Thirteen Tips for Great
Media Interviews
Patricia
Thomas
Knight Chair in Health & Medical Journalism
Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication
University of Georgia
1. Prepare for the
interview. Ask if you can return the reporter’s call in 5 or 10 minutes
and use that time to organize your thoughts and make sure statistics and other
important information are at hand. Mentally review the most important
facts a reporter will need to know. If you want to suggest other experts
for interview, have their contact information handy. Take some deep
breaths, sit up straight, smile, and return the call. The only exception
to the preparation rule is a media blitz, when you’ve been talking to reporters
all day about the release of a hot new study.
2. Do NOT insult the reporter by
asking “what are your qualifications for writing about my highly technical
research?” This poisons the atmosphere.
3. DO ask how well informed about
the topic this reporter’s audience is likely to be. Writers know that
audience is everything. Subscribers to the Atlanta Journal &
Constitution want to know a lot less about a new way of modeling the earth’s
carrying capacity than readers of Bioscience or Conservation Biology.
4. Visualize explaining your
newest publication, or the events you’ve been asked to comment on, to a
specific layperson – such as your mother, your fifth grade teacher, or a
stranger seated next to you on an airplane. Use analogies and
metaphors. Borrow imagery from sports, cooking, gardening, automobile or
household repair, or popular TV shows or music – anything consumers are likely
to know a little something about.
5. Skilled reporters often try and
formulate metaphors or analogies during an interview. If this happens,
work with the reporter to make the imagery as clear and accurate as
possible. If an analogy is close, but not entirely accurate, work with
the reporter to make it right. Otherwise you’re to blame when the faulty
analogy appears in print.
6. Prepare a concise answer to the
“So what?” question. Be ready to explain, in plain English, the
significance of your message. Does your finding add to what was
previously known? Challenge the conventional wisdom? Add weight to
an existing public health recommendation? Suggest that a certain health
practice might be ill advised?
7. Assume that everything you say
is “on the record.” If you do not want to be quoted on a specific point,
ask to go off record on that point only. Be clear about when you’re back
on record.
8. Don’t fake it when you’re
unsure about a fact or a statistic. If this information is readily
available on a web site or in a common reference book, tell the reporter where
to look. Or, if you think you can find the answer before the reporter’s
deadline, offer to do so and then follow through.
9. Your own enthusiasm and passion
for your work makes it interesting to others. Cool “scientific”
detachment does not sell stories. If you became a marine ecologist
because you witnessed a devastating oil spill as a child, or if you loved a species
of frog that has largely disappeared today, say so! If your great uncle
invented a process that has saved lives or made homes more energy efficient,
tell the story. Illustrate abstractions with human interest stories
whenever possible.
10. If you are speculating about
the meaning of an event or a new finding, say so. Expert opinions provide
valuable perspective for lay readers, but they should always be labeled as
conjecture, not fact. Make it clear that you are not telling individuals
to make radically different – and possibly dangerous – changes in their daily
lives.
11. Be generous with suggestions
about where additional information can be found and who else to
interview. Science is about exploring the unknown, and intelligent people
disagree about many new research findings. Your credibility soars when
you suggest other experts – including ones who are familiar with your research
but interpret your findings differently.
12. Do NOT demand to see a draft
of the article before it’s published. Most newspapers and magazines
forbid this. Instead, offer to answer follow-up questions by phone or
email. I’ve had scientists tell me that being nervous keeps them from
explaining clearly during interviews. A statement like this encourages reporters
to call and check facts.
13. Expect off-the-wall
questions. Even if you’re an expert on sustainable economic development,
the reporter may suddenly remember a recent article about frog parasites and
ask for your professional opinion. Rather than go out on a limb, it makes
more sense to stay focused on what you know about.
Athens
November 2006
The preceding notes, verbatim,
were provided by Professor Thomas as part of a class-seminar she conducted at
the UGA Institute of Ecology in December, 2006. See http://kleonard.myweb.uga.edu/academica/media-interviews.htm.