One organisation has found itself under increasing pressure this week.
The IAAF has been accused of ‘letting athletes down’ with the low attendances at the World Championships in Doha.
In fact, spectator numbers have been so low that competitors have been taking part in surreal laps of honour with almost no-one to wave to in the stands.
So, when the governing body's chief executive Jon Ridgeon appeared on the BBC coverage this week, there was only going to be one topic of conversation.
Mr Ridgeon, a former athlete himself, was interviewed by Gabby Logan, a presenter who does not have a reputation for asking tough questions.
But what ensued was a tough-grilling for the athletics boss, which you can view here at 13:02 for as long as the broadcaster makes it available.
How did he get on?
Well, it was a performance that relied heavily on excuses for the dismal attendances at the Khalifa International Stadium, with international broadcast partners and ‘geopolitics’ being put forward as reasons.
In response to the first question, he said: “When this event was awarded six or seven years ago it was positioned as a celebration of athletics in the Middle East. Clearly, geopolitics has moved on since then. There’s a blockade now on this country.”
It was an excuse, which the presenter certainly did not believe.
She said: “You’re not blaming the blockade. Clearly, there is no appetite to come and watch athletics in Qatar. I don’t think you can deny that, Tonight the army have been brought in to buffer up seats and create an atmosphere.”
But Mr Ridgeon stuck with the excuse and used it a couple more times in the interview.
He later said: “I’m not blaming it, but you have to understand the political challenges this country faces right now, which was never envisaged when this meeting was awarded.”
We tell delegates on our media training courses that audiences are not interested in excuses. They want solutions.
Look at the headline The Times gave to an article that referenced this interview.
Excuses are reeled off for Doha’s empty seats The Times
A better approach in this interview would have been to admit that attendances have been disappointing and focus more on how organisers aim to improve them for the remainder of the competition – there was a hint of this with a mention of a school’s outreach programme - and ensure there are not similar scenes at future championships.
So Jon Ridgeon IAAF CEO made a point of blaming poor crowds on the timing of the athletics being late at night due to international brocasting times, funny that I thought it was the heat?
— Ashley bryant (@Ashley__Bryant) September 30, 2019
Absolute desperation from Jon Ridgeon and excellent from @GabbyLogan in holding him and the @iaaforg to account/ https://t.co/R2k1X8nV0r
— Shaun Richards (@notayesmansecon) September 30, 2019
Spot on @GabbyLogan, giving Jon Ridgeon of the IAAF a torrid time over the disasterous Doha Championships. Really should be apologising for getting it so badly wrong, rather than trotting out lame excuses. #DohaWorldChampionships
— James B (@Kragos80) September 30, 2019
Jon Ridgeon coming up with excuses faster than any politician 🙄 blamed practically everything apart from Brexit and aliens #DohaWorldChampionships
— mike (@miniomac) September 30, 2019
Another lasting impression from the interview was that Mr Ridgeon was not always answering the question he had been asked.
At times he looked evasive, or, as some social media users suggested, as if he was answering like a politician.
Asked whether he was comfortable with the environmental impact of staging these championship at a venue where cool air was being constantly pumped into the stadium he said: “I think the reality is there are lots of mitigating factors that can be implemented on climate change, but the reality is if we want sport around the world in very hot climates, it is sensible to create environments like this and it will create some amazing athletics over the next few days.”
A better approach here would have been to give some specific examples of what was being done to mitigate the environmental impact and then use the bridging media training technique to move the conversation away to more positive ground.
Asked a follow-up question on why the championships have to be taken to countries where spectator numbers could be an issue and where air conditioning is needed to keep stadiums cool, Mr Ridgeon gave a vague answer which didn't really answer the question and moved rapidly to a positive message about the current tournament.
He said: “The next four years for us is all about growing athletics and actually going to new parts of the world is important in that. The crowd is important but let’s not forget that many of the athletes are having a really positive experience in terms of being here and the athletics is going to be stunning.”
@BBCSport @iaaforg Jon Ridgeon sounding like a Tory politician right now on TV 😂
— David Hall (@xanderxander70) September 30, 2019
Well done to @GabbyLogan for not letting @JRidgeon off the hook with his politician spin in trying to justify the poor attendance
— Johnny Ringo (@Bigjohnnyringo) September 30, 2019
@GabbyLogan brilliantly telling @JRidgeon exactly how it is, but he didn’t give a straight answer. Sounded more like a politician to me when he had a perfect platform to admit the IAAF massively cocked up. #opportunitymissed
— TJ (@Tonywjohnson1) September 30, 2019
But it wasn’t all bad. Mr Ridgeon showed great composure throughout the interview and didn’t show any signs of being rattled despite facing some rigorous questioning.
This is something many spokespeople struggle with when under intense pressure and, as we have shown in this media training blog before, showing signs of annoyance and frustration can become the focus of an interview.
Overall though, this was not a medal-winning media interview performance.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 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 practical crisis communication training.
Subscribe here to be among the first to receive our blogs.
