Is this the worst media training advice?

Do you fancy learning some media training advice from a former White House press secretary?

Jen Psaki was Joe Biden’s spokesperson for 16 months.

Now a host at MSNBC, Ms Psaki has just shared what she believes is the worst media training advice.

Not got time to keep reading? Listen to the blog instead

Speaking on The Bulwark’s ‘The Focus Group’ podcast last weekend, she called the Democrats’ style of ignoring questions "the worst media training advice" that could have been given.

“The worst media training advice people give is answer the question you want to answer,” she said.

“That is the worst advice.

“If you ask, ‘What do you think should be done about Elon Musk?’ and their answer is ‘We’re going to build roads and bridges and defend the Affordable Care Act’, people at home are like ‘What in the hell?’.

“It is almost disrespectful to them.

“I think some of it is this overly formal ‘We’re going to follow the talking points’. Rip the talking points up.

“Decide what you think authentically. And then talk about it in a way you would talk to your friends from college, your mother-in-law, your sister.”

Whatever side of the Atlantic you live on, you will have seen spokespeople adopt this evasive approach in interviews.

It often seems to be a tactic deployed by politicians.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was a regular culprit when faced with difficult questions.

During one interview with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC’s Sunday programme, he was asked if he was registered with a private GP.

He replied: “My dad was a doctor. I grew up in an NHS family”, which appeared to be the answer to an entirely different question.

This evasive approach led to headlines about the then Prime Minister ‘refusing to say’ if he used a private GP.

In another memorable exchange, he was repeatedly asked about the Covid Inquiry and the Government’s reluctance to hand over WhatsApp messages. And his approach was to keep repeating the same words.

Every question was met with a variation of, “As I’ve said, the Government is considering next steps carefully but has been confident in its position and has handed over tens of thousands of documents.”

But this tactic of trying to reframe the question into one you would rather answer is also used by other media spokespeople.

An infamous interview we often refer to during our media training courses – and in these blogs – is the one the then boss of BlackBerry gave on BBC Breakfast to discuss the delayed launch of its latest handset.

And Stephen Bates ignored Steph McGovern’s questions asking what had gone wrong. Here’s a snippet of the exchange:

McGovern: You still haven’t told me what went wrong.

Bates: This is a phenomenal market. We are brave, we are out there, we are pushing it. We’ve transitioned and are supporting a business in the consumer world and the business world, and what is important is ensuring we deliver a great, unique experience to those 79 million customers out there and all the other BlackBerry users that we think we'll get.

As you can see, the response looks like the answer to a different question.

A more recent corporate example of this approach came when a spokesperson for United Utilities appeared on Good Morning Britain as protesters called for the company to clean up Lake Windermere.

And Chris Matthews did not seem keen to answer  Susannah Reid's questions about profits and shareholder dividends:

Matthews: “When it comes to profits, we reinvest our profits into our infrastructure…

Reid: “The question was, ‘What was your net profit last year?’.

Matthews: “Around about £300m.”

Reid: “And what did you return to shareholders?”

Matthews: “So, the way that it works is that we pay shareholders… Well, we invest three times what we give out to shareholders…”

Reid: “What did you return to shareholders?”

Matthews: “I think what is important to explain is that what we do need from our shareholders is the money upfront to invest in the assets so we can solve problems. That’s what people want us to do.”

Not a good look.

So, is it – as Ms Psaki suggests – the worst media interview advice?

It has to be right up there.

Spokespeople will face tough questions in media interviews. They will be asked ones they would prefer not to answer. It goes with the territory.

But those questions cannot be ignored in favour of something else.

Journalists get frustrated when they think spokespeople are ignoring or avoiding their legitimate questions.

They understand that the audience dislikes it.

They will call it out. And they will repeat those questions. It becomes easier for them to be more aggressive in the interview.

Control is lost.

That can make interviews memorable for all the wrong reasons. And can create sharable content for the channel’s social media.

But it is not a good look for the company involved and suggests they have something to hide, are defensive and are reluctant to admit facts.  

It also makes spokespeople appear robotic and scripted.

Such is the frustration with this approach, LBC has started to keep a tally of how many times questions are ignored. When it shares interviews on social media, it adds a yellow circle at the top with a count of the questions being ignored.

For example, when Labour minister Alison McGovern was asked by Nick Ferrari is “This is the worst job slump since Covid - when will the rot be stopped?”, the count on the social media posts reached five.

So, what should spokespeople do instead when faced with awkward questions?

Preparation

Well, while “answer the question you want to answer” may be the worst media interview advice, preparing properly has to be one of the best.

During our media training courses, we always stress the importance of anticipating challenging questions and considering how to respond to them.

The tough questions can often be predicted.

And you can then consider how you would respond.

Bridging

Mastering the bridging technique will help you handle tough questions without sounding like a politician.

Elisa Colton, one of our expert media training tutors, talked people through how to use it during one of our complimentary webinars.

“It’s as simple as ABC,” she said.

“It starts with answering or at least acknowledging the question. For example, you could say something like, “I understand why there is a lot of interest in that’. Here, you are answering the question in a way, and giving it some respect. So, it doesn’t look like you don’t care.

“But you don’t want to spend too much time here and need to build a bridge. ‘But’ and ‘However’ are great bridging words. So, after acknowledging or answering the question, you could say, ‘But that’s not what we are seeing here’ or ‘But what people are telling us is…’. These phrases take some time and practice to get right, but they get you away from the tricky area.

“And once that has been done, you need to communicate. Get back to your message and examples.

“Once you are over that bridge, remember it burns behind you. Avoid the temptation to return to it by saying something like, ‘Does that answer your question?’.”

Practice

Practice makes perfect.

During that webinar, Elisa said: “People can grasp the bridging technique quite quickly and see how it is useful.

“But you must practice to ensure it does not sound over-rehearsed or slick.”

Spokespeople can practice with the comms team. Or with colleagues if they are confident they will receive honest feedback.

You could also practice with our new AI-training companion – Thirty Seven. It lets you practice interviews and get instant feedback on your skills with an AI journalist.

And it is hot on evasiveness, as it showed when we asked it to look at this recent Newsnight interview.

Our best advice is for you to see what it's capable of for yourself - Get in touch to arrange a demo.

Media First are media and communications training specialists with nearly 40 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers. 

Click here to find out more about our media training.

Subscribe here to be among the first to receive our blogs.