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[Jim Allman <jim AT ibang.com>]

On Jul 29, 2004, at 7:06 AM, Michael Czeiszperger wrote:
> Its sad that the "news" has been converted from reporters getting a 
> story, which takes knowledge, time, and effort, to nothing more than 
> daily interviews with outside "experts" who are nothing more than paid 
> shills working for one agenda or another.

I receive regular semi-spam from "Media Training Worldwide", a group 
that coaches people in how to handle presentations and media 
interviews. These include some good speaking tips, but their basic 
advice for radio and TV interviews is something like this:

  1) Beforehand, practice your "three-point message plus sound bites" 
and know them cold. Basically, keep it quotable and simple enough for 
the dumbest person in the audience.

  2) During the interview, hammer away on your simple messages, 
ignoring the substance of a question if necessary.

  3) Repeat until public discourse lies in ruin.

While I'm sure this is great tactical advice for an attention-starved 
presenter, we all see the results. With rare exceptions, there are only 
two reasons to watch interviews with a "newsmaker"--to admire their 
hamering technique, or to watch for a crack in the facade (instant 
headline!).

  =jimA=

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Jim Allman
Interrobang Digital Media
http://www.ibang.com/
(919) 649-5760