Dealing with the media can be challenging, even for the most experienced professionals, and high quality training is key to success. The pitfalls are clear - you'll need more than a clove of garlic to protect you from the media vampires.
Managing the media in the 2020s presents a whole new vista of potential horrors. Get it wrong and it’s now more likely than ever that you will get bitten.
The Living Dead
In days gone by when a senior individual in an organisation was asked to comment, offer a quotation or give an interview, the request would come from a long-established institution. A local or national newspaper, an august trade journal, a well-known radio or television station.
These were known quantities and all parties were aware of – and for the most part followed – the rules of engagement.
This didn’t necessarily mean an easy ride. Far from it. Who can forget some of the verbal beatings meted out by television journalists like Jeremy Paxman?
(Chloe Smith certainly won’t – watch from behind a cushion as the hapless former Treasury Secretary endures the hardest of hard times on Newsnight in 2012, following her government’s u-turn on fuel duty https://youtube.com/watch?v=or4Nq6fah1k&si=beLfkaIW6-oKDEXI)
The New Monster Generation
In more recent times however, media interviewing has become completely democratised. The person standing outside your organisation’s offices asking for a comment could still be an official journalist with a professional outside broadcast unit in tow.
But not necessarily.
Right now, that person could just as likely be an online activist, equipped only with a smartphone, an unshakeable commitment to their cause and a social media following that completely dwarfs the reach of well-known news channels.
This means that for representatives of businesses and public organisations of all sizes, a capable and convincing interview technique is becoming a near-vital skillset requirement.
Media Chainsaw Massacres
Most interview situations involve straightforward non-confrontational questioning to discuss pleasant things, for example the announcement of a new policy initiative, the opening of refurbished headquarters or the celebration of an award.
At the other end of the scale however, senior personnel can find themselves in crisis management or reputational damage-limitation scenarios, facing extremely hostile cross-examination from journalists.
However good they may be at their day jobs, some leaders and managers may be less confident when it comes to facing a microphone or camera. Unfortunately, there is only one opportunity to get a point across convincingly in a media interview, with plenty of scope for getting it wrong.
If it does go awry, a seemingly innocuous verbal slip-up can be all over the internet within a few minutes, with an as-yet-unseen tsunami of internet opprobrium gathering in the distance, ready to engulf the unprepared interviewee and their employer.
Breaking Dawn
For anyone who isn’t a natural performer, a good idea is to undertake some media interview training to learn the unique demands of different media formats, including face-to-face, radio and television.
Some basic pointers will help instantly. Knowing the techniques that will enable ‘thinking time’. Learning the secrets of getting an interviewer onside by understanding their needs. Practising delivery of the required message quickly and succinctly. Discovering the elements of a pithy sound bite, which make for an effective media interview.
Above all, the key skill is understanding the difference between ‘responding to‘ and ‘answering‘ questions. Adopting the former will ensure that control is exercised over the interview narrative, rather than passively awaiting the next verbal axe-swing.
Van Helsing is Here!
So where to obtain media interview training? Birmingham City University now offers a brilliantly interactive one-day broadcast interviewee training course, in which learners take part in mock role-play radio and television interviews at BCU’s state-of-the-art broadcast studios.
The Media Training for Businesses & Organisations short course teaches the techniques required to put a message across succinctly and appropriately, as well as providing hands-on experience of being interviewed ‘live’ both on radio and television.
Former attendees on the course report unanimously that it helped them better prepare for their next media encounter and that they now felt much more at ease and comfortable during real-life interviews than they had previously.
If you would like to find out more about this course and register an interest for the next time it runs, simply click the button below to visit the web-page.
Take a look. You’ll soon realise that with training and practice, there is little to fear from journalists going bump in the night.
