The meme has become a cultural phenomenon these days. Everyone who uses social media, however timidly, has surely seen a picture, perhaps doctored, with quotations attached. While many of these memes are fatuous and trivial, some hit hard and live long in the memory, particularly those related to political causes.
What gives memes their lasting power is words. Many are triggered by something which was said, usually during a media interview. What they show is the lasting power of words. Say the wrong thing to an interviewer, and it used to be possible to forget about it. You could limit the damage to those who had heard or seen the interview, and backtrack and bluster your way through the consequences.
But now the media is unremitting and constant. As soon as someone says something clumsy, foolish or insensitive, it can be all over the world within minutes. Social media has transformed the way in which journalists operate, and given them a potentially huge audience, delivered instantly.
This is why interview technique remains so important for anyone who has to deal with journalists and other media professionals. In the UK, John Humphreys of the BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme is well-known, and feared, for his forensic and often confrontational interviewing style. Elsewhere, Scottish journalist Eddie Mair recently gave London mayor Boris Johnson a ‘kicking’ on live Sunday lunchtime television. Handle this kind of interview badly, and the consequences can haunt you for a long time, often being recycled into new and more embarrassing memes and parodies.
The key to ensuring that your message is neither corrupted nor ridiculed is to stay calm, and to stay on script. A clear articulation of your ideas, and a consistent defence of them, means that your quotes can be mined for good content by journalists.
This has long-term positive effects, with the quotation, rather than haunting you, coming to be associated with you in a positive way. Rather than labelling you in a negative way, good quotations can come to define you positively. This is very useful for prominent people of all kinds, but especially politicians and business leaders.
Media training is essential to be able to do this. Good media training helps people to stay calm and on message, as well as keeping to a pre-determined line of defence. If you think you might be under fire some time soon, it could be the moment to see what it can offer you.
Roland Cross writes for Broadgate Mainland, specialists in financial PR, London.