Nick Smith made a fundamental media training mistake at Wellington airport this week when he took the bait and gave a reporter a confrontational and emotionally charged answer when questioned on whether he would resign. Dr Smith was on his way back to Wellington to resign after the conflict of interest around his letters of support for a friend who was seeking ACC assistance. When confronted with an ambush interview like this, any media training expert would tell the client to...

The whole fiasco of ACC leaking personal information of thousands of people to an individual's email address last week may have been a public relations disaster, but from a media training standpoint, they handled the situation well. This is because the messages they communicated were good and CEO Ralph Stewart kept referring back to them. While there was some debate as to how much detail was revealed in the email leak, ACC focused on three key points throughout the media coverage....

Christchurch Bishop Victoria Matthews made a fundamental media training error this week when she failed to acknowledge the emotion many Cantabrians feel towards the Cathedral. After the decision was made by the Anglican Church to demolish the Christchurch icon, her response to calls to release the plans that led to that decision was "I don't answer to the public." Whether she meant to or not, her comments appeared to dismiss public sentiment by saying she answered to God and the Anglican...

NZ Cricket made one major media training mistake when announcing their response to yet another Jesse Ryder drinking incident. Team manager Mike Sandle handled the media well during the announcement, but there was one notable absence from the event. Ryder himself. This is a common media training mistake. Because Ryder was not there to answer questions and give journalists their pound of flesh, the story will stay alive until the man himself comments. This is unfortunate because New Zealand cricket will...

Reports that Labour leader David Shearer will not seek external media training advice is a decision that must be reconsidered if he is to reconnect his Party with its traditional support base. Many leaders from all walks of life are unaware how media interviews are unlike any other conversation. Without professional media training, most of these people fail to connect properly with their stakeholders. Shearer will risk that possibility if he fails to grasp the benefits of media training. While he...

Labour MP Trevor Mallard took a few hours but finally used his media training skills by admitting he was wrong to sell his tickets to Wellington's Homegrown Festival on Tade Me for a profit last week. While the practice was not illegal for this event, Mallard himself sponsored anti-scalping legislationa in 2006 to outlaw it for big events like last year's Rugby World Cup. Any media training expert would have told Mallard to admit he got it wrong and take his...

The pro breast feeding La Leche League is in need of some serious media training advice after their handling of the Piri Weepu bottle feeding episode this week. The league demanded the withdrawal of a Smokefree advertisement where the All Black was featured feeding his baby a bottle of formula. The group is well known for its views that 'the breast is best', but the perception is that they reject the use of formula in all situations. From a media training...

The ability to remain relaxed in adverse situations is an important media training skill and one John Key used well at Waitangi yesterday in the face of heavy protest. His ability to smile in almost any situation is one reason Key is so popular with voters. From a media training standpoint, this makes his look confident, warm and in control. This is what he did yesterday, even though his speech was drowned out by protesters and he had to leave early....

Christchurch City Council CEO Tony Marryatt has repeated a media training error he made before Christmas by giving journalists another great opportunity to keep the story about his controversial pay rise alive. Mr Marryatt was on holiday when the rise was announced. This meant he wasn't available to talk to the media. This gave journalists two cracks at the same story both at the time of the announcement and upon Mr Marryatt's return. From a media training standpoint, the Council would...

Maritime NZ deserve congratulations for how they have handled the Rena disaster from a media training perspective. They were quick off the mark when the ship ran aground and began informing the media immediately about what had happened and what they were doing about it. There was some initial concern about the communication, but that was more because Transport Minister Steven Joyce and Prime Minister John Key kept out of the issue. From a media training point of view, they probably...