Don’t be offended by a reporter’s style

Reporters operate in a highly competitive environment, especially those working in hard news who live in constant fear of ‘missing the story’.  So while most will attempt to charm you, sometimes they can appear brusque or even rude.  TV and radio interviewers in particular often see it as their role to be provocative and play ‘devil’s advocate’ – questions such as ‘Your last product was a massive failure, why should we imagine this one will be any better?’ don’t usually mean the reporter hates you, although sometimes it can feel like that. More likely, they just want to demonstrate that they have given you a good grilling on behalf of the audience.  If you keep cool, friendly and polite, giving a good solid answer, they will usually respect you and move on to the next question.