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Communicating with News Media

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In today’s marketplace, the term “media” is interchangeable with customer, competitor, industry, shareholder and employee. With all of the sources for news today, anyone can become their own “reporter” by filtering and interpreting messages into news stories. Today, everyone is his or her own reporter.

Interviewing with the media has been rated as one of the toughest assignments anyone can have. News is oftentimes about conflict and controversy. More importantly, creating good news is one of the most effective ways to promote causes and influence behavior. Reporters have the right to ask very direct questions. Interviewees need to be extremely prepared before sharing an answer that could be seen or heard by literally millions of people.

The goal of working with the media is to:

  • Ensure the most effective portrayal of your organization
  • Ensure consistent messaging
  • Tell the truth...very well
  • Turn negatives into positives
  • Leverage better media interviews into more media interview

The Media—Friend or Foe?

Reporters are, as a whole, good and decent people whose job is to report stories their readers/viewers will find interesting and valuable. However, they are, by training, skeptical and that skepticism is shown through the questions they ask. Keep in mind that they must crank out 400 words—on deadline—about subjects that they may have very little knowledge or expertise.

Your job is to help them do their job.

Fortunately, for everyone, there are rules of the game.

Newsmaker’s Bill of Rights

  1. The right to know the interview topics in advance.
  2. The right to know the identity and affiliation of the reporter.
  3. The right to state your key points and, if appropriate, restate them.
  4. The right to have some control over the interview environment.
  5. The right to bring up relevant topics and points not specifically asked for in questioning.
  6. The right to know how the interview materials are to be used and whether others are being interviewed for the story.
  7. The right to respond to accusations.
  8. The right to correct misstatements and misinformation during an interview.
  9. The right to restate obscure or lengthy questions.
  10. The right to finish responses without interruption.

Reporter’s Bill of Rights

  1. The right to reasonable access to legitimate news sources.
  2. The right to have the reporter’s deadlines and logistical needs considered.
  3. The right to receive a timely response to an inquiry.
  4. The right to receive a concise and direct answer to relevant questions.
  5. The right to request and receive, if available, printed or pictorial material to flesh out the interview information.
  6. The right to conduct follow-up inquiries, where necessary, for clarification.
  7. The right to receive corrected information if incorrect information is inadvertently given.
  8. The right to redirect the discussion to the subject under investigation.
  9. The right to evaluate and report the story as the reporter sees it.
  10. The right to the same kind of courtesy and respect that the newsmaker desires.

Before the Phone Rings: PREPARE

Interview Guidelines

Delivering Your Message

Post Interview

 

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