{"id":1516,"date":"2008-06-17T13:10:08","date_gmt":"2008-06-17T13:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/blog\/?p=1516"},"modified":"2025-06-07T18:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T18:36:17","slug":"what-tim-russert-taught-us-about-how-to-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/tv-radio\/what-tim-russert-taught-us-about-how-to-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"What Tim Russert taught us about how to interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

After almost five days of non-stop tributes to Tim Russert<\/a>, none was as fascinating as the five-year-old article I found last night titled “How to Beat Tim Russert.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Jack Shafer,<\/a> who writes the press column for the online magazine Slate,<\/a>\u00a0dissected in step-by-step detail the strategy that any guest can use to disarm Russert, the toughest interviewer in broadcast journalism.<\/p>\n

The article explains how David Duke, one-time grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, threw Russert off guard when he appeared on the show in March 1999 during his Louisiana campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

“Unable to stick it to Duke with his time-proven techniques, Russert sputtered, steamed, and almost boiled over,” Shafer wrote.<\/p>\n

But few other politicians have come even close to rattling him.\u00a0 Here’s what Tim Russert taught Publicity Hounds about interviewing:<\/p>\n

—Know your interviewer inside and out.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you agree to an interview and you have time, research clippings and past shows so you know what to expect.\u00a0 I suggest you even call other people who have been the subject of interviews by that reporter and ask questions like “What was the worst thing about the interview?”\u00a0 and “What was the biggest surprise?”<\/p>\n

—Anticipate all the tough questions.<\/strong>\u00a0 Shafer’s suggestion to have somebody on your staff prepare a mock interview and compose answers for the most challenging questions you can imagine is the same advice every good media trainer\u00a0recommends.<\/p>\n

—Know what has been written about you and what hasn’t.<\/strong> That includes even the smallest morsel of information on the Internet. Pay attention to where you appear in public records like divorce proceedings,\u00a0lawsuits, or arrests for things like driving while under the influence.\u00a0 Be ready to concede those issues if you must, and then move on.<\/p>\n

—Put reporters on the defensive.<\/strong>\u00a0 Russert seldom fell for this trick, but your run-of-the-mill beat reporter for your daily newspaper certainly might.\u00a0 If reporters ask questions that include inaccurate facts or unfair assertions, call them on it and challenge them.\u00a0 Reporters aren’t the only ones who are allowed to ask questions.\u00a0 You can, too.\u00a0 But only if you understand how the game is played.<\/p>\n

—If the interviewer askes you a question you don’t understand, feel free to interrupt.<\/strong>\u00a0 And don’t answer until you understand the question\u00a0completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Too many of Russert’s guests allow him to fling enormous, mattress-sized paragraphs at them that are far too complicated to answer on television.\u00a0Interrupt him when a question needs clarification.\u00a0 Interrupt him when he’s startled you with something fresh.\u00a0 Interrupt him back when he interrupts you.\u00a0 Interrupt him for the hell of it.\u00a0 It drives him crazy, and when he’s crazy, he loses his place in the script, his face goes a tad red, and he loses his momentum.”<\/p>\n

Crisis counselor\u00a0Jonathan Bernstein, who I’m guessing would describe\u00a0Russert as a “media wolf,” has another important piece of advice.\u00a0 It’s as relevant for you as it is for Russert’s guests, who were treated to snacks on the set at the end of each show and would chit-chat about things like their families.<\/p>\n

Even if the cameras and microphones are turned off, you can talk\u00a0with the journalist, but act as though everything you say is on the record. Hundreds of sources have been burned when they thought the interview was over and they could\u00a0say anything they wanted and the journalist wouldn’t be able to use it because the camera was off or the reporter’s notebook was closed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jonathan was my guest during a teleseminar on “How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay.”<\/a>\u00a0He makes his living counseling clients on how to confront the media, or stay out of trouble so they don’t see the wolves at their doorsteps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After almost five days of non-stop tributes to Tim Russert, none was as fascinating as the five-year-old article I found last night titled “How to Beat Tim Russert.” Jack Shafer, who writes the press column for the online magazine Slate,\u00a0dissected in step-by-step detail the strategy that any guest can use to disarm Russert, the toughest\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":5,"wds_primary_category":609,"footnotes":""},"categories":[609],"tags":[168,620],"class_list":{"0":"post-1516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tv-radio","7":"tag-crisis-communications","8":"tag-how-to-interview","9":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41531,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516\/revisions\/41531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}