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
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Media Training - how to control your media interviews
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
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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
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
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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
16. Messages are simple
•
•
•
•
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?
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20. 3. Media interview tactics
A massive opportunity to convey key
messages
Management Communication Training
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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
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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?”
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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
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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……
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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….
29. Control the interview
•
•
•
•
•
•
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
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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
32.
33. The journalist’s approach
•
•
•
•
•
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
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
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Notas do Editor
Now that we have decided what the communications landscape looks like, who we must communicate with, and what we want to achieve, we must decide what to say. Messages sit at the heart of strategic communications. They ensure consistency and impact. We must choose messages that make our point in a way that stakeholders find convincing, appealing, and relevant to their lives and interests.Here is a useful message development tool – the message/audience matrix