Talking to journalists is a skill. Most leaders don’t have it just yet.
There’s a misconception that runs quietly through boardrooms and executive suites: that speaking to the press is simply a matter of being articulate, confident, and prepared with your key messages.
Well, it isn’t.
As Nadège Chapelin, Communications Director at Consultancy32, puts it:
“Responding to a journalist, even simply interacting with one, cannot be improvised. Like all professions, journalists have their own codes, practices, and conventions, which must be understood in order to meet their expectations while maintaining controlled and effective communication.”
This isn’t a warning. It’s a framework.
Journalism has its own grammar
Journalists operate inside a professional culture with its own logic: deadlines that compress nuance, narrative structures that demand conflict, sourcing conventions that can shift context, and questions designed to surface what you didn’t plan to say. A leader who walks into a media interaction without understanding this grammar is likely exposed.
The stakes for CEOs, business leaders, or heads of foundations or associations are particularly high. One poorly framed answer can reframe a brand, undermine a campaign, or derail months of stakeholder trust-building. Conversely, a well-managed media relationship; built on mutual understanding of how journalism works; becomes a strategic asset.
Some classic examples include:
Improvisation is the enemy of strategic communication
The instinct to “just be yourself” or “speak from the heart” is admirable in many leadership contexts. But in a media interview, it’s a liability without preparation.
Effective media communication requires knowing when to bridge, when to decline, how to stay on the record without overexposing, and how to make a journalist’s story better. All this without making your organisation more vulnerable. These are learnable skills; but they don’t emerge spontaneously on the day.
What expert communications guidance actually provides
Working with a specialist like Consultancy32 doesn’t mean scripting your voice away. It means:
- Understanding the journalist’s angle before the exchange begins
- Knowing which questions carry hidden risk — and how to handle them with integrity
- Building a communication posture that is both authentic and strategically sound
- Preparing leadership teams so that media pressure becomes an opportunity, not a threat
The goal is always controlled and effective communication.
Not spin, but clarity. Not avoidance, but strategic candor.
For business leaders, CEOs, directors in public and private institutions
If your organisation is facing media attention, be it planned or otherwise, the question isn’t whether you can speak well. It’s whether you understand the professional world you’re stepping into.
Media literacy at the leadership level is a governance responsibility.
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Consultancy32 supports organisations in building communication strategies that hold under pressure. From media training to crisis communication, our consultants bring the professional expertise your leadership team needs — before the camera turns on.
Visit: https://consultancy32.com/our-academy/
