One point we make during every media training course is that interviewees should never say “no comment” in response to a question as it either makes you sound guilty or that you agree with the point put to you. And every delegate always ask what they can say instead – the alternatives to no comment.
Here is a selection of alternative phrases, gathered with the help of the Rough House team:
- “That’s not for me to answer/say”
- “You can understand why I can’t talk about that/go into details”
- “That’s not something I can discuss at the moment”
- “I can’t speak to that right now – what I can say is ….”
- “We’re still gathering the facts.”
- “I’m not the right person to answer that, but I can connect you with someone who is.”
- “It’s too early to share that information.”
- “We’ll have more to say once the process is complete.”
- “I want to be sure I have the most accurate information before responding.”
- “That’s outside the scope of what I can address today.”
- “We’re focusing on confirmed details at this time.”
- “I’ll make sure we get you that information as soon as it’s available.”
- “It’s not our policy to talk about individual cases. In general …”
- “This is a complicated issue …”
- “I do understand why people want to know this, however …”
- “We’ll be able to give more information once the investigation is complete.”
Almost all of these phrases act as a “bridging statement”, which enables you to move your answer onto safer ground, giving your key message.
It’s important not to ignore the question posed, as if you do the journalist may simply ask you again, which emphasises the fact you are refusing to answer it.
If you can say something about the issue under discussion, then do so. That might mean talking about processes and procedures of your organisation, saying something like: “I can confirm we are working closely with the authorities to resolve this issue” or “in these circumstances we always launch an internal investigation …”
During our media training courses, we always practise how to deal with unexpected, challenging or “ambush” questions. If you’d like more information about them, please do contact us.
Ann Wright is a communications and media training specialist at Rough House Media, helping organisations and professionals communicate with confidence, clarity and impact. She writes about media training, communications, PR and effective messaging. Ann is a crisis media training expert.
