When we blogged last week about hostile interviews we didn’t expect to see a case study in how not to handle questions you don’t like quite so soon.
In that post we included seven key tips, taken from our media training courses, for emerging from hard-hitting interviews unscathed.
For example, we suggested you prepare thoroughly so that you have a good idea what to expect from the journalist and remain calm and avoid showing frustration and anger at the questions you are being asked.
And it was advice Emily Thornberry could have done with when she appeared on Sky News on Sunday.
The shadow foreign secretary was being interviewed by Dermot Murnaghan on a range of subjects when the conversation moved on to Brexit.
A quite a relaxed Sunday politics style interview suddenly became quite fiery when Ms Thornberry took offence to being asked to name the French foreign minister.
She said: “Don’t start pub quizzing me Dermot. What really upsets me about your attitude to me is that you do this me but I don’t remember you doing it with anyone else.”
She the added: “I mean honestly. Can we talk about some serious stuff?”
Having asked for the conversation to move on to Syria or North Korea she was asked the name of the South Korean president.
She replied: “I’m not getting drawn into this nonsense.”
The interview then moved on to questions of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party but Ms Thornberry was clearly not happy with the earlier questions she has been asked and alleged sexism.
She said: “It really upsets me that every time I come on here, you do another pub quiz with me because your do not do it with anybody else and I do think it’s patronising.”
Mr Murnaghan replied: “It’s not, because you are the shadow foreign secretary and this was about the French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault who Boris Johnson has met now several times.”
Ms Thornberry said she wanted to “take this offline because I have got a lot to say to you and I don’t think a lot of it ought to be broadcast.”
Whether Ms Thornberry liked the line of questioning or not she should have expected it. Politicians are often asked ‘pub quiz’ questions, as she called them, in interviews ranging from the price of a pint of milk and a loaf of bread, rates of tax and names of people in similar roles.
Candidates during the recent London Mayor election, for example, were asked questions including what football teams play at particular grounds, what the next Tube station along a particular line would be, and even about EastEnders.
These sorts of questions might by designed to embarrass but they are predictable for someone in that role and something that a bit of homework and thorough preparations can resolve. Ms Thornberry later told another programme that she had a ‘bit of history’ with Mr Murnaghan – even more of a reason, surely, to ensure she was fully prepared.
In these situations when a spokesperson is feeling under pressure and ruffled it is vital they do not show their anger and frustration. The audience is more likely to be sympathetic if you remain calm. Returning to the point that had caused the upset again at the end is also ill advised.
In short this was an interview that got many people talking on a Sunday morning – sadly for Ms Thornberry it was not for the right reasons.
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