Ep 110 Is it Ever OK to Ask a Reporter a Question April 19, 2016

Is it ever okay to ask a reporter a question?

Speaking the show about effective speaking in public to the media, at work and in Life. Speaking with T.J. walker.

This question comes from Jared Breaux, one of my friendly competitors, one of the class acts of the media, training, presentation, training, business. And by the way, you can get his take on this by going to his brocast on YouTube or going to his website. Just Google Jaredbro and you'll find his website. Here's my take on this question. I'm going to answer the question with a question. How does asking a reporter a question increase the odds of you getting the message and the exact quote you want into the final story? I do believe, and there are exceptions to this rule, but I do believe that your orientation in every interview should be first and foremost on how do you get the message, the sound bites you want into the final edited story. Now, I'm talking about edited interviews, not a live debate on Bill O'Reilly or some other talk show. Because here's the problem with asking reporters questions. What you're really doing is turning this into a conversation, a debate. If it's any sort of an edited interview, I guarantee you you're not going to win a debate with a reporter. The reporter is going to make himself herself look good. And if someone comes out short, it's likely to be you. So the first thing I want to do is question your assumptions as to why you're asking the question. Now, you could say, well, T.J. i'm just uncertain about exactly where the reporter is going. I want to clarify. You could. It's not the end of the world, but I believe you should listen to all questions a reporter asks, not just literally and for context and meaning, but also strategically. So if you hear a question, what I think you should do is think about how can you answer it in your own positive context. How can you essentially rewrite that question to make it easy for you? If there's some ambiguity, assume the things you want to assume that make it easier for you. Now, if the reporter says, no, that's not what I had in mind. What I really want to know is, why did you do this? Then you'll still respond to the reporter's next question, but it's not your job to discern every single nuance the reporter might have been thinking. It's not your job to make this reporter say, oh, you do know the most about this subject. You now deserve your PhD. Congratulations, Dr. Walker. That's not what an interview is about. An interview, first and foremost, is about you trying to communicate the messages that are most important to you with the readers, viewers, listeners of that media outlet. Do not lose sight of that.

Speaking is brought to you by Media Training Worldwide. For all of your media training and public speaking training needs, go to mediatrainingworldwide.com.

The big problem so many of my clients have who come to me for media training that they've had in the past is they get tangled up in too much complexity with their answers, with the questions, with the whole process of the interview. And I believe you have to go into every interview with a different mindset. It's not literally a conversation with one reporter. It's more of a game to figure out how can you get the ideas you care about into the final story. Of course you don't want to sound like you're dodging the reporter's questions. Of course you don't want to seem like you're just focusing on your own agenda and being unresponsive. Reporter is not going to like that and will likely punish you and will likely go out of their way to either make you look bad or not get your messages in or in some cases just talk about the fact that you dodge questions. So I'm not suggesting any sort of overt dodging of questions or dancing around issues. What I am suggesting is that you have a clear cut focus on your number one goal, getting the messages you care about into the final story as opposed to listening to a reporter ask sort of three long winded, nuanced questions and then picking apart and analyzing and going much, much deeper into question three to make this reporter think that you're just his or her best friend and a lifetime conversation partner. Yes, I would love for reporters to think I'm the most interesting person they've ever spoken to. Yes, I'd like to use every interview as an opportunity to build a relationship with the reporter so they come back to me not just for this story, but on any story that affects my industry, my issues, my niche and my business. But don't be too greedy. Don't expect that a reporter just has nothing better to do than to talk to you for an hour and have these wide ranging conversations focus more on the agenda at hand. If the reporter's picking the topic, you've got important things you want to say, then try to get to that as quickly as possible. I'll go through some exceptions to these rules in just a moment.

Do you have a speaking related question for number one USA Today best selling author TJ Walker for more than 30 years Walker has been a public speaking coach and media trainer to presidents of Countries, Prime Ministers, CEOs, Nobel Peace Prize winners, professional athletes, and Ms. Universes. Send your questions to infoediatrainingworldwide.com or on Twitter J. Walker.

If you are a head of state, if you have a highly sensitive position in the United nations and you're dealing with issues of sensitive geopolitical complexity, then I would urge you to sort of stick to the narrow, stick to what you're focusing on. Because chances are you're getting so much media attention anyway. You don't have to go out of your way to really go and build deeper relationships with reporters on a daily basis because you're already talking to them. Now let's talk about another scenario. Let's say you are a smaller business. A subject matter expert and reporter is doing a story about your industry. They don't really have to quote you. It's not about your company or your business specifically, but you want to be in the story and you want to be an industry expert and you want to be a part of the story to build your overall brand. There are certainly times when that can happen. That happens to me fairly often. The reporter is doing some story about fear of public speaking or they're wanting a critique of a president of a country speaking. I don't necessarily care that much about what my message or quotes are. I just want to be a part of the story. I want to have quotes when I have my name, name of my business in the story. And I like to have a lot of quotes. And ideally I have given the reporter so many great quotes that are interesting and relevant and useful that I've pushed out all the space in the story for any of my competitors. Sorry if that sounds selfish, but I do think it's my obligation to build and promote my own business. So how does that relate to this issue of Is it ever okay to ask a reporter a question? I think if you've already dealt with the most important issues of the interview, you've hit the things you care about the most. You know that you've given the reporter great quotes, great sound bites, they're happy with you, but you're really looking to build a better long term relationship with, then I think it's perfectly fine to delve deeper into the issue at hand. Probe the reporter. I mean, a lot of reporters love to pontificate on their theories too. They would like to be seen as a peer with you and they want to share information they want to exchange. I mean, most reporters are Interesting people they are in a business that's about the exchange of ideas. So if it's not a live TV or radio broadcast and doesn't seem inappropriate, then I think it's perfectly fine to go deeper. Ask that reporter questions because they may put out a particular theory and you have some insights to that. You think it's a brilliant theory and you want to tell them why they're smart. I'm not suggesting you pander to them, but the more you can learn about what they're thinking, the easier it's going to be for you to come up with messages that you believe in, but you also know are going to be incredibly interesting and relevant to the reporter. So I wouldn't make it your first order of business asking reporter questions. I would not do it as an attempt to debate them or shame them or show them you disapprove of them or that you don't agree with every premise. That's not the way to do it. Just say what you want to say. But if you've accomplished what you really want, you've already given great quotes, and you want to go deeper and build even a better relationship, be seen as a deeper resource for the reporter, then involving a real conversation can be great, but make sure the reporter isn't on strict deadlines. I mean, if you're at a convention or conference and they've done an interview and you're just sitting around a lobby and people are having a drink, there's nothing wrong with going deeper and having a conversation and asking the reporter questions. Now let's switch for the final segment here to talk about what do you do when it's a live radio or TV interview? In that case, if it is a debate program, sometimes hosts are coming from a particular position. Sean Hannity is a host of a show, he's a moderator of a show, but he's also there to deliver a clear political point of view. So if you're on the other political end of the spectrum, you can ask him questions, and they're really rhetorical questions to suggest that he's wrong or foolish or bad or stupid. If you want to, it might work for you, it might not. But just realize if people are watching and it's live, it's profoundly different than if it's an edited interview. Make that adjustment accordingly and you'll be in good shape. But first and foremost, don't lose sight of the real goal of the interview, which is for you to get the messages you want into the final story. If you've accomplished that and you haven't done anything to distract from that. And you know you've given the reporter great questions. Then and only then, feel free to ask reporters questions. But keep in mind, you're the newsmaker, you're the expert, you're the opinions that should matter, not necessarily the reporters. Also realize you're not there to change the reporter's thinking. You're there to deliver your perspective. Do that, focus on that, and you'll be in good shape. I'm TJ Walker. Thanks for spending some time with me. As always, may all of your presentations in life be a huge success.

Speaking with TJ Walker is the number one rated daily streaming TV and radio show devoted to all aspects of speaking and communication. If you received value from this show, then please subscribe to it@mediatrainingworldwide.com Please review the show, leave comments, and share it with your friends and colleagues. Today.