I asked the man to take his branded T-shirt off; he'd clearly not been media trained!

When I media train spokespeople for TV and radio I think the goal has got to be finding the sweet spot which will keep both the journalist AND the Communications Director happy. As a former broadcast reporter myself (ex BBC, ITN, Sky News), I would generally have a pretty clear idea, before the camera was even turned on, about what I wanted the spokesperson to say. It’s obviously in a journalist’s interest to extract good, engaging content from an interviewee, so I’d coach and cajole my guest until they gave me what I wanted.  

But if an interviewee wasn’t up to the mark, couldn’t string a sentence together or just over-branded I was prepared to scrap an interview too.  Just because a broadcaster has thrown resources at an interview that isn’t a guarantee it will make it on air.  

It’s a long time ago, but I still remember doing an interview for ITN, where I worked at one point as the Business and Economics Producer. The story involved an insurance company and a hot air balloon in front of which we placed the spokesperson.  The balloon was branded, so that should have been enough in terms of PR, but the spokesperson was also wearing a branded hat and T-shirt. Knowing it wouldn’t be allowed on air I told the man he had to change his clothing before the interview could begin. 

So that’s half the media training lesson, keeping the journalist happy.  The other half is keeping the Communications Director/Marketing Manager/Big Boss or whoever smiling, by ensuring the communication of key messages and branding.  It’s a fine line and a tricky balance to find – hence the need, in these days when competition for air-time is so intense, of good media training.  

On 7th September Shout! Communications is offering a free Media Training Taster session.   We’re opening our doors all day and you can book a free, one hour slot to sample our broadcast media training service.  

You’ll get a little bit of theory and then anyone who wants to can take the opportunity of doing an interview on camera, followed by feedback from one of our trainers.  We’ll ask you beforehand to send us a press release or story that you’re comfortable with, and base the questions on that. 

So it’s a try before you buy, but it’s also a bit of free training, useful for anyone in a role where they have to brief spokespeople ahead of a radio or TV interview.  We don’t mind if that’s your motivation for coming!  

If you’d like to book a place email my colleague [email protected] and he’ll reserve you a place.   Hope to see you there! 

BTW the man in the photo is not the man I interviewed! Just my husband on holiday!!