Sharing your science with journalists gets your research in front of a broader audience and helps the public understand the value of scientific research. This guide is meant to help you effectively convey your work and its impact to journalists and the audiences they represent. 

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Before the interview

Prepare your main messages in advance

The best way to prepare for an interview is to prepare the main points you want to discuss ahead of time and practice speaking them aloud. The “preparing your message” portion of this guide will walk you through how to develop your specific message, but here are a few quick tips:

• Summarize your work at a high level and present its implications. Journalists want to know: 
  • What is new? 
  • What did you find? 
  • Why does it matter? (AKA, “What does this mean for me?”)
• Use relatable stories, anecdotes, and metaphors to help illustrate your main points and explain complex concepts. Example:
  • “You can think of ice shelves as corks in a bottle: they hold back the flow of grounded ice behind them.”
• Anticipate potential questions a journalist might ask and prepare your answers. Consider the “hard” questions:
  • What might be contentious? 
  • What might be misinterpreted by someone who is not an expert?

Learn more about constructing your messages in this tip sheet.

Do your homework

Familiarize yourself with the journalist(s) and/or news outlet. Read some of their past stories and try to get a feel for who their audience is.

Understand the meanings of “on the record,” “off the record,” “on background,” and “not for attribution.”

From the moment you answer the phone or enter the room, your words are “on the record” until you hang up or leave, unless you say otherwise ahead of time. This means anything you say can be published and attributed to you by name and/or job title. It’s a best practice to assume you’re always on the record.

“Off the record” means the journalist cannot publish what you say; it is for the journalist’s own information and nothing else. If you want to go “off the record,” you must state that explicitly before speaking. No backsies! That said, avoid going “off the record” as much as possible.

“On background” or “not for attribution” means the journalist can publish what you say but cannot attribute the information to you by name or a job title that would identify you. Again, you must state that explicitly before speaking.

Practice!

Once you’ve prepared your main messages, practice speaking them aloud to get comfortable with speaking on the record. Try role-playing with friends, colleagues, or anyone else who is not an expert in your field. Ask the friend if your message makes sense and have them point out any jargon they might not understand. Practice saying your messages out loud until you can repeat them on demand, but avoid memorizing them word for word. 

It may also be helpful to craft a sound bite: a clever phrase that artfully summarizes a thought. Sound bites are the 5- to 10-second clips that appear in TV and radio interviews, or the one-sentence quotes that appear in stories. Often they are extracted from a longer interview. Be careful: Something said off the cuff could become a sound bite, so practicing these prepared thoughts is essential.

Some good sound bites include:

• “We really need to appreciate and prepare for how fast fires move. Speed matters more for keeping people safe.” [Jennifer Balch, CIRES fellow]
• “These consistent extremes are changing the experience of living in the Arctic. Conditions that would have been considered extreme in the past are now becoming regular occurrences.” [Twila Moon, NSIDC deputy lead scientist]

During the interview

• Express yourself. Talk about things that excite you and let that excitement shine through. Smile and gesture when you talk, even when your face is not being recorded; your demeanor comes through on audio! 
• Tell a story. Use colorful anecdotes, examples, analogies, and metaphors to describe your work. 
• Keep calm and carry on. If you mess up, keep going and do the best you can. If you misspeak, say so, and correct your response. 
• Take your time. Speak slowly and enunciate. Include this skill in your pre-interview practice. Give simple, direct answers to questions. 
• Emphasize your key points. State and re-state your main messages as necessary. 
• Stay in your zone of expertise. Don’t speculate, lie, or answer questions if you don’t know the answer. 
• Pivot the discussion if needed. If you’re uncomfortable answering a question or think it’s best directed to someone in another field, use transition statements to get back to your main points or direct them to others:
  • “That question is best answered by a [public health expert, policymaker, etc.].” 
  • “That’s outside the scope of my work, but what I find exciting is….”
• If you don’t know the answer, offer alternatives. It’s okay to say you don’t know, but it’s also good to offer a way to get the information the journalist needs. For example: 
  • “I don’t know the answer to your question, but I can find out and get back to you.” 
  • “That’s outside my area of expertise, but I can refer you to someone who can speak about that topic.” 
  • “That’s outside the scope of our work, but what I can tell you is…” (and then bridge back your main messages)
• Avoid saying “no comment.” “No comment” implies you are hiding something. Instead, redirect the conversation to something you are excited about, or bring the conversation back to your main messages with phrases like: 
  • “I think what you’re really asking is…” 
  • “What’s important to remember about this topic is…” 
  • “What excites me about this area of research is…”
• Be professional. It’s fine to point out a research study’s flaws, but don’t make negative statements about other researchers.
• Use verbal tools such as: 
  • Opening: Taking control of the interview at the outset 
    • “The three things to remember about this work are…” “
    • The main result of our new study is….” 
  • Flagging: Emphasizing your key points 
    • “What’s important to remember about this work is…” 
  • Bridging: Transitioning back to safe territory if the conversation goes off-topic 
    • “I can’t speculate on that, but what I can tell you is…” 
    • “That’s outside the scope of our work, but what I find exciting is…” 
  • Closing: Wrapping up with your take-home message 
    • “In a nutshell, …” 
    • “The bottom line is…”

After the interview

After the interview, the reporter may reach out for clarifying questions or more information. Remember, you won’t be able to review a print story, video, or radio interview before it’s published. This is standard journalistic practice and is meant to keep the reporting balanced and unbiased. 

Once the story is published, you can continue to build a relationship with the reporter if you like. You can offer to be a resource or expert for future stories; you can also invite them to tour your lab space or join you on a research outing.

Reach out for assistance

CIRES Communications can answer your questions and help you prepare! Email ciresnews@colorado.edu 

Resources

• The AAAS communication toolkit
• Tips for effective scientific communication from Northeastern University
• The AGU Sharing Science Program
• Forbes’ 9 tips for communicating with people who are not scientists
• The American Society for Cell Biology’s best practices in science communication
• Tips from a political and science communicator on message development
• The Measure of Things: A free, online social math comparison tool