[caption id="attachment_586" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Tony Hayward"][/caption] BP CEO Tony Hayward did some good things when fronting the media after the gulf oil spill. He came across as humble, sympathetic and talked about the actions BP were planning. Mistakes But he also made some huge mistakes. These always outweigh the positives in a crisis, because there is no margin for error. His first big blunder was the claim that BP was not responsible for the spill, but was only responsible for cleaning...

Civil Defence boss in Christchurch John Hamilton is no natural in front of a TV camera. He has trouble expressing any emotion when talking to the media, unlike Bob Parker. That makes him look cold. He may be doing a wonderful job, but his inability to warm to the camera using his voice and facial expressions is an issue for him. He needs to know that unless he puts on a slight smile, even in a bad situation like this, he looks like...

After all the hype around Ken Ring's earthquake prediction for Canterbury on Sunday, the man himself seems to have disappeared. Any media trainer would have told Mr Ring to be available for media interviews on Sunday to defend himself, regardless of whether his prediction came true or not. By not being around, other commentators have had all the limelight, with 90 percent of them attacking 'The Moon Man'. There even seems to be some confusion as to what the prediction was....

The news coverage of the Christchurch earthquake highlights how one story can dominate the news at the expense of other stories. The crisis in Libya has been going on for weeks now, but because of the Christchurch earthquake, then the one in Japan, our newspapers and broadcasting media have not given it the prominance it would usually demand. This is understandable because the media has limited space available and these stories it is covering are huge. But it's a good lesson...

John Key's decision to bid on the "No" sign used by Winston Peters at a press conference in 2008 was political genious. Mr Peters used the sign to deny that a $100,000 donation from businessman Owen Glenn had been used inappropriately. [caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="200" caption="John Key"][/caption] The whole issue around the donation tainted Mr Peters and many believe it led to his demise at the 2008 General Election. By putting in the bid, Mr Key will not only be seen...

It may seem pedantic to some, but by using the language of denial again this week, David Cunliffe did little to distance himself from his wife’s admission that she set up a Twitter account to attack her husband’s rivals. I’m not saying the former Labour Leader had any knowledge of it, but by saying to reporters: “I’m not into gutter politics,” he did himself no favours. He should never use his own name and the words ‘gutter politics’ in the same...

Free publicity is when journalists and editors produce stories through their media outlets about you or your business. This could be newspapers, radio, television or websites. How is it different to advertising? All media outlets have two departments, advertising and editorial. When you take out an advertisement, you deal with the advertising department. You can say what you like in the advertisement within reason, and pay a fee for the privilidge. On the other hand, with publicity, you deal with the...