A few months ago, Wired Magazine contacted author Brandon Sanderson to ask if they could do a major piece about him. Sanderson agreed. He took the journalist out for dinner and answered his questions. He even let the journalist stay at his house, meet his family, and talk with his kids.  The whole time, the journalist was friendly and constantly asked questions.  If you know anything about journalists, you know how this story ends. When the article came out last week, it was one of the most mean-spirited hit pieces I have ever read.  The journalist seemed frustrated that Sanderson had no skeletons in his closet. Brandon Sanderson is happily married. He loves to write and talk about writing. His readers love him and his books. He makes millions of dollars writing eight hours per day every day. How boring!  The journalist, frustrated that Sanderson didn’t say anything incriminating, attacked Sanderson’s writing, family, appearance, religion, fans, city, and even his taste in food! The article dripped with condescension and envy. Sanderson’s fans were described as “smelly man boys.” Sanderson’s children were described as having “bad taste.” The Wired journalist talks about Sanderson’s wife, Emily, multiple times but refuses to name her, calling her “the wife” at one point.  If I could summarize the article in one sentence, it would be this: “How dare this nerd write nerdy books for fellow nerds! Doesn’t he have taste?” Imagine how blindsided Brandon Sanderson must have felt to read that article after showing the journalist such kindness. Imagine how it would feel to see your children publicly ridiculed simply because they’re your children. All the while, you haven’t done or said anything wrong or stupid. Interacting with the media is tricky.  Authors want publicity for their books. They want help spreading the word. They long to see their books on TV, in magazines, and on websites. But most reporters don’t care about authors or books. They care about attention. Journalists get paid for clicks and page views, and if they can get more attention by attacking you, they will. * How do you handle a hostile media interview?  * How do you avoid giving the media something to use against you?  * How do you get the media to share your message rather than twisting it?  Media Experience My first media interview occurred when I was in high school. I had purchased 50 tickets for the opening night of the Lord of the Rings movie, and I re-sold them to my high school friends. We all showed up to the theater in costumes, and when one of the local TV stations heard, they wanted to interview me for the nightly news. Since then, I’ve either been interviewed or had my photo published in the San Antonio Express-News, Texas Tribune, Austin American-Statesman, and World News, among others. My photo was once on the front page of the Houston Chronicle, and our local NBC affiliate once sent a news crew to my office for an interview. Later, they interviewed me at my house. I also gave many radio and podcast interviews when my book came out.  I would estimate that perhaps half of the media coverage was published by reporters who disagreed with me. Some of them were hostile.