What will you do if a journalist – or a gang of journalists – start peppering you with tough questions as you step out of your home onto the doorstep?
Panic?
Swear at them?
Run away?
Slap them on the head with a brochure?
Many people – even highly prominent ones who should know better – handle it badly when reporters and camera crews suddenly descend on them.
You will see horrendous examples of this coming up shortly – including the brochure-slapping approach.
And when media ambushes are sprung on those who are not used to journalistic scrutiny, they find it’s bad for their public image – as well as being shocking and discombobulating.
(I deploy the word “discombobulating” advisedly because it does, as it sounds, and creates a disturbing effect on the mind – just as a media ambush does).
Dealing gracefully with a media ambush is not easy.
But the good news is that playing the game well is a learnable skill – like so many other communications challenges… from speaking in public to answering tough questions from your clients and prospects.
And people who train how to deal properly with a media ambush come over way better on screen than people who don’t.
So if journalists ever decide – rightly or wrongly – that you or a member of your team are worthy of being interviewed while you’re on the move, here is some preliminary guidance.
COPING BADLY WITH THE “ARE YOU TO BLAME?” QUESTION
I’m giving this advice now because a multitude of so-called “doorstep interviews”that have just been conducted for a TV programme aiming to find out who was to blame for the deaths of 72 people.
This was sparked by the horrendous Towering Inferno-style fire that engulfed London’s Grenfell Tower skyscraper a year ago.
These latest doorstep interviews – or attempted interviews – were carried out by the rottweiler-like BBC Panorama reporter, Richard Bilton.
He questioned suspects about what the programme regards as “corporate manslaughter” due to spectacularly appalling fire safety failures.
Richard Bilton blasted his targets with Australian-style “blowtorch-on-the-belly” questions as they strolled down the street or attempted to walk their dogs (which were not rottweilers and didn’t bite him back!).
There’s more on the programme’s findings – along with an example of one the doorstep interviews – on the second video clip down on this webpage:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44200041
DO BETTER THAN THESE DOORSTEP “VICTIMS”
Another interviewer who has a reputation as an indefatigable – and sometimes amusing – doorstepper is Channel Four’s Michael Crick.
Here’s a compilation of his higher profile doorstep interview efforts – including one (violence warning!!!) where he gets hit over the head with a party political brochure by his target
Rightly or wrongly, journalists tend to go for the doorstep approach when their official attempts to get a more dignified official interview are repeatedly rebuffed.
In general, if the media issue is big enough, I often advise that it’s better to do the more dignified official interview.
But of course ONLY EVER do this after finding out all that you can about the situation in advance – and planning, preparing and practising as much as possible.
YOUR DODD DOORSTEP TIPS
The good news is that you can be trained to handle the doorstep interview better than most people do in the above footage.
Here’s some guidance if you’re ever doorstepped:
+ Be a saint! Keep calm and be courteous at all times – even if the journalist/s are not being polite to you
+ Avoid either being aggressive or running away – both of which make you look appalling on screen
+ Demonstrate a responsible attitude to the subject – whether or not you are responsible for causing whatever the reporters are asking about
+ If anyone has been hurt or killed by whatever has happened, make sure you acknowledge this and express sympathy
+ My suggestion is to nicely ask for the journalists’ name, media organisation and telephone number, write it down or put it straight in your phone and offer to call them at a specific time to discuss the issue. (If any journalist refuses to co-operate on this, then they are the ones who look evasive on camera – which means they probably won’t screen it.)
+ Whatever you do, gracefully avoid get drawn into doing an interview on the spot if you don’t know enough of the background or you need to get legal and/or media handling advice before you proceed
+ When declining the opportunity to do an interview on the run, briefly give a credible reason why you have chosen to do this – and move onto talk about when you can call the reporter to discuss the possibility of doing an interview in better circumstances. (Generally do this without committing yourself to actually doing an interview. You would normally want to know more, have time to think about it and consult colleagues before agreeing to do an interview on a challenging subject.)
+ If you do the interview at some future time, make sure you plan, prepare and practise for it – as you always should for other tough questioning situations such as job interviews and career appraisals.
1,117 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT ANSWERS
And if you need some advice on giving great answers to tough questions at work, there are at least 1,117 ways to get it.
Here’s a video which outlines a number of methods…
If you want to get your fix of “Great Answers To Tough Questions At Work”, published by Wiley, by having it read to you in the calm, soothing, sophisticated Australian accent of the author, you can get it downloaded onto your phone or tablet here:
If you would like the shiny new disc version of “Great Answers To Tough Questions At Work” so you can play it on your CD or MP3 player, you can get it here:
If you follow all the advice in this issue, you should be a lot safer when you step out of your home or office – whatever journalists are lurking there for you.
Whatever microphone-wielding journalists or camera operators are ready to pounce on your doorstep or on your next dog walk, act wisely, think calmly and be polite at all times.
And never hit journalists over the head with a brochure – or worse – however tempting!!!
Keep smiling,
Michael
P.S. If you would like communication-boosting tips like these sent directly to your inbox, please email michael@michaeldoddcommunications.com to request them.