The more Media interviews I hear, the more certain phrases really grate. Those who utter them need to take note, because in broadcast interviews they can produce two disastrous audience responses:  listeners or viewers switch off, or worse, switch over.

Here’s my Clanger Chart:

1. “Going forward.…”. Bizarrely, this is increasingly common – bizarre because it adds nothing to an interview, but instead uses up valuable time. Leave it out – the future tense will suffice. e.g. instead of saying, “Going forward, we will introduce two products..” just say, “We will introduce two products…”
2. “I think…”. This invariably strikes a note of uncertainty when that’s rarely what the interviewee intends: “I think we’re easily the market leader…”; “I think we’ve handled this crisis in a professional manner” etc.. Remove it and the statements sound far more certain.
3. “So, what we did….So, when we…So, after we…”. Beginning responses with the word “So” seems particularly beloved of marketing people and scientists. In normal life, no-one begins a reply to questions such as, “Why did you choose that from the menu?/ What made you oversleep…?/ How have you got ketchup on your tie…?” with “So,…..”
4. [Repeating the question]. When you might have only a few minutes to convey your messages, don’t waste time repeating the question e.g. “What makes you think this new car will be a big seller?”, “We think [groan] it will be a big seller because….”; just get straight to the main advantages of the product. The one exception is the “soundbite” which forms part of a “package”, because the journalist’s question could be cut out. This means your response will probably need to include the question, so the whole report flows and makes sense.
5. “I think the question you should be asking is…”. I doubt anything angers a journalist more than hearing this response to his/her question. It sounds both insulting and like a classic dodge. It usually just encourages the journalist to ask the question again, which often means repeating a damaging negative. If you really think the reporter has got the wrong angle, it’s far better to say, “There is another side to this…” or “That’s absolutely not how I see it because…”.

So, going forward, I think, to answer my own question, “How do you communicate more effectively?”….   Mmmm…see how annoying that sounds?!

Perhaps we could start a social media campaign to consign these howlers to the comms dustbin by highlighting them under the hashtag #mediainterviewclanger.

Indeed, the constraints of Twitter, with its 140-character limit, exemplify what makes a good news interview: brevity and clarity.

Hashtag job done.

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