Media Interview Prep Must Include Checking Social Media

BBC One’s Have I Got News for You — a favourite watch for many old hacks (like us) — became the story itself this week. During the show, presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell repeated a claim made on social media that Euan Blair’s company, Multiverse, had won a government contract to run the new digital ID system. The comment was made flippantly, but the claim was false. The BBC later issued an apology, and the episode was withdrawn from iPlayer. You can read The Guardian’s write-up of the story here.

This was just a throwaway line in a comedy programme, not a hard-news interview. But it highlights an important truth: misinformation is now everywhere and often has a life of its own.  The post about Blair, which is still on X, has been viewed almost three million times. It is almost inevitable that, from time to time, completely false information will seep into journalists’ questions.

The untrue post that is still on X

At The Media Coach, we always say that good preparation means rehearsing the answers to predictable negative questions. A spokesperson should always know these reactive lines.

Many of the questions that catch people out are of the “While I’ve got you, can I just ask…” variety — often prompted by something a journalist or presenter has just seen, maybe on socials. But if the journalist can see it, you can too.

And if you’ve done your prep, these questions are usually easy to handle.

So, before any major interview, you or your PR support should:

• Do a quick social-media / ChatGPT / Google search on your name, your organisation, and the topic of the interview.
• Check X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Reddit, and comment threads — not just the news pages.
• If you find misinformation, you may choose to correct it online or not — but you’ll have a neat response ready and won’t be blindsided if it comes up in the interview.

Many people come to us ahead of media interviews for exactly this reason — to get help preparing for difficult questions and to rehearse how to deal with them under pressure. In the future, AI may do this for you, but for now, we’re very happy to oblige.

Images:
Victoria Coren Mitchell, YouTube
Post on X

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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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