The Bump

Alex Greenwood
3 min readDec 29, 2020

I was once asked by a local news anchor (who I regularly “talked to” over Twitter and Facebook) to do an on-camera interview about social media usage. She connected me with the field reporter working the story. He called, did a pre-interview, then asked if he could come by my office for an on-camera interview.

Absolutely!

I’ve done many TV, radio, newspaper, and media interviews over my career as a spokesperson, subject matter “expert,” and author. I view any opportunity to do a media interview–especially TV–as an opportunity not only to “get my name out there,” but also as a way to sharpen my on-camera skills. Trust me–you can do hundreds of these and still get rusty very easily.

So, the reporter set a time–I had about 45 minutes before he and his photographer were to arrive. I cleared my calendar and–most importantly–cleaned my office. (Yes, it was messy on the heels of working as a conference host followed by a week of travel). I slipped a jacket on, combed my hair, and went over the topic in my head a few times. Then I waited.

And waited.

The reporter didn’t show up.

Before I even turned on the TV and saw him at the scene of “Breaking News,” I knew what had happened: I had been bumped.

No, not this kind of bump. Photo by fauxels from Pexels

Ah, the bump.

As in: “Your interview is important, but it’s been bumped by something more newsworthy.” The reporter called, explained he had been pulled away to a crime story, and apologized for not being able to make it. I said “No worries. It happens. No biggie.”

That’s what you should do, too, if it happens to you.

My first bump was back in my years as a PR associate at a hospital. I had worked for weeks to get a TV reporter to interview one of our doctors. Tough sledding, scheduling an M.D. and a TV reporter! But I did it. Then, mere moments before the interview was scheduled to start, I received word that a car fire on the interstate had pulled the reporter away. The doctor was not pleased, but hey, I understood–I was a reporter once, myself. Especially with TV, you have to go with what’s more visually interesting and urgent. Sure, I was disappointed, and getting the withering glare from one of the nation’s preeminent heart surgeons was no fun, but that’s part of the business.

Alex Greenwood

PR Consultant, Speaker, Podcast Producer/Host, Editor, and Award-Winning Writer of the John Pilate Mystery Series. Accomplished belly laugher.