Events of the past few weeks and issues that will soon confront schools are why principals and board chairs should all have a media training course under their belt. Tragic deaths of pupils and horrific sexual abuse by teachers have suddenly thrust a few schools into the national media spotlight. Some have done well from a media training perspective, while others have been conspicuous by their absence. Often people learn the hard way that media training should be a fundamental part...

He’s done an OK job in a difficult position, but there is one vital media training tip that will help Beast of Blenheim Lawyer Andrew McKenzie come across a lot better of TV. Improving his body language is the best media training advice he could take at the moment. He may have conflicting personal views on the debate about what should happen to his client after his release. If so, this is showing because he is communicating conflicting signals. His words...

Our media training advice to athletes who are overwhelmed by the emotion of a disappointment is to take a deep breath before criticising others in-front of journalists. Ben Fouhy was clearly frustrated after he failed to make the final of his kayaking event in London. But from a media training and sporting perspective, his outburst of abuse against the funding body, Sport New Zealand, did no-one any favours. It was bad publicity for the sport in New Zealand, adding to earlier...

Before we begin our media training sessions, many clients believe that journalists are always looking for negative stories and are never interested in the positive. This is a common misperception and that’s why many people avoid the media at all cost, even if it’s to the detriment of their organisation. The Olympics provide an important media training lesson here, because 90 percent of the media coverage is positive, particularly from the New Zealand journalists in London covering their countrymen and women....

As a former TV presenter, Maggie Barry shouldn’t need much media training advice. She knows what journalists look for. So she must have known that her attack on the childless Jacinda Ardern’s credibility in commenting on paid parental leave would make the news. From a media training standpoint, the use of conflict or the hint of an attack is a great way to get publicity. If that was Barry’s aim, she certainly succeeded. But this is unlikely as the subsequent publicity...

Media training is something high performance athletes should undertake so they can maximise their own reputations and that of their sports when in-front of the World’s TV cameras. It will be plain to see who is prepared for the media onslaught when the Olympics get into full swing. Those who have been through media training will appear conversational with reporters, and not be afraid to express their true feelings about their performance. This is what people want to see. But many...

While media training is all about mastering media interviews, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett showed this week that there are times when requests by journalists can and should be turned down. Mrs Bennett’s daughter Ana resigned from her role at the Waipareira Trust, which is locked in a legal battle with the Government over the decision to withdraw funding for the provision of the Family Start programme. The battle is being fought by Mrs Bennett’s own Ministry. Anna said she would...

Comments made by new Labour MP Megan Woods on Twitter this week show how important media training skills are for high profile social media users. The Wigram MP said on Twitter after the vote to sell shares in state assets that: ''Hitler had a pretty clear manifesto that he campaigned and won on. Question: does this make what he did OK?'' This was clearly an inaccurate and offensive statement, but it does bring up some interesting points. Firstly, because Twitter only...

Sky City made a fundamental media training error by failing to appear on One News on Tuesday night. By not fronting up, company management lost control of the Bible story. The angle of the One News story was that this poor old woman was likely to be sacked for carrying her Bible to work. But this was never a possibility, as the Sky City spokesperson said in The Herald on the same day. But this was only known by Herald readers....

The Greens have been very conspicuous in the media over the last few months, but they still haven’t faced a major media training test. Much comment has been made about them overtaking Labour as the major opposition, but from a media training perspective, they have never had to rigorously defend their policies in the public arena. For example, while Russell Norman constantly criticises the Government in its dealings with China over Labour conditions, Tibet etc, an end to our trading relationship...