Reframing—the secret to answering dangerous questions

Wikipedia defines framing as the "process of selective influence over the individual's perception of the meanings attributed to words or phrases...in such a way as to encourage certain interpretations and to discourage others."

During a political debate, a reporter asked Hillary Clinton if she were president "how would you control your husband?" The frame implied "your husband is out of control, and you can't control him."

If Hillary had replied "I can control my husband," then she would had fallen into the trap of accepting the reporter's "control" frame. Instead, her response never mentioned the word "control." She reframed the dialog by emphasizing how she makes her own decisions.

Media consultants train public speakers to answer a negatively framed question with a positively reframed reply. Example:

Question: "Why do customers hate your company?"
Wrong reply: "Customers don't hate our company, they love us!"
Right reply: "Our last survey showed customer satisfaction up 12%. We receive positive feedback almost every week."

A positively reframed reply also protects you from being taken out of context by the media. If you used the wrong reply from above, the newspaper headline might read "XYZ Company Says Customers Don't Hate Them."