Media Training - What every journalist should know...

What journalists should know about the people they interview.

At The Media Training Company we spend a lot of time giving our clients insight into the nature of journalism so that they’ll be prepared when they have to go in front of the mic or camera. And from the feedback we get it’s obvious that many interviewees find the embrace of the media a trifle clammy.

Top hate is being asked ‘How do you feel’ after you’ve just lost a close relative in some disaster. We could mention the famous – and probably apocryphal story of the American reporter in Vietnam who came across a burning village and enquired loudly: ‘Anyone here been raped and speaks English?’

These are extreme examples, but if only both sides understood each other a bit better it would make for better communication. And that, of course, is the name of the game…

Maybe journalists should spend a bit more time getting inside the heads of the people they interview.

The Media Training Company has compiled a guide to how people in the real world think.

By and large they are:

Doers. They are actively involved in the doing the things the media are interested in. It’s very easy for journalists to underestimate the depth of knowledge and experience they have.

Long term. Interviewees have to live with the consequences of an interview. Journalistic sloppiness or inaccuracy can have unpleasant consequences months or even years down the road.

Subjective. They mostly do what they do because they are committed to the cause.

Enthusiastic. Their work is often their life. Again, it’s easy for journalists to underestimate how important someone’s job is to them – it’s one of the major ways people define themselves.

Rational. They may not understand the slant – even spin – on a story that gets journalists excited.

Diffused. Although journalists often think it should be, being interviewed is not the most important thing in most people’s lives. They have other priorities.

Specialist. Like journalists many people have extensive knowledge about a wide range of subjects. But unlike journalists they will have very detailed knowledge about one subject – that’s what makes them worth interviewing in the first place. And they will almost always have a different take on the really, really important elements of any given story than will the journalist.

Busy. Interviewees are busy people too.

More insights from The Media Training Company next time.