When is it appropriate to lose your cool during an interview, to act condescendingly toward a reporter, to threaten to prematurely end a media encounter? Never!
Yet, this is exactly what California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter did when she didn’t like the questions during a recent interview. In doing so, the former democratic congresswoman turned an opportunity to deliver key campaign messages into an absolute trainwreck of an interview.
From the very beginning, Porter’s head-scratching disposition and her condescending approach to reporter Julie Watts ensured the interview would go viral. And it did, much to the dismay of Porter’s campaign team. Let’s look at a clip below.
You could fill a notebook with the number of things Porter did wrong here. But let’s focus on two. First, throughout the interview Porter appears angry and argumentative. She berates Watts for asking routine questions and basically belittles the reporter for even asking them. When Porter gets frustrated, she almost ends the interview. Although she eventually stays, it’s still a horrible moment for her.
Secondly, it appears Porter is not armed with key messages to deliver regardless of the questions. In answering the question about attracting republican voters, she could have said, “I’m working hard for every vote possible,” and then immediately turned to a key message that she had planned to deliver. This is the bridging technique that we teach in our seminars. It’s a valuable technique that anyone who deals with the media should master.
Porter has done hundreds of interviews during her career, so it’s difficult to comprehend how and why she mishandled this one so badly. The incident clearly damaged her campaign, at least in the short term. A few days after the interview went viral, Porter apologized for losing her cool.
If you’re interviewed by a reporter, we hope you will learn from Porter’s experience. Stay cool, don’t argue with the reporter and learn to bridge to your messages. Afterall, the last thing anyone wants is to be forced to apologize after an interview or any media encounter.