During interviews, people often didn’t answer my questions directly. Some people tried to engage in “bridging.” The technique refers to when a reporter asks a question and someone tries to redirect the conversation to a key talking point without actually answering the question.
As a reporter, I didn’t like bridging. I considered bridging someone’s attempt to trick me into not giving a real answer to my question. I often repeated the question over and over until the interview turned awkward. Sometimes I simply said, “You’re not answering the question.” I saw nothing wrong with someone instead preparing ahead of time for my hard questions and speaking honestly, even if speaking honestly meant explaining why you couldn’t answer a question. Now I’m a media trainer. People want me to teach them bridging.
Someone Tweeted politicians are excellent at bridging. They often end with a beautifully crafted answer that has little connection to the question. But I replied to the Tweet, “If politicians bridge well during debates, why do many people appear to complain politicians are full of BS during debates?”
I wore makeup as a TV reporter and someone once advised me makeup is best when others can’t tell you’re wearing it. Does bridging really work if reporters, viewers, readers and listeners all realize you’re full of it and avoiding the question?
I’m confident bridging rarely worked on me. My ego prevented me from letting someone get away with it. But I bet bridging often works for several reasons. Some reporters are lazy and won’t strike back with a follow-up question. Some reporters don’t care and prefer to eat lunch than continue the interview. Some reporters, believe it or not, don’t like face-to-face confrontations and prefer to avoid awkward and contentious interviews. In each of these examples, reporters often include the person’s key message in their story. Playing bridge worked.
Some viewers, readers and listeners let themselves be bridged. Imagine the viewer in love with a political candidate. A reporter asks a tough question and the candidate bridges to a well-crafted, unrelated answer. The viewer is a big supporter of the candidate and will sooner criticize the media for an unfair question than admit the candidate danced around the issue.
So to make a long story short, bridging works because people let it work. Yes, some bridgers are smoother and slicker than others. But the real success of bridging lies with the listener.
Consider the Jedi mind trick in Star Wars. Jedis could control some people’s minds. But when Luke tried to apply his Jedi mind trick on Jabba the Hutt, Jabba laughed at the attempt. Jabba is not an attractive creature, but I relate to him on this issue. I laughed inside at people who tried to use bridging as a Jedi mind trick on me. But Luke and his mentor Obi-Wan continued using the force because most of the time it worked, especially on storm troopers.
Honestly, I wanted to write about Star Wars all along. So if your question was about media training, I bridged to what I really want to talk about. The real question is will you let me get away with it?