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We’ve been talking a lot lately about podcasts.

As well as guiding you through how to get started with your podcast, we’ve also explored how to prepare spokespeople to appear on this format.

And, if you needed any evidence of why that preparation is so crucial, an interview that grabbed our attention provided the perfect example.

 

 

It took place on The Guardian Politics Weekly UK podcast.

And it is an interview where the journalist described the spokesperson’s lack of preparation as like “turning up to a football match without your boots on”.

The podcast episode focuses on the Frome by-election, and part of it is an interview, at a coffee shop, with Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Dyke.

And it started well enough.

But the wheels began to fall off when the conversation moved to mortgages, people’s monthly living costs and the housing situation in the area.

After an uncomfortable silence, Ms Dyke said she could “talk around” restrictions on building in parts of Somerset that see Frome subjected to a lot of “speculative planning applications.”

It was an answer suggesting she felt this was either an interview rehearsal or that there would be plenty of editing before it went out.

And worse was to follow.

Asked about the perception the constituency is affluent when there are areas of deprivation, she said: “It does have a look of affluence. It is a beautiful area. We are very lucky to live in this part of the world.

“But there are pockets of deprivation and…”

The answer then tailed off. On the podcast, you can hear her press officer say, “it is ok, take your time – don’t worry”.

And Ms Dyke claimed drinking her “coffee too quickly” caused the difficulties with her answer.

As the excruciating exchange continued, she asked: “What do you want to know? Something that’s a subject I don’t know anything about.”

When the reporter suggested she gives an overview of the economic situation in the area, she replied: “Yea, there are pockets of deprivation. What else can we say on that?”

She can then be heard saying to her press officer, “I don’t feel prepared at all for this. It is all getting a little bit above my station.”

When the journalist said she will face much more “exacting” questions during the build-up to the election, Ms Dyke said it was the second day of the campaign, and the interview came to a premature end.

In short, it is a bit of a mess. Albeit a memorable one.

So, what can other spokespeople learn from this?

Well, firstly, it is a reminder of the importance of preparation, something we always stress during our media training courses.

That preparation should focus on what she wanted to say and the issues that could come up. And on the format of the interview. Ms Dyke didn’t appear to know whether this was an interview rehearsal or parts of the interview would be edited.

Answers suggesting she could “talk around” particular subjects, and conversations with the press officer make it feel like she thought the audio would be edited. But that wasn’t the case.

It is also a reminder that while podcast interviews can have a relaxed feel – and this one took place at a café – spokespeople must still be ready for challenging questions.

And be aware that what they say on a podcast can travel far and wide. The Daily Express, The National and The Spectator are among those that covered this interview mishap.

 

Ms Dyke, to her credit, took to social media to address the interview. On Twitter, she said: “I messed up in an interview on the first day of this campaign.

“My passion and desire to do this job got the better of me and I got nervous. 

“I'm going to spend every day campaigning hard and proving to the people of Somerton and Frome that I'm the best choice for our area.”

 

Time will tell how damaging the interview is. But there is something refreshing about a spokesperson – particularly one in politics – owning their mistake.

We were asked to look at this interview by one of our blog readers. And it is not the only recent interview we have been asked to review.

As one reader said, it is always “helpful to have some extra ears looking out for this stuff”.

And we believe there are always media training lessons to learn from how others perform during TV, radio or print interviews.

Now, you may not agree with everything he said, but Lord Bethell’s appearance on Radio 4’s Today programme (which you can hear at around 1:36) was an excellent example of a spokesperson remaining composed under pressure from tough questions.

And not trying to evade questions you would rather not face.

He appeared on the programme after former Prime Minister David Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne rejected claims at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that austerity measures left the UK exposed to the pandemic.

During a series of questions from Mishal Husain about the Government’s preparation and handling of the pandemic, the former health minister was pushed on the use of VIP lanes for PPR procurement and people making a lot of money on equipment that was “not fit for purpose”.

“There are bits of it that I find extremely distasteful,” he said.

“But it’s a fact of life, Mishal, that you need people who want to make lots of money to go and do entrepreneurial things.

“People have made money out of vaccines. They’ve made money out of ventilators. And they have made money out of working in hospitals.

“Making money itself is not a crime. But the inquiry and the police will look into whether any laws were broken.”

Personal questions have tripped up many media spokespeople, as we have highlighted in our media training blogs.

But not Lord Bethell.

Here’s how he responded to a question about what mistakes he had made during covid.

“You’re springing that on me a bit now,” he said. “Listen, I made micro mistakes about individual junior ministerial decisions.

“I had some mindset mistakes, where I went into it wrong. But overall, I worked very collaboratively with my officials. And, overall, I think our response was as good as we could have had under the circumstances.”

What I liked about this interview was that it felt different from many other political ones.

There were no attempts to evade tricky questions with the banal, robotic repetition of prepared lines and messages. He was prepared to admit that the response was not perfect.

It wasn’t perfect. He repeated the journalist’s negative language when the journalist suggested it was “embarrassing” the country had to make a public appeal for makers of ventilators to come forward (which was clipped for social media).

"It's not embarrassing to try your hardest to react to an emergency."


Some of his language could have been simplified to make it easier to digest.

And accusing the reporter of “jumping around a bit” could suggest irritation at the line of questioning.

But you can find fault with almost any interview and, overall, it was an impressive performance.

Hopefully, he would prepare in a similar way for a podcast interview.

 

Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 35 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers. 

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