The aim of this media training is to provide participants with the knowledge and practice of media interviews and other work with journalists. These materials come from our 1-day media training workshops that we organise in Brussels and across Europe. The content includes: How to ensure understanding of how the media works particularly in Brussels How to build the ability of managers and spokespeople to communicate confidently when communicating with the media How to prepare for all types of media interview (policy related, issues or crisis related) Communicate messages effectively Make the best impression and feel comfortable in front of journalists Deal with contentious, sensitive issues and keep interviews focused Manage difficult questions under pressure

1. Media Training
Media interview skills for spokespeople
www.communicatingeu.com
Management Communication Training
www.communicatingeu.com

2. Course outline
Media relations
Interview
preparation
Media interview
tactics
Interview practice
and coaching
1
• What makes a news story
• What journalists are looking for
• How to prepare key messages
• Talking points, proof, story telling
• How to maintain control
• Managing difficult or crisis interviews
• Interview scenarios
• Print, and down-the-line Skype
• Feedback and coaching

3. 1. How the media works
And why it matters
Management Communication Training
www.communcatingeu.com

4. Why invest in media relations?

5. What makes news?
"When a dog bites a man, that is not news,
because it happens so often.
But if a man bites a dog, that is news.“
Alfred Harmsworth (founder of the Daily Mail)
1865-1922

6. There’s always an exception

7. Is it news?
• Why are people interested ?
• How can you make them care?
• How does news impact on your target
audiences?
• Take information about your organisation and
tell it in a creative way that makes people care
©Management Communication Training
2013

8. What makes news?
Hard news
Soft news – celebrity

9. Different types of news
Hard news
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Novelty and change
Controversy
Conflict
Challenge
Crisis
Concern
Problems
Solutions
Money
Business
Soft news
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People
Emotion
Fun
Lifestyle
Celebrities
Children
Humour
Romance
Visual stories
Trends and themes

10. The hook – it’s news if it’s already in
the news
Management Communication Training

11. 2 Interview Preparation
Prepare your key messages
Management Communication Training
www.communcatingeu.com

12. You have to move your audience to a new place
What do
they care
about?
What do
they think
now?
What do you
want them
to think?
Message
www.communicatingeu.com

13. Messages
“A piece of information that you want
your audience to know and act upon.”
Effective communications
revolve around two or three
key messages

14. The message house

15. Messages need proof
Hard proof
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Soft proof
Statistics
Trends
Graphs
Charts
Percentages
Voter turnout
www.communicatingeu.com

16. Messages are simple
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Clear, concise language that we can understand
We need examples that we care about
We need two or three supporting statements
The foundation is proof – hard or soft

17. You have to prove it
Hard proof
• Statistics
• Trends
• Graphs
• Charts
• Percentages
• Voter turnout
Soft proof
• Human stories
• Personal angle
• People, families, voters
• Success stories
• Tragedies

18. Messages – the message house
Four questions
1. What’s the big picture?
2. What two or three supporting statements do
you have?
3. What is your proof?
4. What do you want them to do?
www.communicatingeu.com

19. Create messages
Issue:
Stakeholder
audience
transport
industry
Policy makers
Environment
groups
Think / do now Should think /
do
Basic message
Proof

20. 3. Media interview tactics
A massive opportunity to convey key
messages
Management Communication Training
www.communcatingeu.com

21. Take control
• The journalist is not your friend (and not your enemy either)
• It is not just a Q&A session – prepare key messages that you
want to get across
• Check your proof points ( your data!)
• Practise, rehearse, check with others
Management Communication Training

22. Control and bridge
Management Communication Training

23. The ABC (and D) of media interviews
1. Acknowledge the question
2. Bridge to your key messages
3. Conclude your messages with proof points
and
Dangle the next case (if you are feeling lucky)

24. Media interview tactics
”You said
Britain was out
of the danger
zone. We’re
not are we?”
Management Communication Training

25. Deliver key messages
Key message 1 We have low interest rates
We don’t face the kind of financial pressures that many
European countries face
We have very low interest rates which are enjoyed by families
and their mortgage loans and business and their business loans
Key message 2 We cannot abandon our plan
And a increase in interest rates, which you have seen in other
countries, would come about if we abandoned our deficit plan
If we lost the confidence of the market, we could plunge back
into the danger zone
Key message 3 We are not in crisis
So, yes of course, there are real economic problems out there
I don’t think we are in the kind of financial crisis that you see in
many other European countries
Management Communication Training

26. Bridging phrases
• That has been a problem in the past, but that
is why we have put in place measures to….
• It is a valid question, but what your readers
are more interested in is…..
• I don’t have the precise details on that, but
what I can say is……
Management Communication Training

27. Zooming out and zooming in
But the
situation is
worse in
other
Of course we countries….
still have
problems
but…
Management Communication Training
We are
doing very
well
considering
the mess
everyone
else has
created….

28. Preparing for interviews

29. Control the interview
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Avoid EU or industry jargon (unless it is a trade magazine)
Avoid “yes” or “no” answers
Never say “no comment”
Don’t rush
Know your facts and figures well
Don’t talk in lists

30. It is a bit of a game
• Rehearse your subject and key messages. Check
your facts
• Don’t repeat negatives (no, we are not fascists)
• Don’t fill a silence (it is the journalist’s problem)
• Maintain eye contact on broadcast and down-theline
• Remember to smile, unless it is a crisis

31. Face-to-face TV
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Live or recorded?
Your first question
Establish eye contact
Avoid nodding at questions
Don’t fill a silence
Stay still at the end
Don’t make unguarded comments

33. The journalist’s approach
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Aggression is a way of getting viewers
Walking away from an interview equals guilt
Remember it’s not personal
Journalists love figures – will press you on numbers
They want you to say more than you were prepared to

34. Conclusion
1. Know your key messages
2. Know your audience – focus on the benefits to them
3. Stay in control and see this an a chance to convey messages
4. Know your proof points and use examples people relate to

35. Management Communication Training
www.communicatingeu.com

36. For more information about our training courses
info@communicatingeu.com
http://communicatingeu.com/
www.linkedin.com/A Manasseh
twitter.com/andimanas
www.communicatingeu.com
Management Communication Training
www.communicatingeu.com