Nick Smith makes media training mistake

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 offer an interview at a later date, but not comment at the time. However, an emotional Dr Smith took the bait and launched into an attack on the reporter for asking the question. This was not only used on One News that night, but it created a wholoe new story on the issue. From a media training perspective, if Dr Smith had politely said he would be available to reporters after his announcement in the house, the story would never have eventuated. Dr Smith usually shows good media training skills, but in this case, his emotions got the better of him. CLICK HERE to see the story