News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son James received high marks for the controlled, crafty confidence they displayed before the parliamentary select committee investigating the phone hacking scandal in July, 2011. There in the flesh was the 80-year-old mogul, proof that a public grilling can’t be out sourced or delegated.  Murdoch claimed he knew next to nothing about what his underlings were up to and apart from his public apologies it wasn’t clear how much he cared.
The pair were back in the hot seat for the formal inquiry launched …

“Mr. Wallace, a pioneer of American broadcasting who confronted leaders and liars for “60 Minutes” for four decades, has died at 93, CBS News said.”
That is Brian Stelters’s lead in today’s NewYork Times. It’s just about perfect since the “leaders” were often liars who made the mistake of going on the record with Wallace, who always had the goods before he showed up.
Wallace was a ferocious and fearless interviewer. He was a role model for journalists because he showed us how far he would go even if we lacked the organizational …

February 8, 2012, Toronto, ON – Leigh Haber, Editor-at-Large for Chronicle Books announced the acquisition of North American rights for Bodine Williams’ The Art of Talking Back: 21 Celebrited Interviews & Lessons Learned. Agent Sam Hiyate of The Rights Factory arranged the deal.
 The Art of Talking Back presents 21 famous interviews, the players, the fallout and the lessons learned. On her selection Haber, who was the editor for Al Gore’s book, An Inconvenient Truth, said, “I love this book because it does for communicating in a social media-dominated world what the classic …

Soldiers are not sent into battle in the hope that they will “wing it” or “rise to the occasion.” They perform at the highest level of training. And that’s exactly what it takes to ace media interviews and debates. Don’t count on your past accomplishment or a flash of verbal inspiration to get you through. On the spot, you are more likely to freeze up or overreact.
Psychologists say it was “brain freeze” that caused Texas Governor Rick Perry’s much-parodied moment during the GOP debate on November 9, 2011. Perry struggled for 10-20-40-60 …

This is the age of the interview. You can’t land a job or get elected president if you can’t ace one.
In school we are taught to focus on the written word, when in life it’s what we say that matters. There’s the problem. Too often, our words reveal more than we intend. In fact, most verbal blunders – either at the podium or in an interview – result not from tough or unfair questions, but from self-destructive answers.
Dazed or bewildered by the glare of bright lights people lose confidence, sometimes …