Getting to the bottom line

My years as an interviewer on TV have afforded me the life-changing opportunity to listen to stories of people with diverse persuasions, beliefs and sensibilities. But always, as the inquisitor, at the end of every verbal waltz, I ask myself, ‘Did I get to the bottom line?’

This is the reason why I am thrilled about my upcoming show on ABS-CBN titled The Bottomline — a show that I feel I have been preparing for all my life.

The Bottomline will have me interview those I can’t guest on my showbiz-oriented shows The Buzz and SNN. These are public figures who are not movie stars such as politicians, philosophers, spiritual leaders, etc.

The weeks leading to the premiere of The Bottomline on Nov. 28, has had me watching the new and old works of the masters. By this, I mean the likes of Barbara Walters, Larry King, Oprah Winfrey, Christiane Amanpour, Diane Sawyer, Wolf Blitzer, among others. I usually do this when I feel I am stagnating as an interviewer. I intently watch how they phrase questions, how they listen, how they judiciously interrupt unstoppable guests, how they deliciously relish verbal calisthenics. They are superb teachers.

To be an effective interviewer is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work. You need to know when to needle guests gently when you feel you are not getting anything. You need to phrase and deliver your questions in a way that would encourage raw, honest answers. And you have to be quick and sensitive enough to recognize the strengths and limitations of your guest so you know how and where to propel the talk. It’s a complicated dance.

When I do my interviews, I have no agenda, but I crave to go to the bottom of things. Yes, I do my research and I have a set of questions. What I actually have is a game plan which is always open and flexible. It is a plan that is cognizant of the fact that you are talking to someone who is verbose or the quiet type so it’s up to you — not them — to steer the conversation. It’s a verbal calisthenics of words and silences.

It helps that I myself know how it feels to be the interviewee.  At the recent press conference for Argentina Corned Beef which I endorse, I made sure that no matter what the questions were, I went for the bottom line.

That is, corned tuna can never taste like corned beef because beef and tuna are two different things. That Argentina Corned Beef has the real taste of corned beef because it is corned beef and not corned tuna. Short, clear and simple.

Are there questions that I avoid asking? None. It all depends on the way you ask them. Because we are bound by our mores, our intractable traditional habits, there are questions that are deemed too intrusive to ask even over dinner, let alone on national TV. Sometimes, it’s not about courage but about propriety.

Still, it’s my responsibility to manage a conversation that would arrive at bottom lines — in order to give the public relevant information that will allow them enlightened and intelligent opinions.

For them to arrive at their own truths and their own realities.

So, if you hear me asking on The Bottomline such questions as ‘Do you love your wife?’ ‘Is blahblah your other woman?’ ‘Should this country feel safer because you want to be president?’ ‘What is your most important achievement as senator? And is my life better because you are my leader? ’ Know that I just want a clear answer — the bottom line.

So help me God.

Mongol’s advocacy campaign

Tomorrow, Nov. 26, I will take part in Mongol Pencil advocacy campaign, Isang Milyong Mongol Para Sa Isang Milyong Pangarap. To be held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila Hotel, the campaign will provide underprivileged public school children with school supplies and writing tools.

Mongol Pencil originally developed by Eberhard Faber Company, a US company in the early 1800s, is one of the world’s most recognizable brands. It is exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Star Paper Corp. In the Philippines, Mongol has become synonymous to pencil. 

Through the campaign Isang Milyong Mongol Para Sa Isang Milyong Pangarap, Star Paper endeavors to promote literacy and encourage underprivileged students to express themselves through writing and art, to communicate that the pencil is an important tool for capturing life and imagining the future and to promote values such as patriotism, love of family, industriousness, self-actualization and determination.

Aside from me, other celebrity advocacy ambassadors for Mongol Pencil are actor, entrepreneur and founder of the K.I.D.S. Foundation Diether Ocampo; National Bookstore’s Socorro Ramos; philanthropist and columnist Tessa Prieto-Valdes; eventologist, entrepreneur and columnist Tim Yap; fashion designer JC Buendia; model and VJ Joey Mead; and celebrity photographer Raymund Isaac.