You are in the middle of an interview. You feel slightly nervous. Then it happens. You make a mistake. You just told the reporter something that is flat-out not true. You weren't lying. You didn't mean to mislead; it just sort of came out. It's not like you claimed to have made a billion dollars last quarter when you really lost one million. Nothing so egregious.
It's just that you made a slip of the tongue and you gave out some erroneous information. And now you can't help but think about it.for the rest of the interview.
You are faced with two choices:
Option A: Ignore the issue and hope it will go away. Occasionally this works, but here are the problems with this approach. 1. Your confidence may now be shattered for the rest of the interview because you are worried the reporter will expose you as a fraud. 2. The reporter finds out you gave bad information and brands you a liar. 3. The reporter prints your misinformation in the paper or broadcasts it on TV or radio. Then, other people call the reporter to explain why you were misinformed. Now you have embarrassed the reporter and made an enemy for life.
Or
Option B: Simply correct yourself the second you realize you made a mistake. Don't apologize. Don't act embarrassed. Simply say something like "Please let me clarify a point I made earlier. Actually." Then state the facts you wish you'd stated in the first place on that subject. Now, you can relax during the rest of the interview. The reporter may even find you as a more credible source since you are willing to admit fallibility. Plus neither you nor the reporter will have to worry about protests from readers, viewers, or listeners later calling to dispute misinformation.
In the short term, Option B is a lot more embarrassing than Option A. In the long term, no one will ever remember you taking option B. Everyone will remember if you took option A.
(Hint, go for option B)
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