I received a work phone call this afternoon, i’m the on-call press officer this weekend. It was a broadcast journalist who was calling with a few questions and then said he was putting me live air to answer his questions live on air as a company spokesperson via phone. I then had a complete panic attack while the phone line was live on air. He had rang me through the out of hours weekend press line, with an enquiry that I was not aware of and had no time to look into and then after answering one of his questions he said he was putting me live on air then just went and did it, absolutely no time to look into his enquiry or anything. I’ve never experienced anything like it in 19 years in PR. The panic attack was while the phone line was live on air. I informed my boss straight away after, he’s since listened to the ‘interview’ (if you can even call it an interview as the journalist just thrust me straight on air with no warning or time to look into his enquiry) and has called it a “car crash of an interview” (for a few reasons but also because I had a panic attack). I’m pretty sure the approach that the journalist took is a breach of OFCOM rules but I will check that with our legal team tomorrow. My manager is talking about potentially suspending me for bringing the company into disrepute (by having a panic attack!)! Aibu to think they can’t suspend me for this (having the panic attack)? I’ve never experienced anything like it in all my years in PR and communications.