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We asked reporters about the biggest mistakes people make during interviews. Here are their responses:
- “Long-winded answers.”
- “Trying to make themselves sound smart.”
- “Telling me what they think I want to hear instead of what they really think/feel.”
- “Not speaking in sound bites. Not being prepared. Um and uh throughout. Stepping on soundbites. I did an awful interview yesterday with the spokesperson for —. She committed nearly every one of them.”
- “Pet peeve with private biz is when they don’t reveal revenue numbers because they get all paranoid. They don’t want to seem small-time. However, I think that works against them.”
- “Using language that is too highbrow and over the heads of most listeners. A conversational tone is always best when trying to make a point.”
- “I think it’s different for different people – for my experts it’s when they talk over our viewers’ heads and make it really hard for me to break their interview into understandable sound bites. For “real people” it’s when they focus too much on the camera and forget that we’re just having a conversation. For PR people it’s when they try too hard to tell me how to do my job – I’m sure you experienced that when you were reporting. I of course appreciate feedback and suggestions on how to frame an interview and what questions to ask, but I’m not a fan of people who insist they know how to do my job better than I do, lol.”
- “It depends who it is. If it’s a public official – if they don’t talk in sound bites it makes it harder to make them look good or explain the story better. If it is just a normal person – saying um or like every other word. Also, I don’t like when people take long pauses.”
- “Not saying I look amazing straight out the gate.”