Three easy steps to follow to prepare for and get through a media interview. keep these in mind, and keep your foot out of your mouth.

1. Top Three Tips:
Know Your Message and Stay On It
• It’s OK to ask the reporter questions: What’s the story? What’s their
angle? Who are they talking to? What’s the news peg?
• Prepare *your* talking points: What message do you want to get
across? Why are you the expert source for that message?
• Bring every answer back to one of *your* talking points. Practice.
Practice it out loud. Practice with a friend.
• In action: “Parents have always had to help their kids balance
schoolwork and extracurriculars…I manage my kid’s online time
equally carefully.”

2. Top Three Tips:
Never speak for someone else
• Unless you’re reporting on data, you don’t know why anyone else
does what they do…you can only speak for yourself.
• Unless you’re reporting on data, you don’t know what other people
think. You don’t speak for every [fill in the blank].
• You are unfamiliar with “some people”, “others” and such vague,
nameless sources. And you cannot comment on an article, book, or
research study that YOU HAVE NOT READ!
• In action: “I really couldn’t comment on why xx did yy, I know that
when *I* experienced that, I did this…”

3. Top Three Tips:
It is not your job to fill the silence
• This isn’t small talk at a party, stop talking when you’ve made your
point.
• You are not here to “help” the reporter out, stop talking when you’ve
made your point.
• It is better to not be quoted or cited at all than to be quoted or cited
for something you’re sorry you said.