The saying goes that ‘a picture tells a thousand words’.
And one short clip from a media interview this week arguably showed us more than we could have read from countless articles.
At the very least the farcical footage perfectly illustrated the full scale of the divisions that exist among the country’s leaders.
It came when a Conservative MP walked away from a TV interview because he did not want to speak to a colleague from within his own party.
This exchange between @vicderbyshire, James Cleverly and Andrew Bridgen is REALLY QUITE SOMETHING. pic.twitter.com/7hiYZFS9Uv
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) December 12, 2018
Andrew Bridgen refused to talk with party deputy chair James Cleverly on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire Show as the programme focused on the Conservative Party’s leadership ballot.
Mr Bridgen, who had submitted a letter of no confidence in Theresa May, had given his thoughts on the vote when Ms Derbyshire invited Mr Cleverly to take part in the interview.
As she brought Mr Cleverly into shot, she said: “I gather you don’t necessarily want to talk to each other…”
Mr Cleverly appeared to suggest he would speak to Mr Bridgen, leading the presenter to ask him: “Are you happy too?”
There was then an awkward silence until Mr Bridgen muttered: “I’ll go, that’s fine, thank you.”
And with that, he left the broadcast.
Not only did it create amazing footage, but it also left his colleague with a horrible question to field as Ms Derbyshire asked: “How do you regard colleagues like Andrew Bridgen?”
Footage like that was always going to attract wider attention. Here is what the newspapers made of it.
Tory civil war erupts on TV Daily Mail
Incredibly childish moment two Tory MPs refuse to talk to each other live on BBC The Mirror
Tory MPs bicker over Theresa May leadership challenge in very awkward BBC interview Indy 100
Tory MPs Andrew Bridgen and James Cleverly refuse to speak during live TV broadcast on Theresa May no confidence vote Evening Standard
All damaging headlines which could so easily have been avoided. Social media users were equally unimpressed.
Oh my god this *incredibly* awkward interaction between Andrew Bridgen and James Cleverly just happened on BBC News pic.twitter.com/Njpxv1XbkL
— Thomas Colson (@tpgcolson) December 12, 2018
Andrew Bridgen just left a BBC interview because he couldn’t bear to stand next to Tory colleague James Cleverly. Incredible
— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) December 12, 2018
On the BBC, Andrew Bridgen decides to leave a live interview rather than talk with James Cleverly standing next to him.
— Ned Simons (@nedsimons) December 12, 2018
BBC Broadcaster, Victoria Derbyshire tries to interview Tory MPs James Cleverly and Andrew Bridgen but their political feud stops them from talking live on TVhttps://t.co/9clpcYWMXt
— Number1Brit (@britishpower12) December 12, 2018
Funny? Yes. Immature? Certainly. But this footage should also act as an important reminder to other media spokespeople that it is not just what they say that is important in a media interview.
Who can remember what Mr Bridgen said in that interview? I would wager that hardly anyone can. What I’m sure the audience can clearly recall is that he does not like one of his party colleagues and can’t even bear to stand next to him for a few minutes during a TV interview.
Walking away from an interview, whether it is because a spokesperson doesn’t like the person they are being interviewed with or because they don’t like the questions they are facing, is clearly dramatic and will always attract attention because it is something which rarely happens.
It provides the ‘unusual’ element that we tell delegates on our media training courses helps make something newsworthy.
What we tend to see more of, however, is spokespeople who struggle to contain and hide their frustration or annoyance when an interview moves to an area which makes them uncomfortable.
And all too often it is that failure to retain composure that becomes the focus of the story rather than the message they had hoped to get across. A few months ago, for example, we wrote, in this media training blog, about how Jeremy Corbyn responded to a journalist’s questions with an eye-roll and an exaggerated sigh.
And there are other, more subtle, actions that can be hugely damaging in media interviews.
A lack of eye contact in a television interview, for example, could be viewed as a sign of evasiveness and defensiveness.
Slouching can make spokespeople appear uninterested and lacking confidence.
These sorts of errors may not be as big as Mr Bridgen’s but they need to be avoided because how spokespeople act in a media interview can colour everything they say.
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