At this time of the year the media focus moves away from the boardroom and onto the sports field. That makes it a good time to look at the needs of our elite players when it comes to media interviews. The first tip I would give them is to look at the interviewer when answering questions. Many don’t do this, but it’s important. That’s because you can seem disinterested to the viewer at home if you are not making eye contact...

The reason Paula Bennett is such a good media communicator is her ability to come across as genuine and empathetic. Where she stands out is her ability to accept the emotions and feelings of others, even if she doesn’t agree with their viewpoint. For example, opposition MPs often say there is too much poverty in New Zealand and the minimum wage must rise to turn this around. When interviewed on this, Bennett disagrees that the wage should rise. But the key...

Have you ever contacted the media about a story you thought they would be interested in, only to find it was completely ignored? If you have, you are not alone. There could be a number of reasons for this. But the most likely is that the journalist, editor or producer you contacted had other options she thought would interest her audience more than your proposal. In other words, you lost out to the competition. That’s the reality of journalism. But on...

The crisis communication strategies used by New South Wales Police in the Sydney Siege highlight how vital crisis communication planning is for any organisation. Two specific areas stood out for me. Firstly was the consistent updating of the NSW Police social media sites, particularly Twitter. By my calculations, their first Twitter post warning people to keep away from Martin Place was up within minutes. Then important information was added whenever there was anything new to report. This included one sentence tweets...

Baptist Churches of New Zealand missed a huge opportunity this week to distance themselves from Pastor Logan Robertson’s comments about gays, and promote themselves at the same time. You will remember Robertson’s derogatory comments earlier this week, suggesting gay people commit suicide. He is Pastor of the Westcity Bible Baptist Church. Robertson is not a member of Baptist Churches of New Zealand, but this was only found out when a few media organisations contacted the group to find out. Only people...

He has done a great job in his first few weeks as Labour Leader, but the success of Andrew Little will depend on how he performs in the media well after his honeymoon is over. A leader couldn’t ask for a more perfect time to take the top job. His party is so unpopular that it can only go up in opinion polls. He has also been handed issues on a plate that any leader could only dream of early in...

Political leaders hate apologising. They see it as a weakness and a way of handing ammunition to their opponents. The only exception to this recently was David Cunliffe who apologised for everything from being a man to going on holiday with his family. So should a political leader apologise? That depends. Clearly if the leader did something wrong, an apology is appropriate. The big issue here is whether John Key should apologise for something his staff did. Forgetting all the speculation...

The new Labour Leader needs to work on his media skills without trying to become someone he is not. That would be a huge mistake. So what is he already good at? Little never beats around the bush. He ‘cuts to the chase.’ That is a vital skill these days where politicians usually have about 8 seconds to make their point in a television news story. David Shearer struggled with this, whereas John Key is an expert. Little should cope with...

Humour is a great way to attract media attention, but as John Key found this week, it comes with its risks. When asked if he would advise Chilean President Michelle Bachelet that fugitive murderer Phillip John Smith appeared to have escaped to her country, the PM said: “I’ll just let her know that someone could be over there from New Zealand that she may not want to invite round for lunch.” Journalists always want interesting sound bites to bring their stories...

One of the biggest mistakes I see with media spokespeople is their failure to show enough empathy for victims. If a spokesperson is responding to a crisis or negative event that hurts people, the first message must always be empathy for the victims. It doesn’t matter whether you are at fault. You can show empathy without taking responsibility. For example, if there was an explosion at your work and someone was killed, you wouldn’t want to take the blame for it...