What can you learn from this staggering media interview?

“Please, you don’t have to have your hand on me.”

The words from a journalist during an astonishing media interview that was interrupted by one of the spokesperson’s advisers.

And it is something you would not want us to ignore in our media training blog.

It happened as Malcolm Offord was interviewed by ITV after becoming the new leader of Reform in Scotland.

The former Tory peer was speaking to ITV News’s Peter Smith.

And the interview unravelled as he faced questions about the party’s campaign in a Hamilton by-election last year that featured attack adverts on Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, suggesting the Scottish Labour leader would put Pakistani communities first, and that was described as "blatant racism". 

Lord Offord initially responded by saying: “I wasn’t involved in that. I’m not interested in that.”

It was an answer that did not satisfy the journalist.

He continued to probe until an aide off camera could be heard asking him to “move on” from his line of questioning.

The journalist stood his ground, saying: “I will ask the questions that I would like to ask. It’s an important question.”

Amid increasingly chaotic scenes, the aide replied: “Well, I would think that’s your two minutes up then, really.” And Lord Offord, looking away from the TV camera, muttered: “It’s not what we want to talk about.”

Remarkably, as the journalist asked the question again, the aide came into view and grabbed his arm, which resulted in the response we started this blog with.

Before walking away from the camera, Lord Offord said: “As I’ve said, there are many issues in the election. I want to cover all of them. You only talk about one.”

Incredible stuff. An unforgettable first day in the job for Lord Offord. And surely an early contender for the worst media interview of the year.

It will take some beating.

At the time of writing, footage of the interview has had more than 7,000 likes on X and over 2,000 shares. It has also received more than 11,000 likes on TikTok.

And the interview clip has been seized upon by political rivals.

Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene said: “Just hours into Offord getting announced as Reform’s Scottish leader and the party are already emulating their American idols.

“Manhandling journalists, limiting scrutiny and barely giving a single direct answer to any questions – it’s all classic, Trumpian behaviour.”

Media interview optics

The scrutiny point is crucial.

Whether you are a politician or corporate media spokesperson, this type of performance in front of the cameras does not suggest an organisation that is comfortable or confident facing difficult questions.

How spokespeople and organisations respond to scrutiny is as important as the words that are said.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of all is that the ITV clip does not appear to have been a momentary blip.

A Sky News interview during the same event was interrupted by someone who appears to be another aide as Lord Offord faced challenging questions about a Reform candidate who had previously said illegal migrants should be “put in camps and deported”.

The aide interrupted, saying: “We need to wrap it up. We need to move on.”

The journalist replied: “I was just in the middle of asking questions. We are still recording.”

Two memorably chaotic clips from one media event is quite the outcome.

The optics are not good.

But the actions create great footage that will always be used by broadcasters.

It’s dramatic when a media interview is interrupted by an adviser. It’s similar to when a spokesperson has had enough and walks away.

Memorable interventions on difficult questions

As we stress during our media training courses, facing difficult, awkward questions is part of the job for a media spokesperson. It’s not the journalist’s job to only ask about the topic you want to discuss.

An adviser watching from the side can feel the same pressure as the spokesperson answering the uncomfortable questions – I’ve been there many times.

But you can’t intervene, on or off camera, no matter how flat-footed the spokesperson appears.

Some of the biggest interview disasters I have covered in these media training blogs are the result of interventions.

The one that always sticks in my mind was when the then Persimmon Homes boss Jeff Fairburn faced a question about his £75m bonus.

He initially seemed prepared to answer the question before an off-screen voice interjected and he stopped talking.

He ultimately ended up walking away from the interview while the cameras were still rolling.

The fallout was huge, and it was announced a few weeks later that the boss would leave his role.

Another example we sometimes explore during our media skills training courses happened when actor Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, was interviewed by Sky News while promoting a new attraction at the Warner Bros Studio Tour.

He faced a question about JK Rowling’s absence from much of the franchise’s 25^th anniversary celebrations amid scrutiny of her position on gender and women’s rights. A question that should have been anticipated and covered in any decent media interview preparation.

But before the actor could answer, a voice off-camera said: “Next question, please.”

There was no PR wizardry here.

A furious Sky News comment piece after said: “PRs don't and shouldn't - for all sorts of reasons not least press freedom - dictate Sky News editorial direction.”

And Warner Bros released a statement admitting it was “wholly wrong” to block the question.

Another example?

Well, there was one in Canada that showed how a good news story could easily turn bad.

Peter MacKay, a candidate to become the leader of the Canadian Conservative party in 2020, was interviewed by CTV News.

Having given the journalist a tour of a child and youth advocacy centre in Toronto that he co-chaired, the politician sat down for an interview where he said he wanted to raise the bar of political discourse and “do politics a little differently”.

Journalist Heather Wright then asked about a tweet from his account which had criticised the then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for using $876.95 in Liberal party donations for yoga sessions, spa visits and other health club expenses.

Mr MacKay answered the question, but his response was ruined by the intervention of his advisors.

One could be heard saying, “I think we’re done”, and the other added, “You went way over, I’m sorry.”

And even though Mr MacKay protested that “she’s just doing her job, she’s a journalist”, the interview ended.

How could media interview gaffes like this be avoided?

Let’s get back to Lord Offord and this this latest high profile example. 

How could this memorable media interview gaffe have been avoided?

Well, it started because the politician got stuck in the doomed loop of trying to evade a question the journalist wanted answered.

His flawed approach led to the question being asked repeatedly.

And that caused his frustration - and that of those around him - to build.

The solution here is better media interview preparation.

Difficult questions like this should have been anticipated. And responses prepared that don’t feel evasive. Practising the bridging media training technique would have also helped.

What about if an interview overruns?

This was the explanation put forward by Lord Offord when asked about his interviews during an appearance on the Today programme the following day.

It can be a problem when managing multiple media interviews.

But overrunning interviews don’t need advisers jumping into the shot to bring them to an end. At best, it looks messy.

Instead, empower spokespeople to say something along the lines of “I’ve got time for just one more question,” when they feel they landed their message and the interview is overruning."

But I’m not convinced the timing explanation stands up here. And neither was the ITV journalist. Mr Smith posted on X: “The audience can see for themselves the full, unedited interview below – it was cut short at about 1 minute 45 seconds, not 3 mins. And it was ended at the point we said we’d ask our own questions, with Malcolm Offord saying “that’s not what we want to talk about.””

The other lesson here is about dynamic media interview feedback.

If you are doing multiple media interviews one after the other, as seems to have been the case with this Reform press conference, factor in a couple of minutes between each one.

Comms and PR professionals can use the time to quickly provide feedback on what is going well and what approaches and answers need tweaking.

Maybe that means you keep the journalist waiting a little longer.

It’s still a much better outcome than intervening during the interview and manhandling the journalist.

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