media training - how to control your media interviews
TRANSCRIPT
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
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
©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
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
2 Interview Preparation
Prepare your key messages
Management Communication Trainingwww.communcatingeu.com
www.communicatingeu.com
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.”
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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
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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
Management Communication Trainingwww.communcatingeu.com
Management Communication Training
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
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)
Management Communication Training
Media interview tactics
”You said Britain was out of the danger zone. We’re not are we?”
Management Communication Training
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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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….
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
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
http://communicatingeu.com/
www.linkedin.com/A Manasseh
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www.communicatingeu.com
Management Communication Trainingwww.communicatingeu.com