By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
A CEO preparing for a live CNBC interview does not prepare the same way they would for a Wall Street Journal interview.
Both journalists may even be covering the same subject, but they’re producing fundamentally different forms of journalism. With a live segment, your job is largely to deliver insight. With a print article, your job is to help the reporter uncover the story.
I learned this distinction from working on both sides of the media. Before founding MACIAS PR, I was an Executive Producer with NBC and CBS in New York. Today, I prepare executives for television appearances and interviews with print and online journalists.
One of the biggest mistakes I see executives make is treating every media interview as if the preparation is interchangeable. It isn’t.
What Is the Difference Between a TV Interview and a Print Interview?
The simplest distinction is performance versus discovery.
A live TV interview happens in real time. The executive has a limited number of minutes to explain an idea clearly, answer questions and provide insightful commentary. There usually isn’t much room to wander before getting to the point.
A print interview works differently. The reporter is gathering raw material for a story that will be assembled later. They may interview several people, review documents, examine data and ask follow-up questions before deciding which pieces ultimately make the article.
That difference can change whether you get included in the story or are left out.
A Live TV Interview Is About Insight
When you’re booked for a live television segment, the producer has already made an important decision: they believe you have something worth hearing. Your job is to prove them right.
The best guests don’t merely answer questions. They help the audience understand something. If the topic is interest rates, don’t spend precious airtime explaining that the Federal Reserve changed rates. The anchor and audience already know why you’re there. Explain what the decision means that isn’t immediately obvious.
Television also forces you to prioritize. You might have eight intelligent observations about a subject, but you may only get enough airtime to communicate two or three effectively. An executive who tries to squeeze all eight into the segment can end up communicating none of them particularly well.
Live Television Requires You to Think in Complete Thoughts
Print reporters can work around a long answer. Television can’t.
If I give a print reporter a thoughtful three-minute explanation, they might extract one excellent sentence from it. They have the luxury of editing. On live television, the audience experiences those three minutes exactly as you deliver them.
Over the years, I’ve seen many seasoned executives struggle on TV despite their intense knowledge and expertise. Expertise encourages nuance. Television demands prioritization. The skill is preserving the intelligence while removing the journey required to reach it.
A Print Interview Is More About the Story
When I prepare someone for an interview with a newspaper, magazine or online publication, my mindset changes.
These interviews are more about giving the reporter the elements for the story. Personal insight, observations and anecdotes are helpful in these interviews. They bring the written word alive.
Now suppose the CEO explains that a factory couldn’t find enough workers locally, so it began paying entry-level employees to relocate hundreds of miles to keep production lines operating.
Your job in these situations isn’t merely to deliver an insight. It’s to give the journalist enough material to follow the story somewhere.
Details Have Different Value in Print and Television
On live TV, too many details consume the clock. For a print interview, a small detail can become one of the most memorable parts of the article. That doesn’t mean television should be generic. A vivid example can be extremely powerful on camera. But you have to choose the detail that does the most work in the least amount of time.
Print gives you room to unpack. Television forces you to select.
Don’t Memorize a Live TV Interview
Another popular mistake I’ve observed on live TV. Guests try to memorize their answers. If you’ve memorized a two-paragraph response and the anchor asks the question differently than you expected, you will find yourself lost. Trust me on that. Instead, I tell my clients to understand the ideas they need to communicate. You don’t get lost from different questions when you know the content.
Most important, media training isn’t one-size-fits-all. TV anchors might be on the same show but they will have different interviewing styles. As a producer for CBS and American Journal, I had a drastically different interviewing style than my colleagues. Don’t try to put all journalists in a box. It will help you prepare even more.
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About Mark Macias
Mark Macias is the founder of MACIAS PR, an earned-media public relations agency that develops media strategies, media training and thought-leadership campaigns for companies across healthcare, technology, finance and other industries. Before founding MACIAS PR in 2009, Macias worked as an Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. His newsroom experience shapes the agency’s approach to preparing executives for television, print and online media interviews