Why you should never lie in media interviews

Communication pros should take note: No matter how good of a liar you think someone might be, their eventual fall can ruin more than the immediate truth ever could. 

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Lincoln knew plenty of successful people that also assumed success extended into being a good liar. A lawyer and interrogator before he became president, Lincoln also knew they were wrong.

When trouble knocks on the door of the powerful or successful, the media won’t be far behind asking tricky questions. In these circumstances, there is a huge temptation to lie in order to make the questions go away.

But we only have to look at what was perhaps the biggest scandal in sports history to see that media stories don’t get written simply about bad things, they get written when people lie about bad things.

Lance Armstrong, seven-times Tour de France champion and the most successful cyclist in history, was stripped of his titles and banned from competing when it he was found to be in the centre of a doping ring that fuelled the U.S. Postal cycling team in victory after victory.

For years, journalists suspected Armstrong was cheating, and he often went on the record to vehemently protest his innocence. The cyclist repeatedly stated that not only had he never cheated in the Tour de France, but he’d also never taken performance-enhancing drugs in his entire life.

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