The Media Interview

Nikki Finke posted this on her Deadline Hollywood blog on Thursday:

I just confirmed that Sicko documentary creator Michael Moore was barred from making a scheduled media appearance inside the New York Stock Exchange today. His publicist says it was because he and a group of nurses intended to call for Wall Street investors and Main Street consumers to divest themselves of HMO, health insurance, and drug company stocks. The Oscar-winner and representatives of the California Nurses Association were slated to do a series of interviews with financial media outlets from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange this afternoon.

Finke went on to say she was

very surprised that the NYSE would interfere like this, especially given that these “on the floor” media interviews are commonplace.

Non-sequitur alert! Allowing some media interviews on your property does not imply that you are going to allow all media interviews. The interference is even less surprising given Moore’s anti-business philosophy. Add to that the fact that he would not have been giving advice to investors (as Moore’s people apparently tried to spin it), but merely staging a protest against a sector of the business community. Nothing surprising anywhere there…

On the other hand, Finke does make a good point: since the media interviews went ahead anyway (outside of the NYSE), the ban just gave Moore more attention.

Back in January, technology journalist Kevin Murphy wrote a hilarious and insightful piece on his texturbation blog about doing interviews with company reps during press tours. Here’s a sample paragraph:

Your job is to write down what the Main Guy says. Main Guys always speak in quotes. You can write down what the Other Guy says too, but don’t worry if you get the words in the wrong order or spell them wrong. Other Guys always speak in facts.

Read the full tutorial on How to Blag an Interview.

Thanks to Dr Anton Chuvakin on the Security Warrior blog for pointing out this great post.

Sometimes a surprise media interview isn’t a welcome thing:

In a small, windowless conference room in downtown Mountain View later the same day, [Roger] Lee [of venture capital firm Battery Ventures] does his best to introduce a six-month-old startup to a Mercury News reporter. But the company’s 25-year-old founder, whose mirrored sunglasses sit perched atop his closely cropped hair, only wants to talk about the ground rules for the interview.

“I’ve given this some thought, and none of this can go on the record,'’ he says. “Not my name, not the name of this company, not the names of potential customers.'’

“If (the customers) read that we’re 13 guys in a cramped office, their perceived risk is much higher,'’ he continues. Plus, he says, lowering his voice, “one of my competitors is keeping very close tabs on me. I don’t want him to Google my name and find this story.'’

It’s an awkward exchange for which Lee apologizes an hour later, after the meeting ends.

Thanks to Don’t Eat the Shrimp for pointing me to this San Jose Mercury News story.