How NOT to do media interviews

BlackBerry’s chief exec, Mike Lazaridis who stormed out of a BBC interview following ‘inappropriate’ questioning recently fuelled major debate amongst the journalist, blogger and PR community. Twitter was inundated with peoples’ views on this high-profile media mishap, with blogs quickly emerging soon after the BBC posted the interview online.

This kind of behaviour is undeniably a bad move for any brand’s image, which I’m sure media trainers will use as worst practice examples. After all, it is likely to shatter customer confidence, which can take ages to re-build.

As PR professionals it is a reminder that we have to make sure that media spokespeople - no matter how high-profile and media savvy they claim to be - are fully briefed before any interview. This means not being afraid to flag potentially difficult questions, and how to respond to them, to avoid awkward situations from escalating. This should include past problems that the company or individual may have faced. Above all, spokespeople should never walk out of an interview or refuse to answer questions by bluntly saying ‘no comment’. Instead, they should be prepared to handle any questions thrown at them. Even if they have to apologise and explain for legal reasons they’re unable to comment on a certain topic, this is far better practice than ending the discussion altogether.

Being fully prepared for media interviews is crucial to ensure success. Companies won’t want to end up repeating Lazaridis-style mistakes, as the effects could damage their brand for years to come.