Field note

The questions leaders get wrong on camera, and how to rehearse them

By Ben Tobias · October 13, 2026

In media interviews, leaders usually trip on the questions built to trap them: the timeline question, the either-or, the promise, the hypothetical and the silence after they stop talking. You fix that by rehearsing out loud, on camera, with someone playing the reporter, then watching it back and going again.

Which questions trip leaders up?

Five show up again and again.

1. The timeline question. "Who knew, and when did they know it?" Any gap in the timeline becomes the story. Answer with the real timeline, plainly, and what you did at each step.
2. The either-or. "So either you didn't know, or you knew and kept quiet. Which is it?" Both doors are bad. Don't walk through either one. Say what happened.
3. The promise. "Can you promise this won't happen again?" "Yes" is a promise nobody can keep, and "no" is the headline. Say what you've changed and what you're watching.
4. The hypothetical. "What if this turns out to be bigger than you think?" Don't build a future you can't see. Answer what's true today and say when you'll know more.
5. The silence. The reporter stops talking and waits... and most folks fill it. The filler is what airs. Say your piece, then stop.

There's a sixth, and it's a gift: "Anything else you'd like to add?" Have one sentence ready. Don't waste it.

Why do smart leaders get them wrong?

They answer the words instead of the question. A reporter says "hiding," and the leader says, "We weren't hiding anything." Now "hiding" is in the clip, in the leader's own voice.

They prepare on paper. An answer that reads fine on a page can fall apart out loud, with a camera on you and your pulse up.

And they rehearse with people who like them. Your team won't push the way a reporter will, and they shouldn't have to.

Who should play the reporter?

Somebody who's sat across from a lot of reporters, and who isn't afraid of you.

As a police spokesperson, I did thousands of on-camera interviews, from local TV all the way to a live CNN interview. Gainesville is home to the University of Florida's journalism school, so a lot of the reporters across from me were students learning the job on crime stories. Some of them are anchors, producers and newsroom leaders now.

Then I spent nearly a decade in corporate communications at a Fortune 60 insurer, where I got executives ready for the camera.

How do you rehearse them?

1. Write down the five questions you least want to hear. Then add the one you hope nobody thinks of.
2. Put a camera on it. A phone on a tripod is plenty.
3. Answer out loud, at full speed, with no notes in your lap.
4. Watch it back twice: once with sound, and once muted so you can see what your face and hands are doing.
5. Go again. The second take is where it starts to stick.
6. Keep the first sentence of every answer that worked, and practice those. A memorized script sounds memorized.

Bring your communications lead. They'll catch the phrase you can't hear yourself saying. And if there's legal exposure behind the interview, have your lawyer read what you plan to say. A rehearsal doesn't replace counsel.

For the full checklist, from learning the reporter to the debrief after, here's how to prepare a CEO for a media interview.

What should a leader never say?

"No comment." I've written this before and I'll say it again: it's the worst media sin imaginable. If you ever think you're in a situation where you need that phrase, no you do not. Trust me.

Close behind it: "We take this very seriously." Everybody says it, so it tells the viewer nothing. Show them what you did.

If you can't answer yet, say so, and say when you will. Here's what to say in the first 30 minutes, and how to write the holding statement you'll work from.