Mr. Media Training

I recently posted a YouTube video that taught spokespersons how to answer questions to which they didn’t know the answer.

A few people wrote in and told me they thought my advice to avoid the words “I don’t know” was wrong. They maintained that saying “I don’t know” would play well with the audience, which appreciates a straight shooter.

A new Harvard study suggests they’re wrong. First, the original video:

According to an article about the Harvard study in Canada’s The Globe and Mail:

“Those who answered the questions honestly but hesitantly were rated an average of 25 per cent less credible and likeable than those who evaded in an eloquent way….As many as half of the students in the study could not even remember what question was originally asked after hearing an artfully evasive answer.”

So, is my advice is to gracefully evade a reporter’s questions? Not at all. Evading questions will cause the reporter and the audience to question your sincerity.

But I maintain that the “Peter Jennings Technique” described in the video doesn’t evade questions. Rather, it answers questions directly, albeit in a broader context than the question itself.

This technique works best in interviews that aren’t adversarial. If you’re on local radio with a friendly host, for example, it’s safe – moreover, preferable – to use this technique.

To be clear, there are times you should say “I don’t know.” You should say “I don’t know” during a crisis. You should say it during a decidedly negative interview when your credibility would otherwise be compromised. You should say it when asked a follow-up question that asks you to offer the specifics you didn’t mention in your first answer.

But for everyday media interviews, stick with my original advice: tell them what you know, not what you don’t.

So, now that Harvard has backed up my original advice, did I change the minds of the e-mailers who originally disagreed with my advice?

I don’t know.

You’ve been invited to go on Meet the Press, and you’ve labored for days with your communications team to develop the right message.

If you’re Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), your message is about the economy – specifically, his view that the Obama Administration has not successfully navigated the country through the recession.

Mr. McConnell, like any spokesperson with a message, wants to articulate it as often as possible.

And David Gregory, like any good journalist, wants to “make news” by steering the spokesperson off message.

So when Mr. Gregory asked Mr. McConnell for his views on President Obama’s faith, McConnell used the word “faith” as his keyword and employed the “keyword bridge” to steer the conversation back to his message.

MR. GREGORY:  Let me move on to something that seems to be related to this and has gotten a lot of attention this week, and this is the poll about the president’s own faith from the Pew Research Center.  Eighteen percent of those polled believe that the president is a Muslim.  Among Republicans, this is striking, 31 percent believe he’s a Muslim.  Of course, he’s not.  Why do you think these views prevail?

SEN. McCONNELL:  Well, look, I think the faith that most Americans are questioning is the president’s faith in the government to generate jobs. We’ve had an 18-month effort here on the part of this administration to prime the pump, borrow money, spend money hiring new federal government employees, sending money down to states so they don’t have to lay off state employees. People are looking around and saying, “Where’s the job?”

By answering the question in such a manner, he was able to remain firmly anchored to his economic message without wading into the topic of the President’s religion.

At this point, you might be wondering if the keyword bridge is a bit too slick – a dodge that doesn’t truly answer the question. In fact, David Gregory began his follow-up by telling Mr. McConnell that his answer was “certainly a side step to this particular question.”

But despite its obvious flaws, the keyword bridge is a nice tool to put in your media arsenal. Employed sparingly by a deft spokesperson with a friendly interviewer, the keyword bridge allows you to remain on message without wading into unnecessary distractions.

Note: Immediately after the answer excerpted above, Mr. McConnell stoked a major controversy when he said he takes the President “at his word” that he’s not a Muslim instead of stating unequivocally that he personally believes the President is a Christian. This article doesn’t deal with that  portion of the interview; rather, it is intended to focus solely on the passage above, which highlights his use of the keyword bridge.