We've talked before about the use of interactive media and blogging to get one's point across if, during a media interview, it is taken out of context.

• There was GM using its blog to answer a New York Times column back in June.

• Back in January we talked about Mark Cuban posting on his blog an e-mail interview trail with a New York Times reporter for all to see.

Now, Steve Rubel, on his Micro Persuasion blog, has been thinking about the future of interviews. He suggests that perhaps they might be done entirely via blog posts and RSS distribution. An excerpt from his provocative post:

So many of the good quotes, anecdotes and news nuggets never see the light of day because they're left on the cutting room floor. Given that a lot of reporters have blogs, I am wondering if we can begin to open this entire process up.

For instance, what if reporters posted their questions out in the 'sphere and allowed prospective sources to respond either in comments or by linking to/trackbacking the post. This would give the reporter potentially infinite sound bites and anecdotes to choose from. Even better, they could let us vote for the best quotes as they come in. Some journalists are already using their blogs to find interview sources, but no one I am aware of is taking it to this next step.

Rubel goes on to suggest a Technorati tag might, perhaps, be used specifically for answers to reporter's questions. He admits that such ideas may not be practical for the real world today, but they definitely provide food for thought.

Back in January when I looked at the Cuban post, I expressed the opinion that communicators ought to be careful putting interviews in writing. Otherwise, they risk being quoted -- or misquoted -- should their conversations be uploaded to the Web.

Yet, if communicators are all armed with blogs -- as GM was in my June post -- the shoe is on the other foot.

Suddenly, communicators are no longer solely at the mercy of news organizations to place their comments in the right context. This makes for a very interesting dialogue with some exciting opportunities for communicators.

I still think, however, that it's critical for communicators to think very hard before they respond to the media via the Internet. Why? Once it's out there, it's public forever.