TJ Walker argues that organizations should do regular media interviews before crises hit. Staying visible and familiar with reporters reduces damage when problems emerge, and practice improves your skills under pressure. He's done thousands of interviews himself.
Chapters
What's the best way to prepare yourself for a future media crisis? Some threat to your organization's reputation? Well, here it is. Be more interesting on a regular basis. Speak to the media on a regular basis. The big problem so many organizations have, whether it's a big oil company or gas company or financial institution, is they haven't talked to anybody in the media, at least the main general broadcast news media, for months or months, sometimes years, sometimes half a decade. So now when there's a crisis, there's an eruption, there is an explosion, possibly a death, a leak, it's the first time anyone in the media has thought about this organization for years. And when people don't know you, it's a lot easier to be tough, to be confrontational, to treat you like the bad guy who's hiding. You can solve a lot of these problems by not waiting for a crisis to hit, by putting out interesting information, useful information to the media on a regular basis, by making yourself available to the news media on a regular basis so that they already know who you are, get more comfortable with you. And frankly, it also improves your media abilities. If you only go in front of the media during a Crisis Once every 10 years, you're going to be scared to death. If you're going in front of the media doing interviews on a regular basis, you're going to be a lot more comfortable, confident and poised. Now, I practice what I preach. I try, unless I have a good political reason for turning it down, I try to do every media interview that's requested of me. So at nearly 10:00 o'clock tonight, my time, I'll be doing an interview in this studio with live Skype video for a TV network news network based in the Middle East. They're going to be talking to me about crisis communications and all the controversy going on with Hollywood and big media in the United States with sexual harassment charges. Probably not going to get any business from that, not going to get any new clients from that. But it gives me yet more experience being interviewed. Another network I've been on. And folks, sorry if this sounds like I'm bragging. I've done literally thousands and thousands of interviews on major TV networks all over the world and radio networks. But I don't want to get stale. Haven't done one in the last month. So that's why when the rest of my family is getting ready for bed, I'll be doing this interview at 9:40 tonight. If I'm doing it, so can you. Thanks for tuning in today. If you have any questions, post them here. If you want more information on how to speak to the media, please go to mediatrainingworldwide.com.
