Amazon – delivering presents and key messages?
Amazon is among a number of companies such as Starbucks and Google that have had a pretty hard time of it recently. The media has targeted them with endless negative stories about their tax...
View ArticleWhy the Starbucks boss has been pilloried – and what this means in media...
Having suffered something of a public relations disaster Starbucks has been in full crisis management, fire-fighting mode. We regularly advise companies on how to manage crisis situations and train...
View ArticleWhat’s off the record and what’s a background briefing
It’s one of the most commonly asked questions in our media training courses. What does off the record mean? And is it the same as a background briefing? The simple fact is that almost anything you say...
View ArticleSo what you’re saying is…summarise your points before the journalist does
Jim Naughtie has been talking about racism in sport on the Today programme over the last couple of days. It’s an important and controversial subject but I’m a speechwriter and copywriter and so what...
View ArticleWhy are journalists always interested in bad news?
Over Christmas, when it was edited by the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, the Today Programme looked at the issue of good news versus bad. Challenging what he saw as the media’s love of bad news, Zephaniah...
View ArticleDOES EDDIE MAIR LIKE CHEAP HAMBURGERS? PROBABLY NOT…
Eddie Mair was defending the contents of cheap hamburgers on the PM programme this afternoon. He listed the various unexpected – and pretty unappetising – extras and then suggested to his interviewee,...
View ArticlePoliticians are using anecdotes, reports the BBC. And so they should.
TWEAK FOR COMMUNICATE BLOG Political speeches used to be about big ideas with rhetoric to match, says BBC Political Correspondent Justin Parkinson. But nowadays they’re full of stories about...
View ArticleWhat Stanley Baldwin can teach us about how to do a good radio interview
Here’s an interesting little media training factoid – Stanley Baldwin, the first prime minister to do a radio broadcast, had his wife sit opposite him when he spoke. Why? Because he wanted to remind...
View ArticleHow many times do people have to hear a key message from an organisation...
How many times do people have to hear a message from a company before they believe it? Well, according to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, published last month, it’s 3.5 times. We were naturally...
View ArticleShock as Pope steps down two years after Brum visit – and why this is...
“Shock as Pope steps down two years after Brum visit”. It’s a wonderful headline. Where did it appear? The Birmingham Mail, of course. Only a Birmingham paper could write this headline – because only...
View ArticleEveryone else just answers the question they want to, says Evan Davis – but...
“Everyone else just answers the question they want to on this programme,” mused Evan Davis rather morosely on Radio Four’s Today this morning when an interviewee joked during a lighter item that he...
View ArticleWant to do a TV interview well? Get into the studio
Yesterday saw a spirited debate on Channel 5 News between David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, and Ian Birrell, Contributing Editor to the Daily Mail. The subject was the government’s planned cap on...
View ArticleShould you do a media interview via Skype?
“Joining us now via is Skype is…” It’s something that we hear increasingly often on TV and radio. So, should you offer to do a media interview by Skype? People often ask us this in our media training...
View ArticleHow to do a Skype Media Interview
Skype interviews are increasingly popular not only among print journalists but also for television and radio. Training people how to do a Skype interview is something that we’re being asked to do more...
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Handling an unexpected question during a media interview – can you bank on...
Appearing on the Today programme this morning Sir Hector Sants was faced with a familiar challenge during broadcast interview. It’s one that at Communicate Media Training we regular explore during our...
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Five tricky questions that journalists can put to you
“Journalists are always trying to catch you out.” It’s a charge that is quite often levelled at journalists during our media training courses. Because we only use experienced working journalists media...
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Why Journalists ask negative questions – and where this leaves you as the...
“Why do journalists always ask negative questions?” asked a participant in one of our media training courses recently. At Communicate Media Training we always start our courses by asking not only about...
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Five ways to reboot your presentation style
Advice on doing a good presentation is available by the bucket load online, in books and during presentation training courses of the kind that we offer at Communicate Media Training. Most of us will...
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How To Start A Presentation
How should business leaders and senior managers begin a presentation? Grabbing the audience’s attention is essential. ‘Attention’ one of the list of A’s that we use in our presentation training courses...
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