Media Training 101 for Businesses and Public Officials: Build relationships, establish trust
“They are idiots.” “Bold and sometimes stupid.” “We want nothing to do with them.” “They are nincompoops.”
If you were the subject of a survey and those were some of the comments, it sure would make you pause and wonder what the heck you’ve been up to, wouldn’t it?
The ironic thing is that the first two comments were made by legislators about the media, while the latter two comments were made by the public about legislators.
Seems as though both groups have some public relations work cut out for them.
The public comments were made during a focus group about some commercials. The legislative comments were made during research for a recent story by MIRS, a capital news publication in Lansing, Michigan.
Given the legislators’ own abysmal review by the public, they don’t have much of a leg to stand on when griping about the media. But what’s more important is that legislators and others still haven’t learned how to work with the media.
Reporters can be your nemesis or your friend, and it’s much better to be friends with people who buy ink by the gallon!
Here, then, are a few tidbits from a media training program I use for clients and my students at MSU:
1. Be open – never lie. Hopefully, I don’t have to explain this one.
2. Be cooperative – journalists are people trying to do their job, just as you’re trying to do your job. They are going to get the story somehow from someone. Why not make it your story with your input?
3. Develop contacts – it’s about networking, just as in any other sector of your business.
Take good stories to the media – it’s not all bad news out there, but good news doesn’t leak out or have a court case started over it. If you have a good-news story to tell, go tell it.
4. Respond quickly – reporters are on deadline. They call it that for a reason. If you miss it, the story is dead. If you want to be in the story, which is generally better for you than not, you need to respect that reporters are often on a time crunch.
5. Never say “no comment,” – it’s about learning to say something to get your key messages covered.
It’s ok to say, “I don’t know” – but if you can get the answer the reporter will appreciate it and that helps you develop a good contact. (See numbers 2 and 3 above.)
There’s plenty more where those came from and, coincidentally, I happen to know a PR firm that offers media training as a service! But this is a start, so think about it the next time you have to deal with “The Media.”
As I’ve always said, “If the pen is mightier than the sword, imagine what a printing press can do!”
Tags: business, Communications, mediarelations, newsmedia, pr
May 16th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
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