How to Answer Difficult Media Questions – Part 2

This week we pick up where we left off from last week. Marie-Adele, a listener from France, asked me about handling difficult questions from reporters. Specifically, she asked for tips on handling know-it-all, chummy, good-bye, jargonistic, and speculative questions.

If you haven’t already, you might want to listen to part one of this episode. In it I suggested some general strategies for answering media questions–like developing your core messages, bridging, and questioning and the questioner. This week we’ll cover specific tips for each of the types of questions Marie-Adele asked about.

I’m very excited because in today’s episode I spoke with publicist, Helen Coronato, on the phone. Her business focuses on helping entrepreneurs and small business owners navigate media. She had some great tips to share. Here’s a part of our conversation.

How to Answer Know-It-All Questions

Lisa: So Helen, she asked about know-it-all questions. That’s when the reporter wants to just wrap up quickly and say, “Oh, we already have the story, I just need to wrap-up a few points.” How do you handle those types of questions?

Helen: Of all the questions that I think are the most problematic, it’s the know-it-all questions. And here’s why. We can’t assume that the media is going to be on our side. So when someone is saying to you, “Well, I’m writing this interesting story on moms in the workplace. I just wanted to get a couple of quotes from you.” You really don’t know from that statement whether or not the reporter is writing about how wonderful it is that moms are in the workplace or how tragic it is that moms are in the workplace.

So if you are throwing your quote out there, you don’t know what you are attaching [it] to. So in a one-on-one, it’s really important to find out what it is that reporter is speaking about. You can say, “Well, could you give me a little bit of background about what this story is?” or “Can you read to me some of the quotes you already have so I know whose company I’m in?” or “Can you give me the title that you’re working with?” All of these ideas are going to let the reporter know, “OK, we’re going to put the brakes on first, and I’m going to get to know you just a bit more, before I attach myself to you. We don’t want to be so desperate for media attention that we jump on anybody’s bandwagon.

How to Answer Chummy and Goodbye Questions

Next I asked Helen to talk about chummy questions and goodbye questions. These types of questions are similar. In both cases the reporter is attempting to catch you in a moment when you are relaxed and slightly off-guard. After the reporter puts his notebook down, he or she might say, “I know the official position, but just between us, how do you feel about it?”

As I talked about last week, you need to remain focused on your core messages. You could say something like, “Of course, I’ve got personal feeling, but the issue is this. My personal feelings don’t enter into it.” Here’s what Helen had to say.

Helen: You want to remember always that chummy questions [start off sounding] like, “Hey friend, hey I agree with you,” or “Wow, that was a great interview and no one [has] ever said that before.” When someone starts to load on the compliments, your professional guard should go up a little bit and it’s a great time to shake hands and move on.

The Dangers of Chummy and Goodbye Questions

Helen (continued): Because the thing is, nothing is ever off the record, especially with the Internet. Though your answer may not end up in that specific press release, article, or media event, it could still get leaked somewhere else. Then all of a sudden, the thing that you thought was not such a big deal turned into a very big deal.

The goodbye question is very similar. Again you are thinking that the interview has ended. This is what I call, “doorknob” reporting. The reporter has his hand on the doorknob, literally, walking out the door, or is getting ready to wrap up the phone call [when h says something that completely catches you off-guard. And it’s going to be something a little shocking or provocative to try and get you [to react] a certain way so that they have their close. The important thing there is to remember they are still not out the door.

How to Answer Jargonsitic Questions

Next, I asked Helen about jargonistic qu estions. These are questions where the reporter uses jargon in the question, usually in the form of acronyms. Here’s Helen.

Helen: This is when the media reporter is trying a little bit too hard.They may ask you a question like, “When your clients look to the ROI on SEO what can they expect from your company?” And other people in the room may not know what they are talking about, or they are looking to see how much you know.

The best thing to do is really address the jargon and turn it into plain everyday language so that you can bring everybody in the room, or who are reading your article, or hearing your interview onto the same page.

I agree with Helen, it’s important to avoid jargon and speak in simple, direct sentences instead. In Helen’s example, instead of saying SEO, you’d say search engine optimization, perhaps even briefly explaining it using a concrete example.

In addition, if you are good at explaining complex issues in plain terms, you might want to use this skill to build a relationship with a reporter. If you notice he or she seems to need more information, you can offer to meet to provide background information.

How to Answer Speculative Questions

Finally, the listener asked about speculative questions.   Speculative questions are “What if?” questions that try to lead you to talk about irrelevant topics. I asked Helen to give us an example:

Helen: “Well yeah, all of this sounds wonderful, but if the phone lines had been cut, how would you have gotten the emergency care that your staff needed?” So they are looking to almost set you up with a “Well, that’s great that we’re all here and you did such a good job, but are you really prepared? Do you really know what you are doing?”

If you choose to reply to a speculative question, your response should be terse and it should be crystal clear that you’re answering a hypothetical question. However, speculating or answering hypothetical questions can get you into trouble.

It’s best to ignore the speculation and confine your answers to what is known about the core issue. In the response to example Helen provided, you might say, “The root of your question is the safety of our employees; which we take very seriously…” then you’d move to your core safety messages.

Summary

So there you have it, some quick and dirty tips to help you navigate know-it-all, chummy, good-bye, jargonistic, and speculative questions. Remember the bottom line is for you to take control, anticipate questions, deliver key messages, stay calm, and stick to facts.

Oh, and no, I don’t think that reporters are out to get you. But, I do think that reporters have a job to do and that job is to tell great stories. By following these quick and dirty tips you can give them a great story while maintaining your professional credibility.

This is Lisa B. Marshall. Passionate about communication; your success is my business.

P.S. While I had Helen Coronato on the phone I also asked her about a few other types of questions such as leading and loaded questions and she also shared some general advice. You can hear the full interview by visiting The Public Speaker Fan Page on Facebook or my Art of Speaking Business blog.

Finally, I’d like to thank Helen, for being my guest on the show!

If you’d like to be connect with me, feel free to join my networks on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

If you have a question, send email to publicspeaker@quickanddirtytips.com. For information about keynote speeches or workshops, visit lisabmarshall.com.

Resources

Online Public Relations – The Successful Media Interview (Nice short tutorial!)

The Weekend Publicist (Helen Coronato’s method to create a press kit!)