Are you checking your background before online media interviews on Zoom?
As lockdown starts to lift in the UK, one of Covid-19’s less unpleasant legacies will be the permanence of media interviews via Zoom. Yes, the online interview is here to stay.
The technology to do interviews from remote studios and outside locations has worked for decades. But the broadcast media, pre-Covid, were always keen to get spokespeople and interviewees into the studio.
The face-to-face interview was always preferable, and less nervy for producers worried the tech wouldn’t hold up when it came to the crunch.
When the BBC moved its news output to Manchester (Salford for the purists), down-the-line interviews from little studios across London became more acceptable.
But it was only when we were all locked down that TV interviews from our studies, living rooms and spare bedrooms became the norm.
All the basics around knowing your messages, rehearsing your lines and thinking about the tough questions are timeless. But now we have to think about what is over our shoulder, too.
A lot of the people giving those interviews were learning on the hoof, and learning those lessons in public.
Government minister Michael Gove was one of the first to fall foul of the failure to check what was behind him. He was interviewed in front of a bookcase that included a lot of books about Hitler and Mussolini. Subsequently his partner Sarah Vine helpfully pointed out they had books by a convicted holocaust denier and a eugenicist, too. (Consequently, wary ministers now flood their spare bedrooms with Union Jack flags instead).
Others have fallen foul of the filters function, with interviewees appearing on broadcast TV as cats. Or with exotic backgrounds like Paddington’s hiddent platform for trains to Hogwarts.
“Joining us live from Platform 9 and three quarters as the Hogwarts Express prepares to leave is…”
As the question of backgrounds became more of a focus, some interviewees used them to send coded messages. Hardline US politician Lauren Boebert decided to make a statement about gun ownership during unrelated interviews. (She did remove them for interviews about America’s latest mass shooting earlier this month).
And for some, the question of whether the message was intentional or not was left hanging. Twitter is still torn over whether Yvette Amos meant to display the skin tone sex toy on prominent display below. This was during a BBC Wales online media interview about how women were entertaining themselves during lockdown.
Intentional or otherwise, the point is that people will judge you and your message based on what they see over your shoulder. The responsibility is yours. Check your background – ideally as part of a wider review of how you’re going to look and sound.
Top Three Tips for online media interviews from home:
1 – Check your background: look for dubious books, dodgy art or ornaments, dirty plates (and dildos). Think about the impression you want to make.
2 – Think lighting: do you actually look like you’re hiding in a darkened cupboard? Additional lighting can make a big difference to how you come across (search ‘ring light’ online and you’ll find a decent one for £25).
3 – And then think about where your camera is. While our natural instinct tells us to make eye contact with the other person, on Zoom that means staring at your computer screen. It’s a tough ask, but train your brain to make eye contact with your webcam. Then you’ll look like you’re staring into their eyes. If you have a separate camera, think about moving it to the best position for your eyeline. If your camera is built in to your computer, move the image on the screen of the other person nearer to your camera.
Finally, remember of course that what you say is still the most important part of any interview. It’s also the one you have the most control over, whatever else is going on around you.
