Media Interviews: Avoiding the Evasive Answer

I admit it, I'm a news junkie. Have been since my teen years. I can't help it. But, my general love of politics and governance got modified about twenty years ago when, after a career in network television, I started training people in business, government and the professions to succeed in media interviews. Since then, my weekly prowl of the Sunday morning talk shows has been, in part, a search for teachable minutes. I found one in the first Meet The Press appearance of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

One of the most important things you can do to ensure your success in media interviews is to answer the reporter's questions directly. And the way to do that is to have in mind a question answering model. More on the model later, first, the teachable minute.

Secretary Geithner's provided us with a classic example of the evasive answer. The question, from Meet the Press host David Gregory, was about the bonuses given to AIG executives. "You said in a letter, you shared the President's outrage, so if you were so outraged, why didn't you deal with this back when these first came up?"

Mr. Geithner response seemed headed in the right direction when he asked "David, how could people not be angry with the challenges we're facing now as a country, in part because of the risks our financial sector took on? How could people not be angry?"  But, as he continued, he began to seem evasive. "Our obligation and our deep obligation and responsibility is to try to fix this problem so that the trauma...was not causing more damage to the lives and fortunes of Americans and business across the country. That's the most important thing we do."

Twenty second in, and still no direct answer. More from Secretary Geithner in a minute. First, let's look at my A-TEAM question answering model that might have been helpful to him. It begins with the letter "A" for Direct Answer. Next comes the "T" for "Top Brock Position."

An artist friend of mine made a drawing of a brick mason on a step ladder laying the top brick in mid air. That doesn't work in the physical world where you need to lay bricks from the ground up but it's exactly what you need to do in answering a question. You give your position before providing your reporter and listeners with the evidence to support it. Next, on my question answering model is the "E" for Evidence followed by "A" for the Advantages of your position. Finally comes the "M" for Message. What's the difference between the Message and the Top Brick Position? There isn't one, your Message is a reiteration of your position.

In his Meet The Press interview, Secretary Geithner was saying "Everything we do has to be measured by the test of whether we're getting the economy going again," when a frustrated David Gregory interrupted. "And that's all fair, but if you were so outraged why didn't you say that then?"

This time, Mr. Geithner finally gave the answer he should have given before: "Look," he said, "We had no good choices in that context, David. These were contracts written before the government got involved, before Ed Liddy became CEP of AIG. We're a nation of laws. We cannot get the economy going again if there's an expectation that the government's going to come in and break contracts. That's not a tenable thing to do."

See the difference?

When you're being interviewed, you should concentrate on answering the question directly, using my A-TEAM question answering model. It will seem awkward at first, but after you've practiced it a bit, it will become second nature to you with the result that your answers will be responsive, your reporter won't be frustrated, and you'll have the feeling of being more in control.