So the media are interested in your work and have invited you to talk about it on tv and radio – you’ve cleared a major hurdle! For print and online media you’ll have some time to craft a quote or an opinion piece but getting your messages across clearly and concisely on broadcast media requires a specific approach. You need to know your ABCs!
Acknowledge
Acknowledge the question. You don’t have to repeat the question back. In some instances, it’s important to express sentiment or mark the moment and sound human but you don’t have to stay there for too long – get onto your first key message as soon as possible.
Bridge
This is arguably one of the most important skills and useful to help move you away from a difficult question and onto your key messages. It’s easy to get drawn in to questions far removed from your main messages.
Useful bridging sentences:
That’s an interesting point.
I’m not going into the details of that, what I’m really here to say is…..
What’s most important here is that… or the key issue is… will also usually work.
Your aim is to move the conversation forward keeping in mind your target audience.
You may have heard: Hmm, that’s a really good question/ I’m glad you asked me that. This tried and tested job interview tactic allows thinking time but it’s bit of a lazy bridge and overused especially by politicians. Rather than waste valuable air time, comment on the point or issue at hand.
Communicate
Emphasise your point as you move the story forward and use examples. It’s always good to regionalise examples if you’re doing regional TV or radio. Keep it local, mention place names and specifics. Eg just down the road in…..
For example during the pandemic there was a lot of discussion about young people’s mental health and activities or initiatives that could help. If you were a spokesperson promoting a campaign to highlight or tackle this you might want to say: “Look if you’re a teenager who’s just been through a year of lockdown what really matters to you is that…” or “If you’re concerned about your child getting their confidence back and regaining focus after a difficult year you really need to be sure that…”
Introduce a personal element. “When I talk to young people who’ve done X activity / colleagues who run the programmes in X they tell me that…” or “Let me tell you why X is so special, why it means so much to me, why it’s more relevant than ever…”
This is your chance to promote your work or campaigner and is the reason you were invited on to speak! Broadcasters will let you talk if you’re telling a good story.
Contact me to find out more: asha@ashatharoor.com