The Media Interview

A common tactic by interviewers is to find a quote from the past which contradicts what the person now says. Catching out someone making a u-turn is generally perceived as a “gotcha” moment, but I thought it was interesting that famed British TV interviewer Jeremy Paxman – known for some gotcha moments of his own [...]

My neighbour is running for city councillor and his wife was telling me about the first all-candidates meeting he attended. She was shocked at how little things get magnified when you’re in the public eye. For instance, while her husband was listening to other candidates, he was grimacing and frowning, and she realized how that [...]

From an interview with author Mike Cox – on the Writers in the Sky blog – who has written extensively about the Texas Rangers law enforcement organization: In a way, I’ve been working toward The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900 all my life. I grew up hearing stories about some of the old-time [...]

Sage words from the PR Lawyer Blog: So, I’m sitting here five hours later wondering to myself, “What did I say on that interview earlier today.” My media relations advice is: don’t ever talk to anyone after having Novocaine. Go home. Shut your door. And go to bed!

Jason McIntyre co-creator, writer, and editor, of the blog The Big Lead interviewed on Sports Media Guide: Q. Do you do your interviews by e-mail or phone? A. Kornheiser was over the phone – he doesn’t do e-mail. I prefer e-mail. I started doing it by e-mail because I was anonymous at the time and [...]

The worlds of US politics and journalism are still reeling from the sudden death on Friday of Meet the Press host Tim Russert. The 58 year old Washington bureau chief for NBC news had just finished taping The Tim Russert Show for CNBC and was working on voice-overs for Sunday’s Meet the Press when he [...]

76 year-old country music star George Jones in an interview with the Wichita Falls Times Record News: Q: You don’t grant many interviews. Why not? A: I don’t do as many interviews as I used to because, frankly, what else is there to know about me?

Freelance writer Hrag Vartanian blogs about being misquoted: I was interviewed by Steve Malanga for a recent profile of Bushwick, Brooklyn for City Journal and found this paragraph that proved to me (yet again) that you should always be cautious about giving interviews, even to nice guys–which Steve obviously is: Some early arrivals claim that [...]

Barbara Walters on one of the main reasons she stopped doing the TV newsmagazine 20/20 back in 2004: …it seemed that every celebrity, every murderer…had a lawyer or a press agent all interviewing the interviewer to determine where they could get the most airings for their clients, what kind of questions would be asked, and [...]

Author Carl Weisman blogs about his experiences as a published writer, including doing media interviews: Wow! That was intense. Imagine doing twelve interviews in one morning, including four 10 minute interviews back to back without a break. If you ever find yourself doing radio publicity for one of your books you just may have to [...]