Media Training...again.

For about two-hours on Thursday afternoon, I was on 60 Minutes. Okay, that sounds weird. Really I found myself in a former brick warehouse in Portland's Pearl Disctrict sitting in a bare office with a former TV reporter and his staff conducting an interview of...me. The camera was rolling. For about the third time in my brief Council tenure I was being trained on the nuances of facing, perhaps "confronting" is a better word, the media.
I've mixed opinions about the media. First off, I studied and eventually received my Bachelors Degree from the University of Oregon in Journalism. So for a few years, being a part of the media is what I concentrated on. I also feel that having free and unrectricted media is what makes democracies thrive. In fact, I am not so sure a democracy exists if there is a shutdown, especially by governments, of the media.
Conversely, media and journalists do more than earn their spotty reputation, and I am talking only partially about the extremely biased media like Fox News or MSNBC, or the black eyes like Jayson Blair. The main criticism I lob at the media is more often than not they don't always have the best grip on the stories, especially when dealing with complex issues. I especially see this with sports journalists and political reporters, and often with columnists, who I've concluded are usually more concerned with meeting a deadline or furthering their agenda. And most reporters, producers, and media owners have agendas, political or personal. To me that is fact.
The former reporter-turned-media-consultant who interviewed me for our mock 60 Minutes session told me I was acting more like a journalist than a public representative with a message. I was trying to be objective instead of advocating for a side (he asked about Cascade Locks), and was being too blunt and irreverent in some of my answers. When he asked me about our Tribe's enrollment issues I made a joke about starting a Tribal member dating service and/or a sperm bank. He told me a quote like that was so colorful they would probably make it a soundbite and video clip, which also meant if, say, a reporter didn't especially like me there was a silver bullet. I can imagine the clip or headline now: Tribal Council member mocks enrollment issues. Context matters, a lot.
It is hard not to feel self-conscious while watching a video of yourself on a large (50 inch) screen. You notice your own fidgets, pantomimes, eye-rolling, and suspcious squinting. I normally think of myself as approachable, but in my video I saw somebody slightly stand-offish, weary, and even a little bit irritated by some of the questions. Plus, I understand now why major news networks have their TV guests don make-up. I could almost count the bristles my razor missed that morning.
Having to deal with the media, especially interviews on camera, is truly a learned skill. I can see why people get nervous on live national TV, and how the way a question gets asked, the motives behind reporters, and technical stuff like lighting and editing add up to a certain skill set gained through experience and experience alone. I see now why media consulting is becoming an industry all its own, and why many politicians pay for it without hesitation.