You are not required to talk to a reporter, but silence is not neutral either — whatever you do not say, someone else will say for you. The usual answer is to decline the live interview and give a short written statement instead, on your timeline, published on your own channels at the same time. Get the questions and the deadline in writing first, name one spokesman, and check your reporting duties and your insurer before anyone speaks.
What is actually happening
A reporter has called with a deadline and a framing already chosen, and he is asking your people to improvise answers on ground they have never worked before. The deadline is the pressure; the story is going out either way, and a rushed quote from a frightened volunteer is worth more to the piece than a careful statement from the pastor. What is being fished for is one loose sentence that can be lifted out of context, or a flat "no comment" that reads as an admission. Both outcomes are usable. A written statement is not.
The deadline squeeze · Rule 3. Rule 3 is to fight on ground the other side does not know. Reporters live in deadlines, on-the-record conventions, and framing; most church leaders do not, and an unprepared answer given in five minutes will be quoted for years. The counter is Preparation and Width: "I will send you a written statement before your deadline" beats anything you invent on the phone.
What Scripture says
“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” Proverbs 18:13
What the book says · Chapter 21, The Mountain of Media: Influencing Communications, News, and Information Systems
“Proverbs 18:17 supplies the mandate: "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him." If the other never comes forward, because the Christian voice has been algorithmically buried or has silenced itself, then the first case stands as undisputed truth. Christians engage media not to seek fame but to break the monopoly of the lie.”
From Rules for Radical Christians, quoted exactly.
What the law generally says
In the United States a church is a private religious organization and generally has no legal duty to answer questions from the press. Many states, however, impose mandatory reporting duties on clergy, staff, and volunteers when child abuse or neglect is suspected, and those duties run to the authorities and are not satisfied by a press statement or an internal inquiry. Statements made about people by name can carry defamation exposure, and in many states a public statement made while an investigation or claim is pending can later be used in litigation, which is why liability policies often require prompt notice to the insurer and may limit who may speak. Recordings and interviews are also treated differently from state to state, and consent rules for recording a call vary. The specifics turn on your state, and that is what Ask looks up.
The words to use
"We will send you a written statement before your deadline. Before we do, please email me the specific claim you are asking us to respond to, your deadline, and who else you have spoken with — we are not going to guess at a question we have not seen. We will not discuss any matter that is under review by the authorities, and we are not going to soften what we teach; we will say plainly what we believe and what we have done."
Your move
- Get the request in writing. Ask the reporter to email his questions, his deadline, and the outlet, and do not answer substantive questions on that first call.
- Name one spokesman in writing today, and tell staff, volunteers, and elders to route every press contact to him without comment. One voice, or you will have twelve.
- Before any statement goes out, confirm your reporting duties on anything involving a minor or a crime, notify your liability insurer, and have counsel in your state read the draft.
- Write a short statement — a few sentences, no adjectives, no speculation, no names of individuals — and publish it to your own congregation and your own channels at the same time you send it to the reporter.
- Keep speaking after the story runs. Teach your people plainly from the pulpit and in writing, and stand publicly with anyone the coverage has singled out.
- Document every contact: who called, when, what was asked, what was sent. Keep the emails and the final draft you approved.
- Ask for the questions in advance and for a written statement to be quoted in full or not at all. Ask whether the call is being recorded.
- Do not say "no comment," do not go on camera unprepared, do not let a volunteer talk in the parking lot, and do not claim more certainty than you actually have.
Your situation, your state
This page is the general answer. Describe what is actually happening to you and Ask returns the answer for your situation and your state, with the law looked up and the exact words to use. Your first ask is free.
Ask about your situationNot legal advice. When it stops being a conversation, a lawyer licensed in your state is the next call.