrow’s paper. End of story.
If at all possible, speak to the reporter immediately. If the writer works for a wire service, they may release several updated versions of the story throughout the day. If you speak with the reporter in the morning, your quote will probably appear in every update that goes out over the wire. If you don’t speak with the reporter until the afternoon, your name may appear in a late revision of the story, but local newspapers will have put their stories to bed already without you.
Unless it is a very important story, reporters work on more than one article each day. If you wait until 2:00 pm before calling back, chances are they will have moved on to other breaking news.
These five rules apply when reporters are calling you to comment as an expert. These rules do not apply when you, your company or your client is the subject of the article. If you are being sought as an expert, most reporters will treat you well. You still need to be on guard, and engage your brain before your mouth, but a reporter from a responsible news organisation seldom sets out to depict an expert as an idiot.
If you are part of the story, on the other hand, you are fair game for those reporters who have forged reputations by slanting stories to make people look foolish. When you are a target rather than just a source, the opposite of some rules may be the best option. For example, going off the record may now serve your interests. Interesting language may get you in trouble, and predictions might enhance the perception of your embattled position as more credible or sympathetic.
All rules are made to be broken, at least sometimes, which remains a truism that is never truer than in the art of media management.
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