The most important media training advice people in a similar position to Len Brown could take is to spill all the beans in one swoop. I'm not saying there is more to come, but if there is, he needs to front up and tell it all now. Without comparing the Auckland Mayor's situation to Tiger Woods, the golfing star failed to front up at all when his infidelity was uncovered. From a media training perspective, all this did was allow new stories...

Energy Minister Simon Bridges needs to accept media interview requests to put the Government’s case for opening parts of New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone to deep sea oil exploration. With the necessary media training skills, this should be quite simple, despite the sensitivity of the issue. His failure to appear on Campbell Live on Tuesday was a classic example. Because he didn’t appear, most of the programme was devoted to a few people in Kaikoura concerned about the impact of a potential...

While both Dean Barker and Grant Dalton are good media spokespeople, there is some media training advice they must take if they want Government funding for the next three years. They need a consistent and credible 3-point media message to use when pushing for Government funding. This is vital. It needs to be clear and repeated so the public get in behind them. From a media training perspective, they haven’t done this well. For example, when talking to Campbell Live the...

One reason Team New Zealand won so much public admiration was because of the media training skills of both Dean Barker and Grant Dalton. They are both straight shooters and their body language shows just how committed they are to their team and their country. From a media training perspective, this is vital. Even when they lost, their focus was on congratulating Oracle and apologising to their supporters. There was no interest in pushing for an enquiry into Oracle’s remarkable turn-around,...

David Cunliffe’s media training skills will see Labour gain far more media coverage than under former leader David Shearer. This will hurt the Greens more than any other party. Political reporters always look for party leaders to offer interesting comments opposing government policy. This is something Shearer was not good at. He had a point to get across, but he never mastered the art of the 10 second sound bite. His predecessor Phil Goff was the same. For that reason, the...

Like him or loathe him, Australia’s new Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott has some impressive media training skills that helped him win the top job across the Tasman. Few will know, but Abbott is a former journalist. From there he became a Press Secretary in the office of former Liberal Party leader John Hewson. He advised on media issues. This is why his media training skills are so good. He knows what journalists want and he knows how to give it to...

Media training skills are vital for all Local Government candidates, because if they don’t all have a clear message about why voters should tick the box beside their name, they are unlikely to succeed. This is a classic example where media training is not only useful for media interviews. Before I vote for someone, I want to know why I should vote for them. It’s not enough to say they have a successful background and they are committed. I would expect...

Most commentators seem to have dismissed Shane Jones from the Labour Party leadership race, but could his media training skills be what the party needs? Commentators always talk about who has the support in Caucus, the Party and the Unions, but what really counts is who appeals to swinging voters or those who often don’t even bother to vote. That’s where Elections are won and lost. So that’s what those with a vote on the new leader should be thinking about....

The demise of David Shearer can be placed firmly at the feet of his media training and presentation skills. The problem he had was that 99 percent of the population only ever saw him on Television. That’s the reality for political leaders these days, so if you don’t present well on TV, you’re doomed to fail. We always highlight the importance of body language to our media training clients. If your actions and tone of voice don’t match the words coming out...

John Key has learnt from a media training mistake he made earlier this year by refusing to speculate on whether Sri Lanka was being opportunist in complaining about DCD levels in its Fonterra milk products. This coming days after the baby formula crisis broke. Despite generally having first-class media training skills, earlier this year Key fell into the speculation trap. He did this by saying that New Zealand could join South Korea on the battlefield if a war broke out with...