There was one interview everyone was talking about this morning.
Actually, it was more than one interview, but crucially it was the same spokesperson in all of them.
And they all went terribly wrong for the same reason – the interviewee refused to answer the questions she was being asked.
The spokesperson in question was Karen Bradley, the Culture Secretary, who made a number of appearances today following the terrible events at London Bridge over the weekend.
But it was the interview on Good Morning Britain with Piers Morgan which really stood out
The interview descended into an increasingly angry exchange as Ms Bradley, who is standing for re-election in Staffordshire Moorlands, refused to directly answer whether there are less armed police officers on the streets.
And at one point an exasperated Mr Morgan asked ‘why can’t you answer a simple question?’
Here is an example of the exchange:
Piers Morgan: Do you know if the number of armed police has gone up or down in the last six years? Do you know the answer?
Karen Bradley: Piers, what I am interested in is making sure that we have the right resources, the right powers and the right training and capabilities. I am assured by the police that they have that to deal with the counter-terrorism threat, but we need to look, learn lessons and make sure we act where appropriate…
Piers Morgan: Is there any reason why you can’t answer the question?
Karen Bradley: Piers, we are here to talk about how we react to the attack on Saturday
Piers Morgan: So, you just don’t want to answer?
Karen Bradley: Piers, we are here because on Thursday there is a general election.
As you can see, not only were Ms Bradley’s answers evasive, but she was beginning to sound horribly robotic, scripted and unnatural with her responses.
And judging by the social media reaction she did not fare much better in her interviews with the Today Programme or 5 Live.
Never heard @NickyAACampbell so angry as he was just now trying to get straight answers from Karen Bradley on @bbc5live .
— William Morecombe (@adoptedgog) June 5, 2017
If only someone had given Karen Bradley this chart, she could have answered the question on whether the number of armed police has been cut pic.twitter.com/qP6Sy4aUbs
— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) June 5, 2017
Karen Bradley absolutely dreadful on Today programme. Robotic, barely grasping the issues, unconvincing, tiresome.
— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) June 5, 2017
Karen Bradley may just have created a new definition for 'car crash interview' on @GMB.
— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) June 5, 2017
Ceiling-shattering levels of evasiveness, even for a politician... https://t.co/wXgRbfPBxe
— Lindsey Bowers (@LindseyCBowers) June 5, 2017
So what can organisations and spokespeople learn from this performance?
Choose the right spokesperson for the situation
It is crucial that any organisation carefully choses the spokesperson they are going to put forward for a media interview and with the horrific nature of Saturday’s incident in mind it is questionable whether the Culture Secretary was the right person for this situation. Where was the Prime Minister or the Home Secretary?
Don’t dodge the question
You cannot dodge difficult questions, or ones you don’t want to answer, in a media interview. Adopting this approach only makes spokespeople sound evasive and cause the journalists to continually ask the question. You need to answer, or at the very least, acknowledge the question before using media training techniques to try to steer the interview away from an area you are not comfortable talking about.
Admit you don’t know the answer
On our media training courses we always stress the importance of thorough preparation for media interviews and that must include identifying the difficult or negative questions you are likely to face and deciding how you will answer them. But you cannot prepare for all eventualities and sometimes a question will catch you out. Whether Ms Bradley genuinely didn’t know the answer or simply did not want to answer the question is unclear. But if she did not know that information she would have been much better served by admitting it. Telling a reporter you don’t know the answer may feel uncomfortable, but it is a lot better than trying to avoid the question or speculating on what the answer might be.
Don’t rile the reporter
At one point in the interview Ms Bradley dismissed Mr Morgan’s questions saying she was not ‘here to take part in a pub quiz’ – a move which caused him to shout even more in what was already a heated encounter. And judging by his subsequent tweet, he is still not going to let it go.
You wouldn't want Karen Bradley on your pub quiz team, would you? Jeez. @GMB
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 5, 2017
This is similar to telling a reporter their story isn’t newsworthy or saying to them ‘ask me about this’. Spokespeople should focus on trying to get their message across rather than criticising the questions they are being asked or telling the journalist how to do their job.
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