One major media training tip for those on the end of media questions over the hot air balloon tragedy is to avoid speculation at all cost. The most common question from journalists is likely to be 'what do you think caused the disaster'? This will confront those investigating the incident and possibly the company involved. The best media training advice is to avoid answering this question at this early stage as any such response would be mere speculation. It could also...

The recent announcement of the salary increase for Christchurch City Council CEO Tony Marryatt brings up an important media training point. It was clear that Joe Public was never going to be happy with any increase for Mr Marryatt after the earthquakes. From a media training standpoint, that means it was going to be a bad news story for the Council, regardless of how it was communicated. However, the one media training rule for these situations is to announce it quickly...

If you feel like putting your media training skills to the test, the summer holidays are a good time to do it. Journalists are hunting high and low for story ideas because little is going on. John Key will be in Hawaii, business people will turn off their cell phones and the only obvious news will be about the weather and summer sport. That's why approaching media with ideas is far more likely to work at this time of year. They...

New All Blacks coach Steve Hanson must take some media training advice and change his attitude towards the fourth estate. A few years ago he told the media 'you are either with us, or against us.' What he overlooked was that the media are not a public relations company for the Rugby Union. They are conveyors of information, both positive and negative, to a passionate rugby public. Any media training expert would tell Hansen to change this approach immediately. To his...

Pike River Coal may be having a difficult time at the Royal Commission, but it was the media training skills of CEO Peter Whittall that kept the company from major criticism in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Media training experts always tell clients they must front up to the media in crisis situations, even though most feel like running a mile. This is exactly what Whittall did. He became the face of the tragedy. He was always available and performed...

David Shearer may appeal to potential Labour voters because of his freshness, but there are some media training issues he needs to work on. His opponemt, David Cunliffe, is an expert at getting his points across clearly and concisely through the media. He can talk in sound bites. This is a valuable skill and one Shearer needs to learn if he becomes the Leader of the Opposition. Cunliffe has clearly had media training, because he is an expert in media interviews....

The Green Party deserves congratulations for running a textbook election campaign from a media training perspective. Firstly, they had three key messages they continued to repeat throughout the campaign. These were jobs, rivers and kids. Most media training professionals will tell clients to focus on three simple and clear messages. This is the best way to get their three most important platforms into the minds of their audiences. The Greens did this well. Another media training lesson can be learnt from...

Both Phil Goff and John Key showed the benefits of media training tonight by lifting their performances in the final leaders debate on TVNZ's Close Up. Media training has clearly been on their agenda's over the last few days as they fine tuned the messages they wanted to get across to undecided voters. Key has always been gifted at communicating his messages clearly and briefly. That was evident again tonight. His main messages were National's focus on growing jobs by backing...

Labour leader Phil Goff has clearly received media training over the last few weeks as he came across far better in tonight's TV3 leaders debate than he did in his first encounter with Prime Minister John Key. Goff was more statesmanlike, appearing assertive without the confrontational style that let him down in the first debate. He also showed more personality. He seemed relaxed and smiled more. This reasonated well with the group of undecided voters whose approval or disapproval of the...

Mana's Hone Harawira and NZ First's Winston Peters showed their media training skills on tonight's minor party leaders debate on TVNZ's Close Up programme. Known for his aggressive approach to media interviews, Harawira dampened down this tactic enough to clearly get his messages across in a highly effective way. Any media training course will highlight the need to show emotion and express yourself as much as possible. Harawira did this throughout the interview. His passion clearly came through in his voice...