Education Minister Hekia Parata made a fundamental media training error this week by failing to apologise when it became clear that Intermediate Schools could lose up to seven teachers under the new class size modeling. The policy was intended to see schools lose no more than two teachers, but it soon became clear that intermediate and middle schools could lose far more. This was clearly a mistake and not what the Government intended. When approached about the issue by media, Ms...

The decision by Hell Pizza Management not to appear on the Sunday programme last week was a typical media training mistake. Two franchisees were complaining about why Hell had revoked their franchise licenses and also how they had been treated in the process. The big mistake made by Hell was refusing to be interviewed for the programme. From a media training perspective, this was the worst thing they could have done. This is because the whole story was devoted to the...

A point made by John Key this week illustrates why leaders from all walks of life need media training. When suggesting the media had been tougher on him since the last Election, he said he could not control the 'bit they cut out', or the 7 second sound bite that made the six o'clock news. This is a common complaint. While leaders are usually good communicators, the media interview is like no other conversation. That's because you may speak to a...

The childcare centre alleged to have expelled a boy with HIV made a serious media training mistake by not coming forward and appearing on Campbell Live once they knew the story would run. Understandably it was a difficult situation for centre management, but by keeping quiet and not appearing, they handed control of the story over to the Aids Foundation. If someone had appeared, that person would have been able to set the story straight and say they had just asked...

The decision by John Banks not to comment on whether he knew Kim Dotcom had made a $50,000 donation to his mayoral campaign in 2010 was a major media training mistake. On the Q + A programme last Sunday, Banks kept refusing to answer repeated questions from Paul Holmes about whether he knew where the donation came from. From a media training perspective, he should have answered that question. Failure to do so only harmed his reputation among viewers. He later...

Labour leader David Shearer may be slowly improving his media training skills, but he must become more proactive with the media if he is to contend with John Key at the next Election. He is clearly working on his media training skills, but the other thing that needs work is the quality and frequency of his messages. While he did well last week attacking the Government over the Sky City deal, it was very reactionary. There's nothing wrong with that, as...

Labour leader David Shearer is learning the important media training skill of speaking in sound bites. These are the parts of TV and radio news stories where a statement from an interviewee is used verbatim to illustrate a point. They usually last between 8 and 12 seconds. In the print media, they are called direct quotes. Those who take part in media training learn that it is best to dress a point you want to make up in language the media...

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) decision not to uphold a complaint by Alasdair Thompson over the infamous "women's problems" interviews reinforces an important media training lesson. Thompson claimed last year that women take more sick leave than men because of period pain. This led to intense media scrutiny, done more so than on TV3. His complaint to the BSA covered a number of areas, but the major one was that the interviews on 3 News and Campbell Live were unbalanced and...

Golden Bay High School leaders have shown their media training skills this week by dealing perfectly with an incident of sexting. In a story that appeared in the Nelson Mail and Stuff, a girl approached school authorities after three students had obtained a sexualised image of her and sent it out to other high school students. This could have led to a neagive story about the school. But the response to the reporter's questions by school leaders turned it to their...

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has shown his media training skills again this week. His handling of the Finland incident was first-class. After responding to remarks by Labour Leader David Shearer that Finland was a country we should be following, Brownlee said Finland was not perfect, having higher inflation, unemployment and murder rates than New Zealand. This led to major criticism from a Finish comedian who poked fun at Brownlee's weight and implied that all New Zealand had going for it...