Preparation for Media Encounter by Tom Maddocks

About the Lecture

The lecture Preparation for Media Encounter by Tom Maddocks is from the course Online Media Training. It contains the following chapters:

Introduction
Reactive media handling
3 stage preparation process
Answering difficult questions
More bridging phrases
E - Examples
QU - Quotes
A - Anecdotes
L - Likenesses
S - Statistics and Numbers

Included Quiz Questions

Do you prepare differently for a media interview if you have initiated the approach to the publication or news outlet, compared with when they have approached you?

No
Yes No
If a reporter calls up needing an immediate comment, there is no time to prepare

If the phone rings and it’s a reporter on the other end, what’s the most important thing to do?

Buy yourself some thinking time – even if it’s only 10 minutes. Find out what they want, then arrange to talk to them at a fixed time once you’ve had a chance to think about what you want to say
Talk to them –they’re busy people after all Tell them you’re too busy today but they should ring back next week Buy yourself some thinking time – even if it’s only 10 minutes. Find out what they want, then arrange to talk to them at a fixed time once you’ve had a chance to think about what you want to say
Tell them you’re too busy today but they should ring back next week

If you believe your agenda is different from that of the reporter or news organisation, should you:

Establish the 'angle' of the item when the reporter first calls, and make it clear that you would be putting forward an opposing point of view, then be willing to 'leave it' if that is not what the journalist is looking for
Politely turn down the opportunity to be interviewed. You could be 'used' in the article or programme to push forward a point of view you actually disagree with
Never turn down the opportunity – use your best arguments to turn the journalist round to your point of view, and get your key messages across

Which is the most important part of the preparation process?

All equally important
Establishing the reporter's agenda
Establishing your own agenda
Preparing for awkward questions

The point of the 'bridging technique' is to

Say as little as possible on a topic you'd rather avoid, then move on to something else
Avoid answering a negative question
Confuse the reporter so he or she forgets what the question was

How would you categorise the appropriate relationship with a journalist who calls you up to do a feature about your business

Professional
Frosty if they ask you personal questions
Brief – you're both busy and need to get on with it

What do the E and S in EQUALS stand for?

Examples and Statistics
Examples and Soundbites
Evidence and Statements

What well-known literary device can help you when you are trying to work out a good quote?

The power of three
Rhyming couplets
Slang or street language

Why is it important to work out in advance, as part of the preparation process, what your ‘dreaded question’ might be?

So that you can work out how you would answer the question if it does come up
So that you can almost guarantee it won’t come up
So that you can get yourself even more worried about the interview than you were already

Is using jargon a good idea in an interview for say a specialist TV or radio programme, like a business programme?

No – because not everyone will understand what you are talking about and they will feel alienated or excluded
Yes – because it will make you sound like you are knowledgeable or ‘on the inside track’
Yes - because it’s shorter and snappier, and saves time during the interview for you to make other valuable points