How to prepare for an interview with a journalist

It’s important to prepare well for an interview with a journalist because your responses will determine the external portrayal of your company.

Firstly, it’s important to highlight that anything you say to the journalist can be published. Some celebrities or high-profile executives working for the world’s biggest brands might require journalists to give them more control over the outcome. For you, as a startup or scaleup founder, this is not the case. You should only say things that you would be happy for the journalist to publish. You can ask the journalist to speak ‘off the record’, but this does not mean anything until the journalist has agreed (preferably in writing) but don’t worry, a journalist must make you aware that they are recording an interview before doing so.

Here are our three top tips to help you prepare for an interview with a journalist.
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1. Ask for more information

The first thing you should do before preparing for an interview is to ask the journalist for more information about what they intend to ask. People do not often think to do this, but it’s an easy way to improve your preparation.

If it’s not already obvious from the journalist’s initial email, ask what topics they would like to focus on and whether there are any specific details or pieces of information they need to know. The journalist may provide a sample of questions in some cases, but most of the time journalists want to have a natural discussion supported by spontaneous questions.

You should also ask what the journalist intends to use the content from your interview for. You might find that they do not intend to use it for anything specific, or ‘for background’, in which case you’ll want to consider whether it’s worth your time providing an answer. This will depend on who the journalist is and which publication they write for. Sometimes it’s worth offering the interview to build a relationship with the journalist, even if they do not intend to publish anything from it. The journalist might also tell you that the interview will be used for a specific series their organisation is running, which will help you prepare.‍

2. Study the publication and journalist

You’ll want to study the publication that the journalist works for to help you understand their overall approach and political tendencies. It should only take reading a few articles or watching a few episodes of the programme to gather a basic understanding. However, if you know that your interview will be featured in a specific series, like The Times’ How I Made It, then its best to focus your efforts on that. It’s important to note that freelance journalists often work for multiple organisations, so you can find a selection of their work through their website or on X (Twitter).

Here are just a few considerations to support your research:

• Content type: Do the stories focus on advice? What format do the articles/episodes take?

• Subjects‍: What subjects do the previous articles/episodes focus on?

• Sources‍: Who have the journalists interviewed for previous articles/episodes? What have they said?‍

3. Draft your response

You’ve done your research. You now know all about the type of content the journalist will be trying to produce based on your interview. Now it’s time to draft a set of questions (around five usually works well) to prepare some responses. These preparatory responses will not always cover everything the journalist asks in the interview but they’ll give you a good base to work from.

It’s important to establish what business details you’re prepared to share. Some media outlets will require you to disclose financial details about your business as proof of success, and you’ll need to decide whether you’re willing to do this.

You should also be prepared to deal with any controversial or challenging topics that might arise. It’s best to work with your PR team to understand what questions might arise and how you will answer with agreed messaging.

Interviews with journalists can be daunting. And you should approach them with appropriate caution because anything you say could be published and, as we’ve now highlighted, this will determine your company’s reputation. That can provide a very good opportunity if you prepare well.