What I learned during my first Sky News interview - when a client’s TV interview on Cambridge Analytica became mine
By Liam Fitzpatrick, Founder, Commswork | 6 min read
My laptop balanced on moving boxes stacked in my in-laws' spare room. 40 degrees outside. And a Sky News producer waiting for an answer.
It wasn't my interview to prep for. A client had been approached for comment on Facebook's response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and, for reasons I won't go into, they needed someone else to step in. Rather than lose the interview, on one of the biggest scandals in the UK that decade, I offered my services.
My agency, Commswork, was less than nine weeks old. I said yes anyway.
It wasn't my interview to prep for. A client had been approached for comment on Facebook's response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and, for reasons I won't go into, they needed someone else to step in. Rather than lose the interview, on one of the biggest scandals in the UK that decade, I offered my services.
Now coming up to its eighth anniversary, I want to share what I took from it, along with some of the lessons it's taught me about preparing executives for high-profile media moments when they come about.
The call will come at the worst possible time. That's not a reason to say no.
Cambridge Analytica wasn't a story anyone had time to prepare for. The Guardian had released a story into the data exposed of UK citizens. And Facebook's handling of the data scandal was deteriorating by the hour. The Sky News producer needed someone credible, and importantly available, and together with the producers we agreed to discuss the impact to Facebook’s brand reputation with the expected fallout.
For many senior executives, this is exactly the kind of opportunity that gets declined. The schedule suddenly feeling inflexible - especially given how the story was unfolding in real-time. The risk feels higher than the upside.
But media appearances, particularly reactive ones tied to a breaking story, are among the highest-leverage visibility moments available to business leaders. The journalist already has a reason to run the story. You don't need to manufacture the 'why now'. It's handed to you. The only question is whether you're ready?
That readiness isn't about knowing everything. It's about sticking to the perspective you can offer, based on your experience, and what you would do in your role, if the challenge came across your desk. Not speculating on areas you’re unsure about, staying in your lane and pivoting to your messaging about how you conduct business when required.
Compounding errors that had nothing to do with data leak.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal is a useful case study in how to make a bad situation worse.
The data issue was real. But the reputational damage, the kind that takes years to rebuild, came from the communications response. The initial silence. The language that sounded like it had been through fifteen rounds of legal review. The apology ads placed in print newspapers, aimed solely at the advertising dollar, reached roughly zero of the people who were actually angry or impacted.
Facebook had a problem. Their response turned it into something much larger.
Brand reputation isn't only damaged by the incident. It's destroyed by what comes after.
The organisations that come through crises, soetimes with a more favourable perception by those initially against the brand, do a few things consistently.
They speak early. Allowing them to control the set the narrative, before others do it for them.
They speak plainly. No corporate doublespeak. Leave the jargon for the boardroom. No hedging every sentence with legal qualifiers. And they acknowledge the specifics of what went wrong instead of retreating to vague expressions of concern and apologising ‘if’ someone was offended/impacted.
They establish transparency of what has happened. What they plan to do about it. And the timeline for that action to take place.
None of this is complicated. Most of it just requires someone senior enough to make the call, and prepared enough to execute it.
The journalist is not trying to trip you up.
In the years I've spent preparing executives for media, the single most common problem isn't poor messaging. It's posture. People walk in expecting an ambush.
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, that's not what's happening. The journalist wants a good segment. They want a sharp, quotable perspective from someone who actually knows what they're talking about. An interview that is monosyllabic or antagonistic, doesn’t make for great TV.
Understanding that, changes how you show up. You're not defending a position under attack, unless you’re Facebook in this dynamic. Recognise you're having an informed conversation with someone who has a platform. And an audience you’d like to reach.
The sessions I do on interview preparation spend a lot of time on this, because the defensive mindset is so common in senior executives, particularly those who haven't been through it before. It doesn't matter how good your messages are if you're sitting there, arms crossed, with negative body language waiting to be caught out.
Prepare the message. Don't memorise the answer.
There's a phrase I use a lot: structured spontaneity.
You decide what you want to say, 2-3 points, but ideally one. Then you practise saying them in different ways until they come out naturally in conversation. The structure is fixed. The words shouldn’t be.
This matters because live interviews don't follow a script. Questions come at angles you didn't anticipate. In a different order than the producer agreed to. Anchors push back. Go off on tangents from your previous answer. Something happens in the news cycle an hour before you go on air and suddenly the framing shifts.
If you've memorised answers, that will throw you. If you know your messages, it doesn't. You find your way back to what you actually need to say.
The Sky News segment moved quickly. It was easier to handle because I'd prepared the argument, not a list of talking points.
The appearance is just the start.
What surprised me most about that Sky News segment wasn't the interview itself. It was the week after.
A marketing manager at an Australian brand reached out - apparently they'd seen the clip. A conversation started that turned into a client relationship. People I hadn't spoken to in years got in touch. A segment that ran for a few minutes generated conversations that lasted months. And relationships that have gone on for years.
This is what most executives underestimate when they decline media opportunities. The value isn't just in the audience who watch the segment live. It's in the signal it sends to everyone who finds it later - Sky News or equivalent believe you’re views warrant the authority of their platform. And you’re someone who shows up, no matter how prepared you are. Willing to be vulnerable enough to get things wrong, live on TV.
That kind of positioning doesn't happen overnight. But it doesn't happen at all if you keep waiting for a better time.
Showupability. That's what separates the executives who build genuine public profiles from those who stay invisible and wonder why they're not getting the calls they want.
Preparing for a media appearance or crisis situation?
At Commswork we work with founders and senior executives on exactly these moments. Media interview preparation, reactive communications, crisis positioning, and building the kind of profile that means journalists call you first.
Get in touch at commswork.com.au.