The Media Interview

You may recall the story this past August of a young Austrian woman, Natascha Kampusch, who was held captive in a basement for over eight years. Thanks to Canuckflack I found this article from Der Spiegel detailing the public relations and media planning which her advisors did for her in the days and weeks following her escape.

I’ve pulled out the most relevant material for media interviews, but the whole article is worth a read:

From the media consultant’s point of view, there were a few glitches during the first two weeks after’s Natascha’s escape. The newspapers wrote that Natascha doesn’t love her mother - Brigitta Sirny, whose maiden name is Kampusch - and that she didn’t want to talk to her, much less move in with her. But people like children who love their parents. Still, it’s not too late, Ecker says. The blemish can still be corrected. That’s why the interview has to happen right now - at the point on his drawing that he’s marked with a circle, exactly two weeks after the escape.

The interview will be shown on television this evening. Then numerous newspapers in Germany and Austria will print it and comment on it. They’ll take a very close look at Natascha Kampusch. Ecker knows things will turn out well. Everything is moving in the right direction now. “The old ladies will cry, and people will love her,” he says. No one needs to tell him that the rules he’s dealing with are those of soap operas.

There were good reasons for Natascha Kampusch to present herself on television. “Everyone wanted to see her, and they wanted to see her face. The paparazzis would have tracked her down like Lady Di.” The first digital photographs, secretly taken with mobile phones, were already circulating in Vienna, and they were being offered for prices as high as €14,000 ($17,777). There was no way of stopping what was happening, Ecker says.

He didn’t put pressure on Natascha Kampusch to give the interview now. He explained to her why it was necessary, and she agreed.

She selected the ORF interviewer along with Ecker. Ecker went through the questions with the other advisors, and then with her. He sat down in a recording room with Natascha for four hours and did a trial run of the entire interview. He asked her every single question. He gave her tips about how to sit and how to look - but most of all about how to handle specific questions. Ideally, she should talk about herself, her character traits, her mourning, her strength.

The best possible answer to questions about her relationship to her kidnapper? “There was no relationship between us.” Questions about her relationship to her mother should be answered as follows: “We’re very close.” Natascha Kampusch and Ecker watched the recorded mock interview together and evaluated it. Natascha Kampusch said she enjoyed the trial run. Ecker says he felt worn out.

On the air

She didn’t follow all of his advice, but she followed most of it…