In the challenging world of media interviews, you can be asked questions in two main categories.
In the first category, questions may be generally soft and easy – resembling a stroll along the sand in a gentle summer breeze.
In the second category, media inquiries can be fired with the hurricane force of what have become known – in the territory of Australian journalism where I’m from – as “blowtorch-on-the-belly” questions.
When you’re an interviewee, it’s always, always, always best to be ready for both categories of questions.
This is one of the lessons which can be drawn from watching the latest truly terrible interviewee performance by the daughter of the British Covid fund-raising hero, the late Captain Sir Tom Moore.
The interviewee showed signs at the start of thinking that she would only be getting easy questions in the first category.
More about her in a moment, but first to Captain Tom.
Long after serving in the British Army during World War 2, Captain Tom captured hearts around the globe at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He did this by raising almost £39-million for charities associated with the UK’s National Health Service.
Captain Tom achieved this at the age of 99 – with supporters sponsoring him to walk slowly around his garden a hundred times aided by his sturdy walking frame.
He was later knighted for his efforts by a sword-wielding Queen Elizabeth II in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Captain Sir Tom’s heroic status lives on after his death at the age of 100 in 2021.
His sudden popularity had, in part, been bolstered by the inspiring positivity of his answers in a multitude of heart-warming media interviews given during and after his fund-raising efforts.
Alas the same cannot be said for his daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore.
She has been subjected to a host of allegations about the way she has controlled and distributed funds from the foundation that was set up in her father’s name.
Hannah Ingram-Moore has been criticised by Britain’s Charity Commission for a range of ways that she personally benefited financially from Captain Sir Tom’s heroic deeds – and his subsequent book-writing.
The Charity Commission found that Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband exhibited a “pattern of behaviour” which personally benefited them repeatedly.
The Charity Commission complained that the family refused to donate to the Captain Tom Foundation any of the £1.47-million raised from her father’s three books, despite assurances that the family would give some of it to the foundation.
Hannah Ingram-Moore has been disqualified from being a trustee or holding senior management roles in any charity in England and Wales for ten years.
Doing media interviews in the wake of such criticism naturally makes things challenging for Hannah Ingram-Moore.
But she has been doing some interviews – which have seen her dodging difficult questions and digging holes for herself with less than straight-forward answers.
Amongst the worst of Hannah Ingram-Moore’s recent performances as an interviewee has been on the ITV breakfast show “Good Morning Britain”.
The programme’s anchors currently include the sharp-minded lawyer-cum-TV-presenter, Robert Rinder, who is best known for another television show where he plays the title role in the crime-focussed “Judge Rinder”.
In both his programmes, Robert Rinder has proved to be a master of asking blowtorch-on-the-belly questions.
Together with his Good Morning Britain co-host Kate Garraway, Robert Rinder subjected Hannah Ingram-Moore to a grilling for which she appeared to be remarkably unprepared.
When you face the media while serious allegations are being made against you, there is an essential choice to be made.
If you believe you are innocent, you should have all the necessary information at your fingertips in order to convincingly mount your defence.
But if you know there is truth in the allegations against you – after taking legal advice on whether or not it’s wise for you to appear – you should do the honourable thing.
This involves admitting what you’ve done wrong and apologising.
You also need to be ready to outline what you’re doing to make amends.
It may also be reassuring to viewers if you explain how you plan to behave much better in future.
What does not work well is to mix things up – by admitting you’ve made mistakes while still seeking to defend things that seem indefensible.
You also need to be ready to give immediate truthful responses every time you are asked about the allegations, rather than appear to be avoiding questions.
It’s easy to understand how important this guidance is when you watch how Hannah Ingram-Moore ducks and squirms her way through much of the Good Morning Britain interview here:
If you or your organisation need information about media interview response training sessions, you can get it at:
And if you’d like to learn more about answering blowtorch-on-the-belly questions inside and outside the news media, you can watch the latest edition of the Monday Night Live Podcast hosted by negotiation expert, Derek Arden.
This issue of the podcast – featuring a communications-boosting speaker from Australia – can be watched on YouTube here.