# The pre-interview

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The pre-interview," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-pre-interview/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The booking practice John Kiriakou says all the American television networks use and which he finds maddening: an invitation to appear, a quick pre-interview to establish what he thinks, and then a call a minute later saying they have decided to go a different way on the story.*

- **Practised by:** All the networks, in Kiriakou's account
- **Step one:** An invitation to appear that evening
- **Step two:** A quick pre-interview asking his opinion
- **Step three:** A call back a minute later
- **Stated reason:** "We decided to go a different way on this story"
- **Frequency:** Kiriakou says it happens to him a lot

**The pre-interview** is John Kiriakou's name for a television booking practice he says all the American networks follow.

## The sequence

By Kiriakou's account, a producer asks whether he can come on that evening and talk about a given subject. He always says yes. The producer then says they just need to do a quick pre-interview, and asks his opinion on the question. He gives it. The producer says they will call right back — and does, a minute later, to say that they have decided to go a different way on the story and will not need him that evening. [1]

Kiriakou says this happens to him a lot; his interviewers said the same had happened to them. [1]

## The related complaint

The practice sits alongside two others Kiriakou has described in the same conversation. The first is the set of suggested responses he says Fox producers once emailed him before an appearance. [2] The second is the promised subject that turns out not to be the subject: his fellow guests described being booked to discuss one cartoonist's controversial work and then being confronted on air with their own. [3]

Kiriakou's own instance of the same manoeuvre ended with him walking out of an NPR studio five minutes into a half-hour booking. [4]

## See also

- [Suggested responses](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/suggested-responses)
- [The Npr Walkout](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-npr-walkout)
- [The Convicted Felon Introduction](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-convicted-felon-introduction)

## Sources

1. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 22:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1349s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/
2. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 21:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1319s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/
3. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 27:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1666s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/
4. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 29:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1791s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-pre-interview/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt