The Media Interview

Being prepared for a crisis situation is important for any organization, but in the case of nonprofits, it can be particularly vital. That’s because nonprofits often have a constantly fluctuating staff, low budgets for handling emergencies, and a crisis situation is one of the few ways to get in front of the media. Training an [...]

Bobby Jindal quoted by Stephanie Grace one month before his badly-delivered response to President Obama’s speech to Congress on February 24, 2009: Jindal said that, in effect, the GOP should stop fretting over the identity of its next standard bearer. “We have to not worry about the messenger, ” he said, “and start focusing on [...]

PR blogger Gerry McCusker makes the point on PR Disasters that companies (or anyone) should treat interview requests from bloggers like they would a request from mainstream journalists – what is the blogger’s point view, what is their purpose, will the interview be posted, how will it be posted? The example he gives of a [...]

Fascinating issue brewing in Hamilton, Ontario, where a recording and transcript of an “off the record” media interview with the city’s mayor have been released to some media outlets. In that interview with Hamilton Spectator columnist Andrew Dreschel, Mayor Fred Eisenberger apparently reveals some sensitive information from an in-camera council meeting. Dreschel won’t confirm or [...]

A comment by one of presidential candidate John McCain’s advisors, quoted in a Fortune magazine article, has created quite a stir and raises an interesting issue about the transparency of media interviews. Here’s part of the LA Times story on the comments by Charlie Black: Then, the longtime political pro got a bit too honest. [...]

A week or so ago I mentioned the controversy over statements made by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a taped encounter with journalist Tom Zytaruk in 2005 in the driveway of MP Chuck Cadman’s widow’s home. The statements allegedly showed Harper acknowledging that payments had been offered to Cadman when he was alive in [...]

Answer: carry on as if they did and have your own people pose questions to you. That’s what FEMA did back on October 23rd. Having informed the media of a briefing on the California wildfires 15 minutes before it was to start, it’s not surprising that no one turned up. A couple of reporters listened [...]

NEW YORK, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Michael D. Brown, Former FEMA Director and Current Director of Cotton Companies, one of the leading disaster preparedness and restoration organizations in the nation, is available for comment regarding the wild fires that are devastating Southern California. Offering yourself for media interviews when you have expertise on a current [...]

Advice from a media training guide produced for the Texas Department of Transportation has people talking in the blogosphere and in the mainstream media: “Keep calm. Leave wrestling to the pigs. They always end up looking like pigs.” Texas state senator Dan Patrick, who’s a radio talk show host, appeared on Glenn Beck to voice [...]

Detroit Lions wide receiver Roy Williams was out delivering pizzas for an afternoon recently – all because of a media interview. Back on September 24th, during his weekly chat on WDFN radio, Williams said he never tips the people who deliver pizza. Doh! Despite trying to clarify himself on a later broadcast, the outrage poured [...]