Media Training

Post Office – multiple reputations and issues management

Organisations have multiple reputations with multiple audiences. This explains why Ryanair can still be a hugely successful airline – in terms of number of customers and profitability – while still having an abysmal reputation for customer service.  Similarly, public outrage over the Post Office’s brutal and unjust treatment of many of its sub-postmasters and mistresses [...]

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cybersecurity

Storytelling Lessons From Capita’s Handling Of Its Data Breach

I suppose it’s ironic that a company offering cyber-security services gets hacked. But if it is then surely the upside is that it knows how best to communicate about it. Not it would appear, if you are outsourcing giant, Capita plc.  PROs are being given a ringside seat in the difficulties inherent in such a

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Lessons for PROs about failures in your organisation’s supply chain

A good old fashioned undercover investigation by The Times newspaper and British Gas is paying the reputation price for failing to monitor its supply chain. In this instance, Arvato, their debt collection agency has been breaking into people’s homes (albeit with a warrant) to forcibly install pay-as-you-go meters in the homes of those who have failed to

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40 Anniversary of 1982 Johnson and Johnson Tylenol Crisis

The 1982 Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Crisis For 40 years, many people in PR have considered the response of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to the Tylenol poisonings in October 1982 to be the ‘grand-daddy of good crisis communication’. Although it may be more accurate to think of it as the ‘grand-daddy of corporate responsibility’, let

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Is an apology always the right thing to do when you have the luxury of choice?

Kim Kardashian chose not to apologise last week for a misleading post on social media which landed her with a $1.26 million fine from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For a privileged few, the normal rules of reputation don’t seem to apply. The SEC warned celebrities in November 2017 that they must disclose

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Adam Batstone, Journalist and Electric Airwaves Media Trainer

Why is it that experienced media performers – politicians especially - often fall into the trap of getting into a heated ‘row’ with an interviewer when it is almost always counter-productive for the audience? In my experience of conducting interviews and preparing interviewees, the specters of Paxman, Neil and Humphrys still loom large. Theirs is

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Does it matter that Tesco had this selection of bad news headlines one day last week in national, trade and local press:

Tesco plant-based food advert banned as misleading (BBC) Tesco rebuked over greenwashing in adverts for plant-based food (FT) Britain's Tesco rapped by watchdog over plant-based products ads (Reuters) Tesco vegan burger adverts banned over ‘misleading’ environmental claims (Telegraph) ASA bans ‘misleading’ Tesco plant-based burger ads (Farmers Weekly) ASA chastises Tesco over greenwashing plant burger claims (The Drum) “Misleading” Tesco plant-based food

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Perfect example of how to handle a difficult journalist question

Louis Heren, veteran post-war Foreign Correspondent of The Times newspaper, famously said that in his job as a reporter seeking truth, he always asked himself of interviewees “Why is this lying bastard lying to me?”. This underlies why journalists ask challenging questions and participants on our media training courses desperately want to learn how to

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Can Your Spokespeople Paint Pictures With Words?

To learn how to communicate effectively on radio and explain complicated topics simply, listen to the first 90 seconds of this four minute item from BBC Radio 4’s fact-checking and statistics programme, More Or Less - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0014x0f (scroll forward to 11.25). The programme’s presenter, economist Tim Harford, is excellent at using simple, accessible language to

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Whitby Nice To Be This Good – Hear The Difference Between The Media Trained & Untrained

An uncontentious media interview - as are most interviews that your spokespeople will ever undertake - on Monday 26th July nonetheless demonstrated the skill of someone who has been media trained to communicate effectively an engaging message. And in the same interview, that contrasted starkly with the ramblings of someone who had not been media

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HOW TO TURN YOUR CORPORATE BABBLE INTO INTERVIEW GOLD

We always tell participants during our media training sessions that your answer to a journalist’s opening question is when the audience decides whether to trust you and invest precious time listening to you. Especially since in all probability, the audience won’t have heard of you and possibly your organisation. Meet Marcus Hughes, European managing director

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mistake

HOW TO DESTROY YOUR STRONG CORPORATE STORY: A SAD CASE STUDY

Sorrow is defined as a feeling of deep distress caused by loss or disappointment. This is how I feel about FTSE100 company Hiscox Insurance. Sorrow because they had such a powerful corporate story that it was a joy to media train their spokespeople for six years until 2013. And now the company has blown it

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