Public figures regularly receive warnings about the risk of assuming they’re not on camera or near a hot mic. 

Whether it’s candid kissing on a jumbotron or California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter screeching at a subordinate on a video, be warned that anything you say (or wear) can and will be used against you (remember the “I really don’t care” jacket?).

Never is that actually truer than when you don’t expect it, because you think you’re prepared. Namely: the media interview. Especially at the end.

The messages have been delivered. All tied up in a neat knot with company strategy, milestones, and proof points. Your PR person is nodding, the barest quirk of a relieved smile on their face. You’ve delivered! The Board should be happy. Investors should flock (or, at least, stay the course). The pressure’s off!

And then you say it—the off-the-cuff comment at the proverbial door that becomes, instead, the center of the story. 

Because even though the pressure was off, the mic wasn’t.

A Case for Media Training

We’ve had to go back and try to “fix” this. Pleading with reporters (who do want to be honest, but don’t want actually to destroy a company, especially a startup), and racing to get ahead of other outlets that would push that one down the feed.

What is the best prevention for this scenario? Media Training.

It goes beyond what not to do and covers what you should do and what you should assume. We work with our clients to cover all scenarios. And we step in during an interview to request that something be off the record. (Such as the time when a capital-raise-weary CEO called VCs ‘lemmings’.)

Because a casual comment can derail months, sometimes years, of careful communications planning, and the team at FastrackPR is here to prepare you.