Handling Media For Interviews Redux

 

In "A Strategy For Handling The Mainstream Media", we examined a simple method for protecting oneself from the skullduggery in which interviewers now so commonly engage for the purposes of defaming the people they interview.  Ambush interviews are now common enough, and regardless of an interviewers intentions, even his bumbling ineptitude and/or that of his editors and other handlers can turn into a nightmare, especially for public figures such as office holders, candidates, and other people of public interest.  The damage to reputation can prove very costly, as can be the task of proving one's case in civil court.  Best to properly set conditions upfront, prior to damage done such that you retain the power to forestall such catastrophes.

However, as suggested in the previous article, arriving at an interview with one's own camera crew might prove impractical for some.  There are two additional approaches to achieving the same end that we shall briefly discuss today.  The first is to simply bring one's own recording equipment and set it up in a manner suiting the interviewee's needs.  Good quality video recordings are now easily producible with the common cell phone.

Of utmost importance is an interviewee's setting of the conditions for granting the interview in the first place.  A short and likely incomplete list of conditions might look similar to the following:

1. A full, unedited copy of the interview is to be given over to the interviewee no less than 24 hours prior to broadcast.
2. The final broadcast edit is to be made available to the interviewee no less than 24 hours prior to broadcast.
3. Neither the interview, nor any portion or other edits thereof, may be broadcast without the explicit, written permission of the interviewee, who shall reserve the final authority to grant or withhold permission to broadcast, in what form, how many times, etc.  Interviewee holds ultimate editorial authority over the interview.
4. The interview remains the property of the interviewee in equal measure to the ownership interests of all other parties for a period of not less than 99 years from the date of interview.
5. If interviewer and/or his agents/superiors/employers choose to reject interviewee's requirements for broadcast, all copies of the interview are to be placed into the physical possession of the interviewee within 24 hours of rejection, and all property rights to the interview transfer solely to interviewee and/or his agent(s).
6. Interviewer holds 100% responsibility for the security of all interview materials, regardless of form, until such time as broadcast or other publication has been affected, or those materials have been securely returned to the interviewee.
7. The interview agreement must be put into written, contractual form, and perfected by all parties.

Few media organizations will go for these conditions, at least at first.  In order for a potential interviewee to win at this strategy, he must be willing to forgo all interviews for as long as it takes to find an interviewer willing to accede to these reasonable conditions.  But if enough of the truly interesting interviewees engage in this strategy, media outlets will then be faced with the choice of accepting such conditions, or no longer providing one of the major elements of broadcast journalism: the interview.  In time, I am confident that the networks would have little viable choice but to agree to such a set of conditions, all designed to keep the journalists honest.

So long as we play by their rules, they get to do almost anything they please.  The moment a critical mass stands tall and uses the leverage it possesses, the game will change and either the media will begin to pale in terms of their offerings, or they will toe the line of reason and straighten up their acts to align more closely with the fundamental ethics of their occupation.

Don't allow them the latitude to play you for a chump.  You have what they want, and by that virtue you can force the choice between conducting an upright interview, or doing without.  The other side of that coin rests with your obligation to be equally ethical in how you comport yourself throughout the process.

We don't have to allow these sorts to get away with that which we now witness on a daily basis.  Empower yourself discovering and developing ways and skills for countervailing the chicanery of scurrilous people.

Until next time, please accept my best wishes.