Following the Bethlehem College developments from a media training perspective over the last few months, I can’t help by liken it to the Tiger Woods saga. By doing this, I in no way link the issues on a moral or seriousness basis. The media training link is that in both situations, those involved let the stories drag on and on by not releasing the full facts from day one. If Woods had fronted up as soon as his infidelity became public...

While Solid Energy should have fronted up to media interviews to defend itself against major criticism over the last few weeks, it has used a clever media training tactic during and around the appearance of former CEO Don Elder at this week’s Select Committee. We always tell our media training clients to have clear messages, whether for a media interview or any other appearance. But it’s also important to take this a step further and dress these points up in language...

The unfortunate death at Tree Adventures earlier this week brings up an important media training consideration. When the news broke and journalists were all searching for sources, they could not get to speak to anyone from the company. Understandably, the New Zealand-based director was devastated, and was probably busy with investigators. But from a media training perspective, it meant that journalists had to go hunting for other sources. This was when they found witnesses who said safety was slack and the...

Jetstar’s media response to its failure to transfer the flight booking of shark attack victim Adam Strange’s mother days after his death is a perfect example of why media training is so important for business leaders. The company is no stranger to bad publicity, but its failure to deal properly with the media doesn't help its cause. In situations like this, we tell our media training clients that the boss must front up to media. This is because a company can...

Talent2 boss John Rawlinson broke all the media training rules about how to deal with ambush interviews when approached by Campbell Live’s John Selwood at his home in Melbourne on Sunday. Ambush interviews are when the media turn up unannounced and fire questions at you with the camera rolling. Firstly, when Rawlinson saw the TV crew, he heavily criticised Selwood for camping at his gate, saying it was Sunday and he was busy. The anger was obvious in his voice. This...

Coca Cola has made some serious media training mistakes by strongly condemning the likelihood that the death of an Invercargill woman had anything to do with her 10 litre a day coke habit. It would be fairly obvious to most people that this must have contributed. But by taking a defensive position and expressing its disappointment that the Judge made the link between the death and Coke, the company has done itself no favours. It looks insensitive and as if it...

Mainzeal director Richard Yan is making a serious media training mistake by refusing to talk publicly about his company being placed in receivership. As we tell our media training clients, it’s best to front up with what you can say than put up a wall of silence. All this does is make him look unconcerned at the fate of his workers, subcontractors and everyone else affected by the event. At the very least, he should show some empathy for those who...

The Bethlehem College story this week highlights an important media training consideration when it comes to multiple people being interviewed on the same issue. The conflicting views of who decided to hide the fact that a former Bethlehem College student was driving the vehicle, rather than a Kenyan, has become the story, rather than the unfortunate crash that killed three people. From a media training perspective, it’s always good to have a sole spokesperson to avoid conflicting accounts, but this was...

Gareth Morgan is a good media communicator, but there is one piece of media training advice he needs to take. This week he has been in the media spotlight for two reasons. These are his aim to eradicate domestic cats from New Zealand and his criticism of Phoenix football fans for demanding quick results from the team’s change to a more attractive style of football. Regarding the cats, his message has been very clear. He wants to eradicate cats because of...

Lance Armstrong made one critical media training mistake in his interview with Oprah Winfrey yesterday. He failed to convince the audience that he really meant what he was saying. He often said the right thing. For example: “I will spend the rest of my life trying to earn back trust and apologise to people.” Great words, but the tone of his voice and body language didn’t convince people that he meant it. Another media training error he made was giving the...