Angry pop star Liam Gallagher may attract screaming teenage fans, but his media interview response technique is not something to shout about.
 
When it comes to giving great answers in media interviews, carefully planning the key messages you’re seeking to convey before you start is a vital element.
 
It’s not just about attracting attention – something that Liam Gallagher is definitely good at.

 

 

And going into a media interview with a positive mindset is also critical to your success, as I highlight on all my media training programmes.
 
If you go into interviews without any planning – and just say whatever crazy thoughts pop into your head – things can run wildly in all directions.
 
The latest proof of this comes in an extraordinary interview Liam Gallagher has just granted BBC News.

 

 

After a famously falling out with his brother, Noel, which brought an end to their band Oasis ten years ago, Liam Gallagher clearly went into this interview in a still negative frame of mind about the split.
 
This led to some most bizarre answers.
 
It included Liam Gallagher’s insistence that he had not stabbed one of his brother’s cats.
 
He introduced this denial into the conversation even though no one, including the interviewer, suggested that such a thing had ever happened.
 
The comment was even odder as Liam Gallagher has a record of being fond of cats.

 

 

Liam Gallagher also maintained that he had not slapped one of Noel’s children – despite the fact that no one was suggesting he had done that either.
 
So the interview manages to inject both these disturbing negative images into the minds of viewers entirely on Liam Gallagher’s own spur-of-the-moment initiative.
 
 

MEDIA COVERAGE QUALITY VS QUANTITY

 
Of course, an interview given by a pop star can be rather different from an interview by a business person.
 
If a pop star takes the approach that any publicity is good publicity (something I do not advocate to business clients), then they might measure their success by the amount of media airtime and column inches that result.
 
In interviews conducted on behalf of your organisation, the actual content of what comes across through the media is far more critical to your success than merely the amount of space you can grab.
 
Liam Gallagher has a remarkable ability to project a kind of endearing grumpiness and negativity in interviews that should not be copied outside pop world.

 

 

CREATING “MAN BITES DOG” HEADLINES

 
But Liam Gallagher’s overflowing anger did happen to trigger some more positive news angles within the BBC interview.
 
A more commendable aspect is where he speaks passionately about the frightening wave of knife crime amongst young people in Britain, which he indicates is a threat to his own children and others.
 
 

 

 
Less predictably, the pop star also speaks out against politicians taking drugs – sparking what’s known in the media as a “Man-Bites-Dog” story.
 
This relates to happenings that are so unlikely that they capture media attention on the basis of their sheer unusualness.
 
The “Man-Bites-Dog” expression forms one definition of what makes news.
 
It’s based on the fact that if a dog bites a man it’s so common that in most circumstances it won’t make news – unless it’s a particularly ferocious attack or the dog is owned by a celebrity.
 
 

 
 
The opposite of course is the “Dog-Bites-Man” label for non-newsworthy events that are all too common.
 
So when it comes to politicians condemning pop stars for taking drugs this is something so in line with expectations that it can be regarded as a “Dog-Bites-Man” non-story.
 
What’s less expected is to have a pop star condemning politicians for taking drugs.
 
So after a series of recent drug-taking confessions by Conservative Party candidates seeking to become the new British Prime Minister, Liam Gallagher threatened to lash out, saying that if he saw a politician taking drugs he’d “crack him around the head”.
 
 

 

“POP STAR CONDEMNS POLITICIANS FOR SNORTING DRUGS” as a headline is about as “Man-Bites-Dog” as you can get.
 
There’s not much evidence that Liam Gallagher planned this angle.
 
Rather it appears to be one of those things that he just slipped into.
 
So overall, Liam Gallagher’s interview is a mixture of bad interview response practice and some aspects which appear to be accidentally effective.
 
But when you do media interviews on behalf of your business, it’s not advised to leave things to chance.
 
To see how unplanned interview responses can fly around in all sorts of unexpected directions, you can study the Liam Gallagher interview here:
 

 

If the Liam Gallagher performance persuades you that being trained to do interviews in a more disciplined manner is a preferable choice, check out the media training options at:

http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/media-master-classes/
 
 

HELP SAVE THE WORLD FROM BAD ANSWERS
HOW YOU CAN HELP

 
My interest in what makes great answers arose out of my previous work as a political interviewer and foreign correspondent – where I frequently witnessed how some interviewees thrived on blowtorch-on-the-belly questioning while others self-destructed under the pressure.
 
Of course, giving great answers to challenging questions is important in areas way beyond the media.
 
Dealing effectively with questions from customers, shareholders, officials, boardrooms and from those your own team can be equally – or even more important – at times.
 
Saving the world from bad answers is a challenging mission.
 
More superheroes are needed to help tackle the problem.
 
 

 

There are so many bad answers to tough questions amidst current political and economic uncertainties, the quest needs your involvement.
 
My aim is to equip everyone in business with a new way of learning how to replace bad answers with great ones.
 
This is through an online video series I’m planning to make with cutting-edge production company Five On A Bike.
 
 

 

There’s more on Five On A Bike at www.fiveonabike.com
 
I can carry on the quest of helping audiences on six continents in conference keynotes, master classes and one-to-one sessions to help people give great answers.
 
But we need more…
 
“GREAT ANSWERS TO TOUGH QUESTIONS IN THE BUSINESS WORLD” will be the online video learning series to help make your replies to challenging questions as impressive, bombproof and confident as they should be.
 
The survey to enable you to help determine aspects of the on-line video series is at: 
 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmgkdpSAcOC7nQc1tcieBeumubne60oKvhBIZrql1B1OvXcQ/viewform
 
It only takes a few minutes to complete.
 
Help us shape the series and you too can be a superhero!