The Media Interview

As I started to watch yesterday’s much talked about interview with Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters on CBC Radio out of Toronto, I thought we were in for another Sigur Ros or Joaquin Phoenix stunt, when the interviewee simply clams up. Then, as host Jian Ghomeshi asked about Billy Bob’s musical influences growing up, [...]

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 [...]

Great bit on interviewers interrupting guests. Don Newman is a well-known Canadian political interviewer and recently on the comedy show The Rick Mercer Report, they did a parody commercial selling a DVD boxed set of Don Newman’s greatest political shutdowns.

Dealing with the editing of media interviews is never an easy question. Take this post from a conservative blogger’s take on what happened to Alaskan governor Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential race: Her campaign staff fumbled her introduction to the nation. Her initial interviews were cut by hostile editors in order to make her [...]

ABC News posted a promo for an interview with Sarah Palin and the headline makes quite a leap from what’s in even the limited transcript released by ABC. The headline says Palin “vows to remain player in 2012″ although in the partial transcript, when asked if the criticism she’s received makes her want to go [...]

The website Media Matters says CNN “deceptively cropped” the June 29th Face the Nation interview with retired General Wesley Clark during a report on its American Morning show June 30th. Here’s the Media Matters transcript of the CNN video clip: CLARK [video clip]: That large squadron in the Air — in the Navy that he [...]

Ahh, such promise for freedom of the press during the 2008 Olympics in this headline from the Guardian: Beijing promises open media environment for Olympics Then we find out that it means this: “BOCOG will apply a zero refusal policy for interview requests, which means that all requests for interviews will be replied to,” the [...]

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. [...]

Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin simply got up and left in the middle of an interview on BBC Radio 4′s Front Row program, leaving presenter John Wilson and the band’s drummer Will Champion to carry on: Wilson: Do you start with that idea, Chris… [sound in background] did you start with the song Viva La [...]

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 [...]