Elon Musk

Here is the oldest trick in the journalism playbook: refusing to ask questions on email or get back written, thoughtful responses. They want to talk “on background” in person or on the phone. When they do this they build trust in order to get you to spill the beans on your friends, colleagues and industry. They can take five of these background calls, write “notes” that they show to their editors as “proof.” They can then craft whatever story they want with disclaimer you read that say: “three folks who preferred to be off the record for fear of BLANK said BLANK.” I know this trick, because when I was in journalism it was explicitly explained to me by former Nytimes, WSJ and magazine reporters. If you want to protect yourself simply say to them “I’m happy to answer questions over email and off the record.” Ask yourself, why do journalists refuse to take answers over email? These would be the most accurate wouldn’t they? Isn’t the job to be as accurate as possible? 🤔 Also, journalists will try and “warm you up” by asking you flattering questions before they ask the hard ones. They will then leave out all the fluffy questions — even 99% of your total words — to simply get the one “off the cuff” response you give them at the end. Again, I know this from my time as a journalist when these techniques were used to TRAIN US in how to get information. Never speak to a journalist on the phone or in person. Never. Always conduct your interviews by email if at all.