There’s often much to be learnt from the way others perform in media interviews.
Bizarre.
That’s the word that keeps being used to describe a recent media interview with a CEO.
Other descriptions include ‘painfully awkward’ and ‘absolutely disastrous’.
So, it feels like one we’d better check out in our media training blog.
The interview came from Ryan Cohen, the boss of GameStop, who appeared on CNBC in the US after his company made a $56 billion (about £40 billion) bid to buy eBay.
You would imagine it was a great opportunity for him to make his case for the deal.
But it didn’t work out that way.
After he briefly outlined his interest in eBay, albeit in a monotone, disinterested style, he was asked whether there had been conversations with the company.
“No… We’re just starting,” was the brief response.
And that was a sign of the defensive media interview approach that was set to follow.
Asked how he would fund the deal, Mr Cohen said: “It is on our website. It is half cash, half stock. But the details are on our website.”
When he was asked if he could help the audience understand the details, he said: “Yea, which part exactly?”
And when presenter Andrew Ross Sinkin suggested there was a $20 billion gap in the funding, the reply was: “We’ll see what happens.”
It was a response that seemed to leave the journalist stunned and lost for words. He did find the composure to ask again where the missing money would come from, but was met with the equally short “It’s half cash, half stock” line again.
So, it was time for a different journalist to try their luck. Co-host Becky Quick stepped in and asked: That's a pretty straightforward question. I don't get it. Where's the rest of the money coming from?”
Mr Cohen replied: “I don’t understand your question. We are offering half cash and half stock, and we have the ability to issue stock in order to get the deal done.
“But the full details of the offer are on our website.”
Mr Cohen did give a fuller answer when he was asked about his vision for the company, but became defensive again when probed about his track record of running a “mature consumer business.”
He said: “Didn't you call for GameStop's demise multiple times? Like, it should have been bankrupt by now."
And he added: “You said it was going to be doing really, really poorly, but it's actually doing ok."
The interview lasted for around 16 minutes.
That’s significantly longer than most media interviews.
And it feels like an excruciatingly long amount of time when the spokesperson appears to have little to say.
Let’s have a look at what other media outlets made of the interview:
So, what media training lessons can you learn from this?
I have analysed many media interviews for Media First in this media training blog.
We’ve covered interview walkouts, interruptions from PR advisers and spokespeople who have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid answering uncomfortable questions.
But this has to be right up there as one of the most bizarre media appearances.
Just about every part of it is a masterclass in how not to manage a media interview.
Media interview goal
The fundamental question is what he hoped to achieve through this approach to the interview.
What was the goal? What was the purpose of accepting the interview request?
Presumably, the target was not to see his company’s value drop. Or for his demeanour to be the significant talking point to emerge. But those were the outcomes.
Now, I’ve seen the argument that Mr Cohen does things differently. That he is not your usual CEO and is a bit of a maverick.
Fine.
But that does not explain or excuse how he approached this interview.
This was a golden opportunity to make the case for his attempt to buy eBay and show how he would move the company forward.
Instead, he came across to the audience as disinterested, defensive, moody, reluctant, petulant and arrogant.
It also reeked of a lack of preparation.
The funding question was surely obvious, and you can’t rely on pointing the journalist to your website to find the answer. As one of the presenters highlighted, “you are on air”.
Viewers, who presumably include potential investors and GameStop employees, are not suddenly going to desperately search the website for the explanation. They want to hear it from the spokesperson on their screen.
Short answers
As we always stress during our media training courses, short answers must be avoided.
Not only do they sound defensive, but they also just mean you will face more questions.
And that results in control rapidly being lost.
Combative
Every media spokesperson will face questions they don’t like at some point.
The key is to remain calm and composed and not reveal your frustration and discomfort.
Showing your annoyance, as Mr Cohen did when asked about his track record, makes spokespeople seem defensive and argumentative.
They are more likely to remember the argument than anything else that was said.
Sounding flat
For a media interview to be successful, you need to quickly grab the audience’s attention.
And a key part in doing that is by sounding interested and enthusiastic.
As we stress to delegates during our media skills training courses, bring the passion. It persuades and convinces.
People are unlikely to hear what you have to say if you deliver it in a dull, flat, monotone way like Mr Cohen.
Eye contact
As we’ve already highlighted, this was a long interview.
And it was carried out remotely.
But these tricky factors do not excuse the poor eye contact.
Mr Cohen rarely made eye contact with the camera. He tended to either look down or to the side.
And it added to the impression of a spokesperson who was distracted and did not want to be there.
When you give a media interview remotely – and it remains a popular format - look down the barrel of the lens to create the impression of eye contact.
Don’t fall into the trap of looking at the person on your screen.
I should point out that Mr Cohen appeared much happier when he was interviewed on Fox Business the following day and made a greater effort to explain the proposal to buy eBay.
But the damage had been done by his earlier bewildering effort – critical headlines, memes, falling share price and an awkward viral moment.
And we got a remarkable new example to refresh our catalogue of ‘how not to do it’ media interview case studies.
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