No, you weren’t taken out of context in that interview.

An MP is interviewed, and her local paper reports it. It’s embarrassing. And so she claims she was “taken out of context.”

Almost every time I do media training, especially if it’s for someone who has not performed ideally in a recent interview during a crisis for their organization or company, I am told the following: 

“It wasn’t my fault. I was quoted out of context by the journalist. They were trying to make me/us look bad.” 

Or some version of the above. 

It is very a natural instinct, of course, to make excuses when you feel like you haven’t performed well. I have a lot of sympathy for the embarrassment someone can feel, especially if they are dealing with a high-pressure situation. 

But in I would bet 95% of the time or more, the person claiming they were quoted out of context, is wrong. 

When I say this to the person I’ve been brought in to help, they are generally at first a) defensive and/or b) in disbelief and worried I am not “on their side.” So let me tell you what I tell them next: 

1. The majority of journalists, those who work for reputable publications or outlets, no matter the medium or platform, are just doing their jobs. They may have points of view, but they rarely care enough about your specific issue or story to want to make you look bad, or worse than you already do if you are in fact managing a crisis. 
2. These journalists will almost surely have some sort of recording of the encounter. These days, tape isn’t just cheap, it’s digital, and comes with your phone. So there is almost no chance there isn’t a recording of your interview.
3. It is far more likely that, based on nerves, a lack of preparation, a lack of experience, or all of the above that you failed to deliver the message you wanted to deliver clearly and/or succinctly enough that they chose that quote. You may have also spoken too much and just rambled on, allowing the journalist to pick whatever part of what you said and report it.

I know all of this because, in my time as a journalist, I too had people claim I had quoted them “out of context.” And I was lucky enough to be a TV producer, so even in the pre-digital age, I had plenty of tape to show I hadn’t.

I also had a thing I would do, when someone wasn’t clear or concise: I would just let them talk. I had other interviews to do, and tape to find. And so if they just talked, I knew I would in the editing room eventually find some sentence or part of what they said that made enough sense to use in the story. 

I was just doing my job. And it wasn’t my fault they weren’t concise. 

So how do you avoid this? The simple answer is: you need to pick your quote before you do the interview. 

I usually start with clients by saying: at this moment, what do you NEED to be reported. If they don’t exactly know because they are overwhelmed, I can help them use the vast amount of information they are juggling to come up with a couple of clear sentences. 

And then we practice. We practice them saying those clear sentences again and again, no matter how aggressive or obscure my questions are. And we practice saying ONLY those sentences. 

Choosing your own quote prevents you from being taken out of context. It just takes some thought, some practice, and some discipline. And bonus: you can now record yourself as you practice to decide how you are doing. 

And for goodness sake, record yourself when you give the interview. If you ever think you’ve been taken “out of context”, you can at least listen back and decide before you accuse a journalist of getting it wrong.