Notes on tricky situations

1. Confrontational interviews. If you get stuck in a situation where someone is arguing an opposite view to yours, the key thing is not to get angry. Stick to your key points, stay calm, and sound measured and logical. If you get upset, you are likely to alienate your audience.
2. Using “no comment”. In reality, this won’t make you look good, and won’t impress a journalist. If you’re quoted saying “no comment” on television, it will probably make you look like you’re guilty of something as it sounds abrupt and dismissive. Secondly, looking like you’re avoiding something is not a helpful way to build a productive relationship with the media.
3. If you say the wrong thing… If you stumble over your words, say the wrong thing, or suddenly realise that you’ve made a mistake, the situation is often retrievable. If you are talking to a print journalist, it is perfectly acceptable to stop and correct yourself, or clear up the mistake. Just ensure that you are clear about what you said that was wrong.

If you are conducting a pre-recorded radio or television interview, incorrect material can be edited out. In most cases, the journalist has nothing to gain by embarrassing you or by playing back your mistake. Therefore, after your error/stumble, simply pause, advise the journalist that you would like to try it again, and start again from the beginning of the sentence. Ensure that you do pause, because this allows the audio/video to be edited from that point.

Mistakes made live are obviously difficult to conceal. However, the best advice if you get too messed up to continue, is to smile, say that you’d like to try again, and then keep going. If you can get past your mistake and move on, so will the audience.