The Media Interview

That is, if there’s a recorder on. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper learned this the hard way recently, when a 2005 encounter with a journalist came back to haunt him. Tom Zytaruk was working on a biography about MP Chuck Cadman who had recently passed away, when he heard that Harper – at that time, [...]

The plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West’s mother the day before she died, walked off CNN’s “Larry King Live” during an interview tonight. Larry King opened the hour by saying that it wasn’t clear if Dr. Jan Adams would appear as promised. King said that West’s family had formally asked Adams not to go [...]

I was reading Where Do You Stand’s piece on Dick Cheney’s wife promoting her new book on The Daily Show. Justin calls Lynne Cheney’s chat with Jon Stewart “one of the most awkward interviews I’ve ever witnessed”. Even Comedy Central promotes the clip as “an extremely uncomfortable interview.” Now it’s Daily Show guests who often [...]

Finally got to see the much-talked-about Paris Hilton interview on Letterman last week. I’m no fan of Hilton’s public persona, but I felt for her to a certain extent. Letterman starts in with questions about her stay in prison, and never ever lets up. Even after 4 minutes, when Hilton says she doesn’t want to [...]

In an article entitled The King of All Media vs. the Shameless Marketing Guru, Debbie Allen talks about her unique way of preparing to be interviewed by shock jock Howard Stern: Knowing the interview would be a challenge, Debbie asked a previous guest of the show to coach her before the interview. She soon discovered [...]

Everyone is talking about the judge who wouldn’t stop talking – the unusual, eccentric, unorthodox style of Judge Larry Seidlin during the televised hearings into the custody of Anna Nicole Smith’s body. At one point, Judge Seidlin paused to assess his performance: Ohhhh, I did a lot of talking. You know, the more you talk [...]

Heard this on CBC Radio’s The Current, yesterday, and it’s a good example of why people can be suspicious of being interviewed by the media. Peggy Thomas was on a committee of the Ontario Library Association which approved a book that several school boards later banned: I got a phone call from a reporter… and [...]

I’m not sure how straight many of the answers were 20 years ago – questions were just avoided with less pinache perhaps – but this journalist makes a good point about the effects of media training on political interviews: …twenty years ago you could interview people and ask them straight questions and have a reasonable [...]

Newsweek reporter Nicki Gostin tried to ambush interview former 90210 and Charmed star Shannen Doherty for the Aug. 21-28, 2006 issue: NG: Hi, Shannen, how are you? SD: I’m good, thank you. I’m unpacking from New York. I can’t stand unpacking. NG: Can’t you get your maid to do it? SD: No! I’m a normal [...]