Please Do Answer the Question in a Media Interview

We are all used to politicians refusing to answer questions but it was quite shocking last Monday on Channel 4 News, to see a spokesperson for junior doctors simply parrot prepared lines without any attempts to answer a question.

Why you should answer the question before using prepared lines.

• You retain your credibility
• You do not give the journalist the incentive to be aggressive
• You do not look as if you have something to hide

Media trainers always get blamed for this sort of interview but very few media trainers train people to completely ignore the questions.

We believe a spokesperson should have a prepared argument for an interview.

We believe that argument should be in normal English, not policy or specialist language, and sometimes that takes some preparation to get right.

We believe it should include some hard evidence (think numbers) and some soft evidence (think people’s experience).

But we also think a spokesperson should answer questions first, and then introduce information that has been pre-planned.

This performance from the deputy co-chair of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee is shocking. She is clear, she is articulate, she explains her case very well and she has her facts and numbers to hand, but she totally ignores almost every question and makes a prepared statement to each one without even pretending to engage.

She is very lucky that Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy took pity on her and decided not to get tough.

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Lindsay Williams

Lindsay Williams is the founder and MD of The Media Coach. She has been an expert media trainer, communication coach and consultant since 1998. Lindsay hosts a range of bespoke communication skills courses which include Media Training, Presentation Training, Crisis Media Training and Message Building. Her particular forte is CEO Communication Coaching. Lindsay is the person to hire when you want C-Suite Communication Training.

Lindsay Williams is based in London but runs training sessions in multiple time zones, including the US, Europe, Africa and Asia, working online or travelling to host small and large scale training events. With 20 years of experience as a communications consultant with corporations and international organisations, Lindsay also runs Personal Impact Training and Pitching Via Zoom courses.

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