The Media Interview

The website Media Matters says CNN “deceptively cropped” the June 29th Face the Nation interview with retired General Wesley Clark during a report on its American Morning show June 30th. Here’s the Media Matters transcript of the CNN video clip:
CLARK [video clip]: That large squadron in the Air — in the Navy that he [...]

Fascinating issue brewing in Hamilton, Ontario, where a recording and transcript of an “off the record” media interview with the city’s mayor have been released to some media outlets. In that interview with Hamilton Spectator columnist Andrew Dreschel, Mayor Fred Eisenberger apparently reveals some sensitive information from an in-camera council meeting. Dreschel won’t [...]

A comment by one of presidential candidate John McCain’s advisors, quoted in a Fortune magazine article, has created quite a stir and raises an interesting issue about the transparency of media interviews.
Here’s part of the LA Times story on the comments by Charlie Black:
Then, the longtime political pro got a bit too honest. Asked about [...]

A week or so ago I mentioned the controversy over statements made by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a taped encounter with journalist Tom Zytaruk in 2005 in the driveway of MP Chuck Cadman’s widow’s home. The statements allegedly showed Harper acknowledging that payments had been offered to Cadman when he was alive [...]

During a meeting with the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader’s editorial board on May 23, 2008, which was streamed live over the internet, Hillary Clinton mentioned the assassination of Robert Kennedy in a passing comment about nomination campaigns historically lasting into June. That mention became the centre of a firestorm.
Here’s the headline from the newspaper that apparently [...]

A TV interview with New Zealand celebrity Nicky Watson late last year became an instant classic after this part of the encounter was repeated over and over in the MSM and the blogosphere:
Watson: “I must have called [her lost] dog’s name a million times and I hope that when he hears my voice he will [...]

That is, if there’s a recorder on. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper learned this the hard way recently, when a 2005 encounter with a journalist came back to haunt him. Tom Zytaruk was working on a biography about MP Chuck Cadman who had recently passed away, when he heard that Harper - at [...]

More and more print publications are putting their interviews online. Be aware that most of these are edited transcripts. Where possible I’ll try to indicate if they are original unedited versions.
Maclean’s Magazine (Canada)

Detroit Lions wide receiver Roy Williams was out delivering pizzas for an afternoon recently - all because of a media interview.
Back on September 24th, during his weekly chat on WDFN radio, Williams said he never tips the people who deliver pizza. Doh! Despite trying to clarify himself on a later broadcast, the outrage [...]

Don’t you hate when this happens:
At one point I said something quoteworthy but the tape wasn’t running, so she asked me to say it again and I think I pulled it off, but I think it sounded better the first time.
That’s David Erickson blogging about his experience with a taped-on-location radio interview.
The unrehearsed nature [...]