Beyond Soundbites: Media Training that Sets You Apart 

By Jana McGuire, Senior Account Director  

I’m going to cut to the chase. Media interviews are nerve–wracking for most of us.  

That primitive part of our brain designed to predict and protect us from danger takes over and jumps directly to worst-case scenarios.  

They’re going to ask me a question I didn’t anticipate and I’ll say the wrong thing. 

A video clip of my comment will go viral. 

I’ll lose my job and won’t find another. 

My spouse will leave me, the bills will stack up … and I’ll end up on the streets. 

This may seem a little extreme, but that’s where our minds can take us when off-the-charts anxiety takes over as the interview draws near. 

As a former broadcast journalist and long-time public relations professional, I’ve been on both sides of the microphone, and I can tell you – unequivocally – that the key to a successful media interview is preparation. As an interviewee, it puts you in the best position to effectively address any question and for the reporter, it helps ensure they come away with great quotes and a good story.  

Yes, you still may be a bit nervous when the time comes – and that’s OK – but going into an interview knowing your key messages and understanding how to navigate reporters’ questions will give you the confidence you need. Here, we approach preparation in a different way.  

Navigate With Confidence 

At Look East, we’ve helped many clients in food and agriculture prepare for interviews – whether it’s talking to a home town newspaper reporter or sitting in the hot seat across from a CBS “60 Minutes” veteran journalist.  

Our hands-on, interactive Navigate^SM Media Training, conducted in group settings or one-on-one executive sessions, prepares participants in a unique, effective and research-based way. In fact, we often hear from those who’ve had previous media training that Navigate is different – something they’ve never experienced.  

While we cover foundations like understanding today’s media landscape, best practices for preparation, interview techniques and managing controversial questions, we provide in-depth message development, coaching and rigorous on-camera practice that leverages a proven shared-values approach based on our trust model.     

The Trust Model   

Often, interviewees resort to answering reporter questions with facts. It feels natural and that’s what reporters and the audience want, right? Not necessarily.  

Facts are important, but our peer-reviewed and published trust model shows that connecting with your audience on the values you share – like protecting the environment, ensuring food safety and caring for employees and the community – are three-to-five times more important to earning trust than simply spouting facts.   

Look East was the first to develop a research-based consumer trust model in partnership with sociology professor Dr. Stephen Sapp at Iowa State University in 2009.  

Navigate Training, customized to the topics that matter most to you, focuses on leading with shared values and complementing them with facts and other types of evidence. It’s a shift – and an important one that can be used in media interviews and, frankly, any communication – conversations, blogs, social media posts and the like. Shared values connect us and help us realize we often care about the same things, even if we view issues differently.   

Let’s look at some examples of facts versus values.    

• A reporter asks a pig farmer about why taking good care of animals is important.
  Just the facts: “When pigs are healthy, they produce more and keep us profitable.”
  Shared values: “Taking good care of our animals is the right thing to do. We focus every day on making sure they’re healthy.”  
• A reporter asks a food scientist about GMOs in food. 
  Just the facts: “GMOs are one of the most extensively studied food technologies and the federal government regulates their safety.”
  Shared values: “Everyone deserves access to safe and affordable food. GMO technology allows plant scientists to make important improvements that help farmers address some of the biggest challenges like drought and pests that impact the availability and affordability of food.”  

The concept is simple on its face, but it takes training and context to effectively develop shared-values messages. It also requires rounds of practice with candid feedback from expert trainers to instill smooth, confident delivery of shared values responses that will resonate and earn trust with your most important audiences.  

This training and preparation can make the difference in what story is reported about your business, brand, people and practices – giving you a distinct advantage (and keeping you off the streets).  

If you’re interested in learning more, let’s have a conversation to discuss how we can tailor this interactive, in-depth training for you and your team.