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| Why media training? | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 7 2009, 02:03 PM (396 Views) | |
| Steve Wilson | Apr 7 2009, 02:03 PM Post #1 |
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I've heard various stories over the years as to why individuals, organizations or companies say they need media training. Sometimes, it has something to do with a "close miss" that could have propelled them onto the evening news. Sometimes, they read about a competitor and wonder how they would have fared had it been them. This past week, however, it wasn't a close miss that made the organization decide on media training. It was a direct hit. The company had experienced a work-related fatality and the management team at the plant had watched and agonized as they watched their plant manager go through the motions of talking to the news media. By all accounts, he did a good job. But others in the management team wondered how they would have fared if they had been on the news media hot seat? What would have happened if the plant manager had been absent? They didn't like the answer. They decided on media training. I can say they all did very well, but more importantly, they probably took the training more seriously than any other group I can recall in recent history. |
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| MDeary | Apr 11 2009, 02:39 PM Post #2 |
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Sounds like this group got it right. They knew they needed the training and got it before they needed to use it. Too often, an organization goes through a major disaster for which it is not prepared. THEN, they decide they need the training. |
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| CrisisMan | Apr 13 2009, 02:23 PM Post #3 |
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I've heard all kinds of excuses as to why companies don't need media training. The biggest is "Our PR department (Director, VP, etc.) takes care of that." Of course, in these economic times, the big reason nowadays is financial. "We're putting it off until second or third quarter and see what it looks like then." I just hope their need for media training is also being put off until then. I had a client a couple of years ago that kept putting off crisis media training for months. Finally, after two or three rescheduled attempts at the training, the company had a big crisis and the media was all over them. They survived....barely. But I still wonder how much better they might have done if they had gone through the training when they first felt they needed it. |
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| Mike Barnes | Apr 14 2009, 03:29 PM Post #4 |
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I'm certainly not one of the pros on this site, but I have gone through media training and I'm a big supporter of it. While I can't say it was an exceptionally pleasant experience (sort of like oral surgery), I did learn more from it - possibly more than any other course of its kind I've ever taken. If you could get organizations to realize media training is basically an investment in their people, I believe there would be less reluctance to commit resources to conduct it. And while I've never personally had to use the training in a real crisis....yet, I feel it has a number of other side benefits in making me a better overall communicator. Although it is called "media training," I don't believe you have to be interviewed by the news media to realize its worth. I use the training every day. And, one last word. If I ever do have to face the news media in a crisis, I know I won't look forward to it, but you can sure bet that I'll be thankful I went through the training first. |
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| John Stufflebeem | Apr 10 2010, 04:28 PM Post #5 |
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Media training should be provided to anyone who will have to deal with the media because if one does not understand the press, there is no chance to get one's message out. It is vital to understand how the media does its business, how to negotiate an interview, how to develop and deliver one's message, and how not to look bad. Media training is essentially reputation management and sooner or later every manager is going to have to face the media...usually when something goes wrong. Edited by John Stufflebeem, Apr 10 2010, 04:29 PM.
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| Steve Wilson | May 10 2010, 02:26 PM Post #6 |
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During the past few weeks, I've had two managers at chemical plants - both former students in our media training classes - go through real interviews with the real news media in a real crisis. And, while their real-life performances may not have been perfect, they were very solid and above all, they got their message across. Could they have done as well without media training? Who knows for sure? But why take a chance? To me, that's what media training is all about. It gives you a chance to experience potentially tough media interviews before they happen in real life. And, if you never have to experience the real world crisis interview, at the very least, you'll be a better communicator. |
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| ZetWalker | Aug 6 2010, 01:19 PM Post #7 |
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I just found this Forum and find it highly interesting. I'm studying corporate communications in Germany and would like to write a seminar paper about the impact of personal rhetorical skills of managers on the overall communication in times of crises. It would even be more interesting, if the personal rhetorical skills were one of the reasons for a crisis. The goal of this paper is to clearly state that media training always is a sensible thing to do... Do any examples come to your mind that would be worth analyzing? Thank you very much for your input, cheers Zetwalker |
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| Steve Wilson | Aug 12 2010, 02:23 PM Post #8 |
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BP CEO Tony Hayward was a classic example of what happens when the corporate spokesperson either has not had media training, or did not utilize the training he had. His communications skills - or lack thereof - in the height of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster turned out to be one of the worst public relations disasters ever. Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is another example of where media training skills certainly would have helped. When the West Virginia mine collapse resulted in the deaths of 29 miners, he was interviewed on a local TV station where he stated that the impacted mine was not one of Massey's safest and then went onto say when you have big mines, you have more violations and that the more violations you have, the safer the mine. So how important is media training for today's corporate executive, potential CEO, or current CEO? Communications skills today may be more important than any other single skill a CEO can have. And media training is a big part of developing those communications skills. In my book, Real People, Real Crises: An Inside Look at Corporate Crisis Communications, I wrote about an executive vice president of an oil company who was well prepared in almost every way to become the company's next CEO. The one area in which he was lagging was his communications skills and he absolutely hated even the remote possibility that he would ever have to be interviewed by the news media. His fear of the news media was more powerful than anything a media trainer could do for him. Whether it was his lack of communications skills, or something else, I'll never know. But I do know he never made it to that corner office reserved for the company's CEO. |
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2:29 PM Sep 9
