I’ve been meaning to write about a recent post by PR blogger Steve Rubel entitled “reinventing the media interview,” and a friend’s e-mail this morning jogged my memory and reminded me that I hadn’t done so yet. His e-mail also mentioned a response to Steve’s post by British journalist Ian Delaney, who blogs at Two Point Ouch and is apparently writing a book on this whole Web 2.0 thingamajig we’re all wandering around in.
Steve described how bloggers such as billionaire Mark Cuban and Web-programming guru Dave Winer are trying to reinvent the media interview — in Mark’s case, by only doing interviews via e-mail so that he can run the transcripts on his blog if necessary (something Mark’s nemesis Patrick Byrne of Overstock has also done, ironically enough), and in Dave’s case answering questions on his blog so that everyone has access to the answers. Steve (who works for the Edelman public relations agency) says in his post that “there is lots of room to innovate here” and that he wants to “open this entire process up.”
I don’t know Ian Delaney, but I get the feeling that he would like the process to stay exactly the way it is, thank you very much. He says the kind of thing Steve is advocating would be bad, because it would lead to weaker published interviews, long delays between question and answer, and “over-polished and cloned responses” from PR types. He also suggests that allowing interviewees to “open up” the traditional process would subvert one of the goals of certain media interviews, which is to put CEOs on the spot.
Maybe it’s all the relaxation time I’ve had on vacation, but I can see the merits of both arguments, and I don’t necessarily think it’s an either/or kind of question. If you’re a CEO like Mark who feels that you get subjected to drive-by interviews that misrepresent your views, then I think doing interviews by e-mail makes perfect sense — but it only works if you are as direct (and fast) as Mark is, which is quite rare in a CEO. Likewise, I can see why Dave wants to respond on his blog — because he sees the value in having his thoughts become part of the blogosphere record (such as it is).
I sympathize with Ian’s concern about how “reinventing the interview” might affect the hard-hitting Q&A with the CEO of a chemical company, but I would also argue that this kind of interview is hardly a daily event. Not only that, but I don’t think we’re in danger of being swamped by blogging CEOs, regardless of how persuasive Steve might be. And having spent days preparing for canned, smoke-and-mirrors CEO interviews that reveal little and yet are so momentous they have to be written about, I would kill for a fast e-mail chat with someone like Mark.
A little more openness on both sides would probably make things a whole lot more interesting for everyone. There are competitive issues as well to consider, however, as my friend — and competitor — Mark Evans points out.