Media Training - how to control your media interviews

Media TrainingMedia interview skills for spokespeople

www.communicatingeu.com

Management Communication Trainingwww.communicatingeu.com

Course outline

• What makes a news story• What journalists are looking forMedia relations

• How to prepare key messages• Talking points, proof, story telling

Interview preparation

• How to maintain control• Managing difficult or crisis interviewsMedia interview

tactics

• Interview scenarios• Print, and down-the-line Skype• Feedback and coaching

Interview practice and coaching

2

1. How the media works

And why it matters

Management Communication Trainingwww.communcatingeu.com

Why invest in media relations?

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

There’s always an exception

©Management Communication Training 2013

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

What makes news?

Hard news Soft news – celebrity

Different types of news

Hard news• Novelty and change• Controversy • Conflict• Challenge• Crisis• Concern• Problems • Solutions• Money• Business

Soft news• People• Emotion• Fun• Lifestyle• Celebrities• Children• Humour• Romance• Visual stories• Trends and themes

Management Communication Training

The hook – it’s news if it’s already in the news

2 Interview Preparation

Prepare your key messages



You have to move your audience to a new place

Message

What do they think now?

What do they care about?What do you want

them to think?

Messages

Effective communications revolve around two or three

key messages

“A piece of information that you want your audience to know and act upon.”

The message house


Messages need proof

Hard proof• Statistics• Trends• Graphs• Charts• Percentages• Voter turnout

Soft proof

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

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


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?

Create messages Issue:

Stakeholder audience

Think / do now Should think / do

Basic message Proof

transport industry

Policy makers

Environment groups

3. Media interview tactics

A massive opportunity to convey key messages



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


Control and bridge

The ABC (and D) of media interviews

1. Acknowledge the question2. Bridge to your key messages3. Conclude your messages with proof points

andDangle the next case (if you are feeling lucky)


Media interview tactics

”You said Britain was out of the danger zone. We’re not are we?”


Deliver key messages


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……


Zooming out and zooming in

Of course we still have problems but…

But the situation is worse in other countries….

We are doing very well considering the mess everyone else has created….

Preparing for interviews

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

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-the-

line• Remember to smile, unless it is a crisis

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

Managing difficult interviews

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

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


For more information about our training courses

[email protected]

http://communicatingeu.com/

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