I am being interviewed by a local TV station

[Scubabatdan]

Hey everyone,
On Thursday the 20th I will, at the request of the local business owners selling ecigs in my area be interviewed by a local TV station. I do not know the questions they will ask. I have been smoke free for 60 days now. I smoked for 18 years a pack and a half a day and quit in one day using an ecig. No doubt I will have my ecig and epipe with me (security blankets) hehe. Any advise for how I should handle myself?
I find truth the best bet, and I will go in armed with all the information I have learned in the last 60 days from here.
Should I get the list of question up front so there are no suprises?
Just dont want to muck anything up.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Dan

 

[Burnie]

I would say just tell the truth, how they have helped you.

Burnie

 

[TheIllustratedMan]

Yeah, just speak from your own knowledge and experience, and if you reference anything that you aren't technically qualified to discuss (like FDA report, TSNAs, what-have-you) just prelude it with "as far as i know" or "as i understand it". You'll do fine.

 

[MissVapor]

yeah, definitely tell them that there are many mad e cig users b/c of the exagerated news reports spreaded around stating e cigs aren't safe just b/c they found one cartridge out of 18 that had less than 1% of something toxic..

The news report SHOULD HAVE said "FDA finds that 99% of e cig juice tested came back fine"..not the opposite which was reported..

 

[DC2]

If you can get a list of questions you'll obviously be way ahead of the game.

But if not, anything you are concerned about or unsure about, just ask.
I'm sure we are all wanting to help you provide accurate answers.

Answering from your heart and speaking the truth is always the right thing to do.

 

[DC2]

Yeah, just speak from your own knowledge and experience, and if you reference anything that you aren't technically qualified to discuss (like FDA report, TSNAs, what-have-you) just prelude it with "as far as i know" or "as i understand it". You'll do fine.

And this is good advice...

Don't state something as a fact unless you are comfortable that it is a fact.
Giving the opposition ammunition to discredit you is a very common mistake.

Which reminds me, I still need to see if the alcohol content of light beer is actually listed.

 

[olderthandirt]

From what I've read in your posts I believe you'll do just fine Dan.

 

[RenaissancePuffer]

I think the fact that you dropped analogs the day you picked up vaping, and have been smoke free the entire time is a huge testament as to how much vaping has helped all of us. You can see how many days I've done in my sig. I too quit analogs on day 1. It was a rough couple of days detoxing from the other thousands of chemicals that I was apparently addicted to in the analogs, but now I am down to just 1 of the addictions. And my understanding is, I am consuming far less nicotine from the vapor than I was from the analog smoke.

Glad to see that you're doing this Dan, you seem to have a real joy with this new hobby. I'm sure it will go great

 

[Debbie Lee]

I am so glad you have the oppurtunity to do this. Way to go. We need more local station's to do this. Best of luck. MOJO to you , and as Cable guy says " giterdun. "

 

[Applejackson]

Please post up the video after it airs.

 

[AVITWeb]

I would tell them that they helped YOU drop analogs....Don't say anything about them being sold as smoking cessation products...
That seems to be a big sticking point in the whole legal battle.

 

[Satyr]

Truth or no truth, spin is spin. You can give the best answers in the world that really help the vaping community, but they can turn it on you or edit out your better answers. Then again, they may not do that. Your best bet is to give the shortest answers possible that get your point across. Give them less to edit and sound bite.

And above all, do not mention ASH unless they do. You don't need to give them free advertisement. But be prepared to have good, constructive answers in case they do ask. And try to stay away from negative words or points. Don't even mention the FDA report. Leave that to the interviewer.

Good luck. Make us proud!

 

[Vicks Vap-oh-Yeah]

Congrats on getting an interview.

I'd stick with what the others said...just speak from the heart. Most reporters will have a list of questions, then pick and choose which were the best to air....

 

[ProtoType]

Truth or no truth, spin is spin. You can give the best answers in the world that really help the vaping community, but they can turn it on you or edit out your better answers. Then again, they may not do that. Your best bet is to give the shortest answers possible that get your point across. Give them less to edit and sound bite.

And above all, do not mention ASH unless they do. You don't need to give them free advertisement. But be prepared to have good, constructive answers in case they do ask. And try to stay away from negative words or points. Don't even mention the FDA report. Leave that to the interviewer.

Good luck. Make us proud!

I would have to agree with this gentleman. How did you go about this? I would love to do this.

 

[Computer Extreme]

Good Luck!

Every time ive talked to the TV news or the newspaper Ive neen misquoted or editorialised to the point that my head spins. Be very wary of the news, they have their own agenda and it seems mostly to scare people into watching or reading.

Scary misreported stories sell, facts are boring.
There seems to be no money in the truth.
Be careful.

 

[Scubabatdan]

Thanks to all who have commented I have alot of good ideas, I will definantly keep my answers short so they can not be byte edited. And I think it is a good idea to keep to my own personal journey and not speculate on what the FDA is doing unless asked. And I do like the "In my opinion" and "How I understand it" are great phrase starters. As to answer a couple of questions:

@Prototype: I just guess I got lucky, I hit the ground running when the business owner started selling them here and I have been promoting and helping them sell all this time. They asked me to come since I am a "Success story"

I will not promote this as a cesassion product but as an healthyer alternative to smoking analogs. And I will leave ASH completely out of it. I will attempt to review the question list if allowed .

Thank you everyone for your support.
Dan

 

[BloodFart]

Good luck. I hope it works out well. All news clips on ecigs I have seen, portray them negatively. I hope they don't boil your whole interview down into a byte like " I've smoked them for 2 months." and then move on to some doctor talking or something. Sounds dumb, but it happens all the time.

 

[HaploVoss]

Man I am so glad you are getting an opportunity like this. I wish you the best of luck. From what I have read of your posts in these forums I am sure you will do fine. You seem to be very well spoken and you always have a constructive answer, even to some of the more beligerent questions

i really hope you do get the chance to promote your own success story because I certainly hope to be able to do some promoting at some ponit somewhere. I also quit the same day I purchased my first eCig and it has really changed my life in nothing but good ways.

Take care,
- Hap

[ Until I am able to post a sig, URLs, etc --> According to the calculator many people are using, to date I have been vaping for 678 days, saved $3,047.25, and avoided 21,700 analog ciggies as of this post!! lol ]

 

[KevinG]

Don't forget to add the "From my understanding of a PV..." or "From what my research shows is in a PV..." before the "healthier alternative". Any health claim without scientific backing will get torn apart by any news agency without a question. An opinion is just an individual users opinion of the matter.

If it's healthier what credible person says it's healthier? What scientific findings prove it? What credible witness do you have to testify to it? What clinical trials were run?

I would definitely be careful before stating any "healthier" claims as fact. While common sense and logic dictate it, you do know they'll be questioning that comment.

Example of something they would probably say: "While this user states that it is healthier, no known clinical trials or studies have ever been done." (We all know they tend to ignore the ones we give them)

If you want to state something like that, back it up with peer-reviewable scientific findings or state it as an opinion and not a fact.

Bottom line, leave the health claims to the doctors and scientists who have credibility and degrees to stand on.

Just my $0.02 worth.

I will not promote this as a cesassion product but as an healthyer alternative to smoking analogs.

 

[djmikekc]

I would mention the prominent physicians who are supporting our cause - Especially Dr. Dean Edell - his radio show from Aug 10th has a great soundbyte that they might pull and use.

Perhaps also mention that analogs will kill over 400,000 Americans this year and there has been no evidence presented that any harm has come to anyone from using personal vaporizers.

Good luck!