26 December 2009 - soundbite age

How do you answer a reporter in the soundbite age? Here are the stages of learning.

Stage 1. Keep it short: “Once upon a time, the end.”

Stage 2. Keep it memorable with a colorful juxtaposition: “It was like a kaleidoscope rising from its ashes.”

Stage 3. (Experts only.) Keep to the point: “On advice of counsel, what I tell you three times is true.”