When you do Public Relations, you try to do everything you can to prepare someone for an interview. You give them all the tips for strong sound bites, make sure they have the latest info, make sure they look sharp.
Unfortunately, once they are in front of the camera, you have given up all control of the situation. So what do you do when someone says something wrong or something they shouldn't?
While holding a Motorcycle Safety Day event for Dover Air Force Base, someone we had set up to be interviewed said in front of the cameras that motorcycle related deaths were on the rise. This information was false and the deaths for Dover Air Force Base are actually below the state and national average.
Here are three tips I learned from that experience:
1. Have a good rapport with the reporter
If the interview is taped, having a good rapport with the reporter can be a life saver. After the motorcycle interview, I explained to the reporter that I think the person misspoke and asked her for a moment to grab another person to verify that, because I would have hated to send her out with bad info. Having spent most of the day with the reporter giving her info and finding out exactly what she needed for her stories, she was more than willing to talk to more people to make sure she put out an accurate story.
2. Know who your experts are
When you are setting up an interview, always have back up people ready even if they might not be needed. When the first person gave the bad info about the number of deaths, we quickly rounded up our other subject matter experts to give the correct info. Having to scramble for information makes you look unprofessional, having a group lined up and ready to speak makes you look prepared.
3. If at first you don't succeed, try again
Dont' be afraid to let your interviewee know that they misspoke and ask the reporter if they can do that one over. The reporter doesn't want to put out bad information any more than your interviewee wants to embarrass himself on television by giving out bad info. If your interviewee says something crazy or wrong on camera, don't be afraid to ask the reporter if you can do that again. Talk to the person away from the cameras, let them know what they said wrong and help them get back on message. For us, it was fixing the error of fatalities being on the rise, but if the person getting interviewed is veering off topic don't be afraid to reel them back in and get them back on topic. Remind them that they'll talk to the reporter for an hour, but only 30 seconds will get used. Do they really want the 30 second clip that plays on tv to be of their fishing anecdote?
In the end, these tips helped me make sure the reporter did a positive piece and everyone was happy with the coverage.
http://www.wmdt.com/story/17421613/motorcycle-safety-day
