Handling the Handlers

By David Pakman (*)

After a high-profile or particularly controversial interview on my show, “Midweek Politics with David Pakman,” the most common email to me starts: “Why didn’t you ask (insert question here)?”

Depending on the tone of the email, including whether the sender has threatened never to listen to my show again or insulted me personally, I’ll respond with a simple but honest explanation.

There are countless reasons why certain questions don’t get asked during interviews. To discuss those situations, it’s necessary to introduce a common character in the world of booking guests known as the “handler,” an often-despised, much-needed individual by the production teams of interview programs. Handlers come in many types and are gatekeepers – publicists, managers, secretaries, even spouses. They’ll make the interview happen, while simultaneously acting as if mountains must be moved for their client to talk to you.

In addition to their role scheduling interviews, they will sometimes exert pressure so that certain topics are or aren’t mentioned during the interview. Some, usually those working with the highest profile individuals, try to require a pre-submitted list of questions – something I’ve never agreed to do.

The political handler will often attempt to make controversial topics off-limits, often quite directly. Don’t be confused: Handlers will attempt to make the interview as boring, and even as mind-numbing as possible, in the interests of preventing any controversy – that same controversy I constantly try to create on Midweek Politics.

The language employed by political handlers ranges from “Topic A on your list is old; I can suggest an alternative (and less interesting) topic” to “The Senator won’ address Issue B. Don’t ask about it or we won’t do another interview.”

With the celebrity/CEO/non-elected government official, the requests can be different, from insisting that a certain brand name be mentioned a certain number of times (I agree to mention a current project at the start and end of the interview), to asking that past romantic relationships not be disussed.

When these requests are made – and I insist that they are only requests – a decision must be made, weighing the possibilities. Those usually are:

* Option A: Agreeing to stay away from the topic in question, and actually staying away from it. This is the easiest, and leads to the most uninteresting interview.

* Option B: Refusing to stay away from the topic, and giving a reason why. This sometimes works.

* Option C: Agreeing to stay away from the topic in question, but then asking about it anyway during the interview. This is the riskiest option, as well as the most interesting.

The top interviewers on national programs are more likely to succeed with option B without losing the interview, and less likely to face negative repercussions for C.

As a young and relatively unknown interviewer, I need to pick my battles. In situations where offending the guest \would negatively affect the future of my show, or where there was a legitimate reason to avoid a certain topic, I’ve been conciliatory.

On the other hand, with politicians unlikely to return to my program regardless of what I ask, I’ll go with Options B or C. The same goes for guests for whom the publicity of offending them would actually be better than doing a boring interview.

Before an interview with a music producer whose works from the last 25 years most readers would recognize, I was asked to stay away from questions about their personal politics. Normally, asking about a music producer’s personal politics wouldn’t be interesting.

However, this individual was on the show for publishing an overtly political song just before an election; his politics were the single premise for the interview. Avoiding that topic would have been irresponsible and made for boring radio.

Hilariously enough, the handler’s suggested replacement question was “where would you like to see American music go in the future?” I can’t imagine a more softball, pointless question to waste on what at best would be a five-minute interview.

(*) Host of the US political talk show Midweek Politics with David Pakman, airing on 100 stations in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Africa. Find out more at www.midweekpolitics.com

August 2010, First Edition