TOUCHDOWN: BROADCAST STANDARDS COUNCIL SIDES WITH DION

This is a tough call, but I have to give it to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for siding with former federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion, for the infamous CTV interview during last fall’s election campaign in which several false starts and re-asks were deliberately sent to air. As a general rule, we often tell people in our Veritas Media Coaching sessions that, if you don’t understand a question or find yourself a little tongue-tied in an answer, it’s fair game to ask for the question again or to re-start your answer IF the piece is being taped for later broadcast. That’s not to say you can get a “do-over” and fundamentally CHANGE your answer, but rather, if you feel you’re phrasing it awkwardly or could make the same point more clearly, it’s OK to ask the interviewer “can I give you that again?” They might say no, and that’s the reporter’s prerogative. But in most circumstances, they should be fine with letting you offer them a cleaner clip. Now, the rules change when it comes to highly confrontational investigative interview situations, i.e. W-FIVE or The Fifth Estate. And the same holds true, quite often, in political interviews. The stakes are higher, and smoothness of one’s performance is, in fact, a modern-day point of judgment for voters, and media need to make editorial – and editing – decisions accordingly. But all of that said, the interview by Halifax CTV news anchor Steve Murphy and Stephane Dion was a dog’s breakfast. Murphy’s opening question was less than clear, and when Dion broke off an initial response and asked – more than once – for clarification, Murphy’s re-phrased questions were inconsistent and equally muddy. So I think the CBSC is right for calling CTV out on this one. Had the question been clear and consistent and Dion still didn’t get it, then fair game – but that’s not the way most analysts saw it, and worse, when Dion asked for a re-start and agreement was given that the false takes would no be aired, they still ended up hitting the transmitter.