How do you establish ground rules with reporters before interviews? I'm not a huge fan of trying to write out ground rules and establish ground rules with reporters most the time because I simply don't find it effective. It doesn't ultimately help me get the bottom line, which is the exact message in the quotes I want in the story. Now, sometimes people want to have elaborate ground rules. This happens with Hollywood celebrities, sometimes, where they want to tell the reporter you can't talk about any of these subjects. Well, of course, that's what the reporter now wants to talk about more than anything, anytime.

It's human nature. You tell somebody, they can't have something or they can't talk about something. They're going to want to talk about it more. I have a general rule with reporters that works pretty well. And that is, I don't tell them what questions to ask. They don't get to tell me what answers to give and it works out really well.

So be very light with the rules. As you give with reporters because when you tell them they can't talk about this, or this is off limits, all of a sudden it starts to feel almost like you're a crop, corrupt authoritarian, political leader in some third world dictatorship. And reporters don't like that they bristle against it. That's also the problem saying we only have 10 minutes. All of these attempts to control reporters, make them want to break out makes them feel like you're trying to hide something. The best control of all, is controlling what comes out of your own mouth, great messages, great sound bites, and exuding the sense that you're treating the reporter like appear.

You're being respectful to the reporter. You want to give the reporter the most factually interesting, relevant, great information for his or her readers, viewers, listeners. That's really the way to control the outcome. Not by putting up all sorts of structures of don't ask this interview has to end at 10 minutes must sit here. Those ground rules simply are unproductive most of the time.