Hekia Parata came across better this week when announcing the closure of Christchurch schools because she finally took some good media training advice and showed empathy for those affected. This is something the Education Minister has failed to do often enough when she has made tough decisions that affect people. We tell our media training clients that empathy must always be a key point used when discussing any issue where there is a victim or group of people that are disappointed...

While EQC has been under intense scrutiny over recent months, CEO Ian Simpson has shown some excellent media training skills. There are few tougher environments than an interview with John Campbell, knowing that his show has received literally thousands of complaints from disgruntled homeowners. But from a media training perspective, Mr Simpson has weathered the storm well. When asked about the complaints, he always empathises strongly with those who have been affected. He comes across as sensitive and sincere. This is...

Campaigners against Charter Schools are making a critical media training mistake by focusing on a huge range of arguments rather than concentrating on a few major ones. One thing any reputable media training consultant would emphasise is the importance of narrowing your argument down to your top three messages in preparation for media interviews. This is not only for individual interviews, but on-going campaigns. When it comes to Charter Schools, everyone against them should be focusing on the same three points....

Last week I said Aaron Gilmore’s behaviour was not a hanging offence, but his failure to take the most basic media training advice has now left him in a hopeless situation. Any media training expert would have advised him to front a press conference the day his behaviour became news, and told the whole truth, followed by a sincere apology. A drive to Hanmer Springs to apologise personally to the barman would have been a good idea also. Some commentators are...

National MP Aaron Gilmore made a media training mistake with his apology after he acted inappropriately at a Hanmer Springs restaurant on Saturday night. He was right to apologise, particularly after a friend of his admitted to leaving a note for a waiter apologising for Gilmore’s conduct on the night. That makes it obvious that the MP was guilty of bad behaviour. From a media training perspective, Gilmore should have thrown his hands in the air and apologised. While he does...

Green Party MP Gareth Hughes has broken one of the most basic media training rules by asking an advisor how he should answer a question during a taped TV interview. This is a perfect example of why you should take nothing for granted in a media interview. He must have assumed that part of the interview would be edited out of the final story. He was wrong. We always tell our media training clients to assume the camera is always on....

The one thing our media training clients fear the most is having a reporter appear from nowhere and fire questions at them with a TV camera rolling. It could be on their way to work, an ambush outside their house, or a number of other scenarios. Our media training advice is always to keep calm, tell them you are happy to talk, but are off to a meeting so you can’t talk now. That footage would be too boring to use,...

John Key’s response to a question about the likelihood of New Zealand coming to the aid of South Korea in any potential war with the north saw the PM fall into a common media training trap. When the question was put to him by TV3s Patrick Gower, Key said: "I wouldn't want to speculate, but obviously we have got a long and proud history of coming to the support of South Korea. Taken to the extreme, and without interventions and resolutions...

John Key is usually an expert when it comes to dealing with journalists. But his handling of the GCSB issue over recent days has highlighted a media training weakness that is usually one of his major strengths. We tell our media training clients that 93 percent of what people take away from a TV interview is the body language and tone of voice, not the words spoken. This comes from research conducted a few decades ago. I believe one of the...

An item on Campbell Live earlier this week bought up a media training tip that can be valuable when the focus of a story is clearly going to be against you. The story focused on Salisbury School for Intellectually Disabled Girls in Nelson. The High Court had earlier ruled that the Ministry of Education plan to close the school was illegal. The story angle was that the Ministry was effectively “closing the school in disguise”. I don’t wish to take sides...