By Roz Morris, Managing Director, TV News London
Should you ever give a TV interview while holding an ice cream in an ice cream parlour? The answer could be yes if it’s your shop or you’re a business leader or politician promoting local business. Although even then the downsides of holding a melting ice cream and being filmed licking it should be born in mind.
The answer is definitely no if you’re the President of the United States commenting on serious political issues.
Leaving aside the politics of whether US President Joe Biden made a diplomatic blunder when he said so specifically that he hoped to have a ceasefire in Gaza soon, (a statement swiftly rubbished by both Israeli and Hamas spokespeople) it was his ice cream that stole the show.
Mr Biden was in New York when he visited the upmarket artisan ice cream shop Van Leuwen with late-night TV talk show host Seth Meyers. While there, the US President responded to reporters’ questions and gave an update on the situation in Gaza, saying he hoped a ceasefire would be in place soon. “We’re close,” he said, while holding an ice cream cone, “We’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire.”
However, answering questions on serious topics, such as Gaza and also the US election, while eating ice cream, led to criticism of the President on social media and traditional media. It just didn’t look appropriate.
Optics matter – a lot
Fox News commentator Joe Concha said: “It’s all about optics. You watch the President with a big ice cream cone in his hands talk about hostages that were taken on October 7. Think about all the months that have gone by …(that the hostages) are in the hands of these monsters and here you have this elitist president in New York City holding a big ice-cream cone talking how, ‘hey, we may have a deal by the end of the weekend.'”
Concha added: “He should be doing that in a press conference or in an Oval Office type of setting, not with Seth Myers. It looks horrible, it looks out of touch.”
What is the setting for your interview?
It’s not just presidents who should be thinking about optics. As well as what you say, it’s how you look that matters in TV interviews.
For example, a chief executive interviewed in their boardroom with expensive-looking art on the walls behind them is going to look like a ‘fat cat’ and is not going to come across as totally convincing when talking about the need to cut staff and close down factories or shops.
A camera operator once told me that he felt he’d done a good job when he persuaded an executive under fire for not correctly disposing of hazardous waste to be interviewed standing outside with waste bins in the background.
How do mistakes like this happen?
If you’re giving a TV interview, you are concentrating hard on what you want to say, so you won’t notice your surroundings as much as you should do.
This type of mistake can be avoided when a camera crew comes to interview you if you make yourself aware of where you are sitting or standing, or if you bring a colleague and they look at the setting for the interview, see the problem and insist that the shot be altered.
There are also hazards when giving an interview online. Always check your background and remove anything distracting from your bookcase or hanging on the wall behind you.
Plus, don’t assume that all radio interviews are audio only. Many radio interviews are done online and some are live-streamed in vision so you and your background need to be as smart and professional for radio as for TV.
For more advice on getting your TV and radio interviews right every time, contact TV News London
