You’ve spent days preparing for a press interview. You know your company’s position inside-out, you know how to recite your message by rote, and your key points are well-rehearsed.
Then the journalist asks you something you did not see coming, say, a pointed question about a competitor or an accusation dressed up as a question. Maybe it’s a sudden pivot to a controversy you assumed had passed. You’re suddenly wishing you’d undergone some media training.
At this point, it just feels like all your preparation is useless.
Unfortunately, the gap, the inadequacy, is obvious to trained eyes. Some media training would really help if this happened, because executives with training can recognize the move and respond differently.
You see, staying on message does not mean avoiding difficult questions. It’s a specific, learnable skill.
Why Interviewers Go Off-Script
Journalists don’t ask unexpected questions because they’re trying to catch you in a lie. They do it because their job is to find the most interesting angle of any story, and the most interesting angle is rarely the one you came prepared to give.
A reporter who’s been doing this for any length of time can recognize a polished, rehearsed answer from across a desk. So they don’t stay on the expected path. They’ll follow up on something you said two questions ago that you thought was behind you, or drop a new piece of information mid-interview just to see how you handle it.
When you understand that’s the pattern, a question you didn’t prepare for stops being a threat.
What “Staying On Message” Actually Means
Staying on message does not mean avoidance, deflection, or repeating a scripted response. Doing any of that will just make things worse, because a reporter who asks a sharp question and gets a non-answer does not move on, and those who are listening and watching notice.
Staying on message requires knowing what you want to communicate before the interview starts and finding a way to say it clearly, regardless of what the interviewer asks you or throws at you.
It demands two things: a concise, well-defined message and the technique to bridge from any question back to that message without sounding robotic.
The bridge is the key, and it’s not a dodge, but a practiced, natural-sounding transition.
The Bridging Technique
Of all the techniques media training covers, bridging is the one that applies every time, in every interview format, regardless of the topic. It works in three steps: acknowledge, bridge, deliver.
Acknowledging the question comes first, and it’s not agreement, but a signal that you heard the question and are not running from it.
Using a bridging phrase is next. It lets you shift direction, giving you the opportunity to deliver your message.
What bridging phrases can you use? Examples include:
- * What I think is more relevant here is…
- * That’s worth addressing, but the bigger point is…
- * To put that in context…
These phrases do not evade or avoid the question. Instead, they reframe it and give you back the control over the conversation.
Bridging isn’t only useful for off-topic questions. It works equally well for hostile ones.
If a reporter asks you something that is a thinly veiled accusation, you should not accept that framing. Acknowledge the question, and then use a bridge to correct the framing and redirect the conversation to your message and in your own terms.
How you deliver your bridge matters as much as your words. Say them too quickly, and they can sound like an evasion. Instead of rushing, speak at your usual pace. Timing and tone are the difference between composure and apparent disingenuousness.
Preparing for Questions You Didn’t Prepare For
Most media preparation focuses on what you know. Training focuses on what you don’t. A good session comes loaded with the questions you dread, the ones with no clean answer, and the ones designed to knock you off the points you rehearsed.
Working with an actual journalist in a simulation is a crucial part of preparing for interviewer pivots. A colleague running a practice session will move past a slightly off answer, while a journalist coach and mentor won’t. They’ll follow the thread you just exposed. That tension, knowing a follow-up is coming, is what the simulation is designed to recreate.
Media training in Dubai often entails sessions built around live scenarios. Cameras would be running, a crisis would be in play, and a journalist with years of broadcast experience would sit across the table from you.
Through such sessions, you get to use various bridges and practice their delivery.
What to Do When You Don’t Have an Answer
What if you genuinely don’t know the answer? It could be a figure you don’t have, or a development you have yet to be apprised of.
Instinctively, you may try to fill the gap by saying whatever first comes to mind or to offer a vague approximation that sounds more complete than it is. Either one is worse than a clean, honest non-answer.
“I don’t have those figures with me, but I can follow up after this” is a complete and perfectly acceptable answer. So is, “That’s outside my area, but I can direct you to someone who would know.”
Controlling the Conversation
The goal of any media interview is to use the opportunity to set the record straight, control what angle or detail a story leads with, and make sure there are no blanks the interviewer may fill in themselves.
However, doing this requires preparation, which isn’t merely reading up on talking points the night before. It’s practicing the techniques that keep you composed and on point: bridging, message construction, voice control, and non-verbal discipline.
Preparation through media training doesn’t eliminate difficult interviews. It empowers you to handle unexpected questions with grace and confidence, so you can deliver the message you want to say.
