The Media Interview

Being the first standing US president to appear on a TV talk show has its rewards and its dangers.  The danger came in the form of an inappropriate remark about the Special Oympics which drew immediate criticism.  The reward came in the form of a lengthy, often substantive interview worthy of the Newshour watched by [...]

The television industry has, over the years, developed an intricate network of satellite feeds and other means to create what we’ve taken for granted over the last decade or so: the satellite interview or discussion. Now Skype and other internet video technologies are making that intricate network almost obsolete, overnight. Take a look at this [...]

Missed this during CNN’s election coverage, but on November 4 they pulled off a television first – they brought someone into studio via hologram. Correspondent Jessica Yellin was in Chicago, but she was “beamed” into the Washington studio with Wolf Blitzer. As a tip of the hat to Star Trek (and good old fashioned show [...]

If you have to cough or sneeze in the middle of an answer, or a loud truck rolls by in mid-sentence, it’s important that you be able to start again so that they have a complete sentence to edit. You also need to make it sound like you’re doing it for the first time. Pittsburgh [...]

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 [...]

A fascinating new trend in interviewing has emerged during the course of the US presidential primaries: the live-to-web editorial board interview. Sitting around the table with editors of a media outlet is a long-standing tradition, but the idea of streaming it live over the internet adds some interesting new dimensions. Take the editorial board meeting [...]

I’m always saying you can’t let things distract you during an interview. Here’s a story from the BBC about police Superintendent Bryan Lawson, who was being interviewed on location about drug raids: As I was talking, I could see a guy in the corner of my eye walking past carrying something the size of a [...]

Here’s a blog reader, commenting on the blog of a writer who is a social media marketer, working in part on Second Life… You did pretty good [on the TV interview], it’s fun to see someone we know being on the News! There’s still something about being on broadcast TV, even in the middle of [...]

Larry King gave a good demonstration last night of what not to do as a guest. He was on Anderson Cooper 360, being interviewed by John King about Dr. Jan Adams walking off the Larry King Live show. Larry King was constantly looking away from his interviewer and at the camera. Breaking eye contact 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 [...]