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Earlier this week we mentioned in this media training blog how media spokespeople need to be prepared to face questions about the coronavirus even if they are talking about something completely unrelated.

We’re all using it. Zoom has provided something of a lifeline during the coronavirus crisis, not just for businesses working remotely, but families and friends as well.

When basketball star Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash along with eight other people, the reporting of the incident was rapid and often inaccurate. News organisations rushing to break big news is nothing new, but the digital age has increased that speed dramatically and that resulted, in this incident, in plenty of mistakes being made.

How’s this for an approach to a damaging story? A journalist calls you up to ‘clarify’ something you said and you deny that you had used a particular word.

“What are you doing wrong?” Perhaps not the nicest of questions, but should it need to be asked eight times before a spokesperson provides any semblance of an answer?

It was his first in-depth interview since winning the general election. So how did Boris Johnson get on when he sat down with BBC Breakfast inside Downing Street yesterday (14/1) for a live interview with Dan Walker?

Radio, print and TV interviews all have their specific requirements. But there is much more to it than those three categories, with each medium throwing up a range of different interview formats, each with its subtle nuances, which could trip up or unsettle an unsuspecting spokesperson. That’s why we offer every conceivable media interview format on our media training and crisis communication courses.

Prepare for unexpected media interview questions by understanding why they are asked and learning effective techniques to handle them confidently. Discover expert tips in our latest blog post.

We have largely stayed clear of looking at the interviews produced by our politicians during the general election campaign. But now that we have cast our votes and the campaigning has finished, we can say that it was the media training gift that just kept on giving.

Learn the essential steps for effective media interview preparation, from anticipating questions to honing key messages, with insights from expert media trainers.

We seem to say it every year, but the past 12 months has produced plenty of terrible media interviews. In 2019, this media training blog has included examples of spokespeople storming out of interviews, criticising questions, saying things which make a company crisis worse and even cameras being head-butted.

We thought we had seen it all when it comes to doorstep interviews disasters. Over the years we’ve seen hands placed over cameras, microphones pushed away, spokespeople completely ignoring the media and even one politician who kept repeating ‘I’m eating a cookie’ in response to every question.

Live v pre-recorded: What is the best interview format? Instinctively the majority of spokespeople, given the choice, would always opt for a pre-recorded interview over a live one. But does that mean spokespeople should always opt for pre-recorded interviews?

Here are eight reasons why your spokesperson is not being quoted in the media.

Can you ‘guarantee’ that what has gone wrong won’t happen again in the future.

It was always likely to be a challenging interview. The Iceland supermarket chain had already received some negative media coverage after it emerged it had removed its labelling from some of its own-brand goods rather than remove palm oil from its entire range. So when managing director Richard Walker appeared on BBC Breakfast on Saturday to discuss the story he would surely have expected some tough questions. So how did he do?

For those not familiar with the term Bridging, it is a media training technique which helps spokespeople take control of interviews.

Just when I began to wonder what I was going to write about today I stumbled across a truly calamitous media interview. In fact such was the awkward nature of the interview that it instantly brought back memories of the infamous exchange between Jeremy Paxman and Michael Howard.

Navigate tricky interview questions with confidence. Discover strategies to handle hypothetical, accusatory, and competitor-related questions effectively in media interviews.

People want to hear stories about other people, not policies, protocols and strategies. They want to know what your announcement means for real people in real life situations. Often the strongest examples, the ones which really stimulate emotions in the audience and persuade them to give money, take action, support an idea or buy a product, are those which are personal to the spokesperson.

It’s no great secret that the key to emerging from a media interview successfully is to prepare properly. We’re pretty certain you know the importance of ensuring your spokesperson is aware of the messages, knows who the audience is and is prepared for the negative questions. But are you missing something? What could you do to enhance this preparation and ensure your spokesperson is in the best possible position for interviews?

Survive hostile media interviews with these 7 expert tips to maintain your composure and protect your reputation. Learn how to handle aggressive questioning effectively.

Having a CEO refuse media training is a nightmare scenario for PR and comms officers. Here are some of the reasons given by CEOs for not having media training and how you can overcome them.

The biggest test to an organisation’s reputation is how it handles a crisis. To help you, here are the six things you need to focus on when you are in the eye of the storm.

Here’s a question which comes up regularly on our media training courses - should you ever go ‘off the record’ with a reporter?

When an organisation finds itself in a crisis you can almost guarantee that the chief executive or company chairman will be thrust in front of the media glare as the spokesperson.

‘Has this press release been seen by everyone?’ is a question that strikes a sense of dread into comms managers. It means your carefully crafted words, designed to grab the attention of the world’s media, have to be approved by a number of senior colleagues around the organisation, many of whom may not have any comms experience, media training or understanding of how the media works.