TJ Walker explains why news interviews aren't normal conversations: reporters can cut your words into isolated snippets, so every sentence must stand alone. Skip the qualifiers like 'but' and 'however'. Give simple, self-contained answers that work without context.
Chapters
When you're answering questions from a news reporter, it's not like a normal conversation. Well, why is that? It's because you've lost control of the context. In the real world, if an employee walks in and asks you a question, you can answer it in great detail. You can reference something you said five minutes ago or last week. If your boss walks in and is talking to you in the middle of the sentence, she picks up the phone and she's talking. You know that you better stop talking because nothing you say will be heard because she's on the phone. In real life, we're acutely aware of the context of our conversations. If your son comes up to you and says, dad, you're the worst dad in the whole world because you don't let me play with firecrackers, and all the other kids get to play with firecrackers, you can start off by saying, well, son, I realize you think I'm the worst dad in the whole world for not letting you play with firecrackers. But now, in that situation, you might not make your son any happier, but at least your son knows that you're listening to him. But if you do that in real life with the news media people, it's going to look bad. You're going to end up always on the defensive. You're going to be quoted saying foolish things that make you look like you're trying to defend yourself. So that's the big transition for most people. When you're talking with a reporter, it's not really a conversation. You're not really talking to that reporter. You're talking to the readers, the listeners, the viewers for this reporter. And this reporter can talk to you for 10 minutes, an hour, three days, and just take one little snippet out. It could be eight words, could be four words. The result? Every single thing you say has to stand on its own. You cannot talk to reporters in such a way that your words are dependent on the context. That's why you can't be complex. That's why you can't say, well, therefore and but and however, because whatever was before the but or after the but won't get in. So remember this. It's not a real conversation. Because of this one issue, you no longer control the context.
