Media Resources
Corporate Media Services has provided a range of quality training, workshops, presentations, consulting and strategic advice to a wide range of corporate, business and not for profit organisations for many years.
In this section of our website, we provide you with a sample of some of our work and additional resources that you may find useful.
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Guest Speaking Presentations |
 Do you know how to deal with this? |
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Guest Speaking Presentations
Corporate Media Services' Director Doug Weller is called upon regularly to speak to business groups throughout Australia and the South Pacific about the media industry and the media training industry.
Here is a transcript of an address he delivered to a business group in Melbourne, Australia.
Today we are going to talk about the media and media training. I've been involved with the media industry for more than 30 years. I've worked in all areas of the media - print, radio, television and public relations, both in Australia and overseas. But let's not talk about me, let's talk about you.
You may not realise it, but you are consumers of news. If you didn't consume media products, read, listen or watch media publications or programs, those media products would not exist. As much as people complain about the media, they constantly consume media products - everyday. The media is a business: print, radio, television and online. It is a very competitive business. It can be beneficial or disruptive, but never forget, it is a business.
Do we in the media deliver what people want, or what we think they want? It is a never-ending argument. Make no mistake, the media is a business and yes, it is interested in the 'wow' factor. That is what sells. Let's get straight on to speaking about the journalists. If you want to know the main things driving journalists, it is ambition and deadlines. There is nothing wrong with ambition.
Regarding deadlines, let me make this clear, there is no point in a journalist producing a story if he or she can't meet the deadline. You don't know what a deadline is until you've been a journo and faced a media deadline. Let me explain it this way. The ABC TV News will go to air across Eastern Australia tonight at 7pm. It won't go to air at three minutes past, or five minutes past. The newsreader will not come on and say "Good evening and welcome to ABC TV News. Can I tell you we have had one mother of a day! We've had people off sick, equipment breakdowns, it's been murder but just amuse yourselves for the next five minutes, we should be ready by then".
Do you go to the newsagent for them to say "Sorry, we couldn't get it together so there won't be a newspaper today, but there will be two newspapers tomorrow"? The media industry is an incredibly competitive industry. That is why we do media training, so people know how to communicate with the media industry – know what drives journalists. You need to know what to do when faced with a difficult situation or a crisis when you've got this incredibly powerful thing, the media, about to confront you - there are these journalists coming to you to get information.
Sometimes you will want to deliver the story to them and sometimes you won't. People often say to me "I hate the media and I hate those journalists, they're an absolute disgrace and I won't communicate with them!" But what if you have a crisis? What if four people in your organisation are badly injured today and the media is gathering downstairs. What will you do? You've got a disaster, perhaps people are killed, what would you do?
The research tells us you've got between 8 and 15 minutes to get organised and start delivering information to the media. It is too late then to conduct media training. The media training needs to be conducted before such an awful event.
You can't do media training on the run. Media training is a very focused process. You also need to have a communication strategy in place, and the presentation skills and communication skills to help you speak to the media and the public in such a crisis. Are you or your media spokesperson able to handle the situation?
A lot of people 'freak out' when they see a journalist. Don't 'freak out'. You need to think about how we, the journalists, operate as human beings under pressure. You've had this dreadful thing happen. It is emotionally disturbing, people are very upset. All of a sudden, the media is downstairs.
How do people who have not participated in media training react? Lock the gates. Lock the doors. Get security. This happens over and over in a crisis. Yet, with competent public speaking skills and a sound communication strategy, your organisation can activate an effective crisis plan to help deal with the media.
What happens when people are dealing with the media is that they forget about the most important thing, the public - the consumers of news. The Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, during and after September 11, came to his media conferences with all the city chiefs behind him, and he went through a very simple process that changed crisis communication strategies across the world. He said "this is what we know, this is what we don't know, this is what we are doing, this is what we want you to do" - he took the community with him.
We teach our trainees in media training that there are certain things you can control when dealing with the media, whether it's a good news story or a crisis. These things are crucial to you being able to get your media message across. This is where your public speaking and communication skills are vital. If things get aggressive, don't bite! What we are talking about here is being completely and totally in control of the situation by having good communication skills to assist your media communications and public speaking process. As soon as you lose control with any media you can't get it back.
You need to think about what message the consumers of news are getting when they watch, hear, or read about out of control media interviews. This is the process we discuss in our media training programs. By the way, you need to be very careful with media training. There are old style media training programs and there are new style media training programs.
The media is constantly changing so media training programs and courses also need to change with the times. I am pleased to say Corporate Media Services' media training programs are constantly updated to ensure we are giving our media training participants the latest in media and media trends.
The media industry is very, very competitive. Journalism is about pushing and meeting deadlines and yes, looking for the 'wow' factor, looking for a good story. Journalists will come to you and you must ensure you know how you get something out of this thing called "the media". What will you deliver physically and verbally? How well honed are your presentation skills and communication skills? Remember, if you don't take control of a crisis situation, what will the fall-out be from a poorly thought-out communication strategy?
Perhaps you will only need to speak to the media about good issues – let's hope so. Even then, you need to ensure you communicate your media message effectively.
Finally, how many languages do you speak? When someone is being interviewed and they are speaking a language that is too complicated for people to understand, the audience switches off. All the audience has to do is use their remote control if it is television they are watching and go 'click'.
So as an interviewee, you need to think about your audience and think about your objective. Who is the audience and what is the objective, because if you miss these, you can forget about it. Your communication skills need to target your audience and influence their understanding of events. It is no good having a great public relations department and excellent media strategy if you can't communicate your message in a media interview. Before you go into any media interview situation, you need to do your preparation.
So remember, many of the journalists you will come into contact with live in a very pressured world. Try to work with journalists but make sure you know what you are going to say. Practise your communication skills and presentation skills and quickly work out your key points. Be confident and natural and remain calm at all times. In the end, it is what you want to get out of the media process that matters. Never forget this - out of the billions of media interviews that have been conducted around the world, not one single person has ever got into strife because of the question, it has always been because of the response. It is how you respond both physically and verbally in any given media situation and how you handle your public speaking, presentation skills and communication skills, that will have the biggest impact on the outcome.
Corporate Media Services' Director Doug Weller speaks about the Three Major Myths of Media Training:
Media Training-Media Training-Media Training. Why is there such a thing as media training? Why do we conduct Media Training Programs and Media Training Courses? A few decades ago media training did not exist. Media training has only been around, in a formal sense, since the 1970’s. Let me speak to you about the three main myths in regards to media training.
The First Myth: This Company seems professional so it must be Ok.
There are a lot of media training organisations throughout Australia and the South Pacific. Some media training organisations are good; others not so good. How do you pick a legitimate media training organisation?
I’ve been saying for some time that there is a lot of ‘fluff and bubble’ involved in the media training industry. There are many people out there conducting media training who don’t know a great deal about the media.
The best way to work out if a media training organisation is reputable is to choose a journalism-based media training organisation. What I mean by that is; choose a media training company which is owned and operated by a journalist.
Let me speak about Corporate Media Services - our organisation. I am the owner and director of Corporate Media Services. My history in journalism spans 30 years, it covers all mediums and I have worked as a journalist both in Australia and overseas. I’ve worked in roles ranging from an on-the-road reporter, to Chief of Staff, and have fronted radio and television programs.
So people should choose a media training organisation which has a journalist as the Director or operator. Many media training organisations are owned and operated by people who have had no journalism experience.
Obviously, if you are going to contract somebody to do media training for you, you should be choosing somebody who has a media/journalism background. But how can you be sure that the media training organisation you are contracting has the qualifications it claims to have?
The internet is an amazing and useful tool, it allows us to check things quickly and in many cases, thoroughly. Don’t just take the word of any media training organisation in terms of the background of the trainers and the operators, check it on the internet.
For instance, with our company, Corporate Media Services, if anybody wanted to check my background, I would suggest they do a google search on ‘Doug Weller’ and ‘journalism’ and see what comes up. If they wanted to check my credentials in terms of being a University Lecturer, google ‘Doug Weller RMIT University’ and see what comes up.
So you should not just take the word of the media training organisations in terms of the background of the trainers or the operators of that organisation. You also need to thoroughly check that the media training organisation you are contracting has people at the top with a substantial media/journalism background.
The second myth: The use of studios for media training.
Some organisations claim to have radio and television studios where their media training will be conducted. There are two major myths in this area: the first is that very rarely are these ‘so called’ TV and radio studios really studios, they are ‘mock ups’ to look like studios. To the untrained eye, this may look very impressive, however in reality, these 'so-called' studios are not really studios.
Secondly and more importantly, it can in fact be counter-productive to conduct media training in a radio or TV studio for most people. For instance, unless you are the Prime Minister, the Premier, the head of a major organisation, or somebody like the Police Commissioner, it is highly unlikely you will be asked to do a media interview in a radio or TV studio. The vast majority of interviews that are conducted around Australia and indeed around the world, are conducted with newspaper journalists over the telephone. After that, the majority of interviews are conducted with radio journalists, again over the telephone. The only person sitting in a studio during those radio interviews will be the journalist.
If trainees do their media training in ‘so called’ radio or television studios, it can be counter-productive because the training is being conducted in an unrealistic environment. If people are to undergo media training, they need to undergo that media training in environments that are as close to 'real life' as possible. That generally means your office environment because that is where you are likely to do most interviews. That is why we conduct most of our training at the client's premises.
If you are likely to be doing radio interviews over the telephone from an office, your media training should be conducted in an office environment. If you are likely to be doing television interviews outside, the media training should be conducted outside with a media industry standard television camera. If you are likely to be doing interviews over the phone with newspaper journalists in an office environment, then that is the environment in which the training should be conducted.
In my view, to conduct media training in a 'so-called' radio or television studio where the trainee is unlikely to be interviewed, is counter-productive.
Some of our clients, due to their position, may require the media training to be conducted in a studio. When this is the case, we do deliver the training in a state-of-the-art broadcast studio.
The third myth: The media trainer told me it was true, so it must be true.
Media training falls into basically two types; there is 'old style' media training and there is 'new style' media training. The media is changing constantly. For instance the way news is delivered is changing and the way interviews are conducted is changing. What is expected of people in terms of those interviews is also changing.
The way we did a radio interview ten years ago compared to the way we do it now is totally different. If people are being taught an old style of media training, it will be detrimental in terms of their media performance. For instance people were once told to work out their key messages to avoid questions, and simply repeat their key points no matter what the journalist asks. That is now counter-productive. In fact it is quite damaging in terms of the media message delivery process.
The media industry and the community have moved forward a great deal in the past few years in terms of what they view as acceptable and not acceptable in terms of a media performance. If media trainers are delivering 'old style' media programs, it will be detrimental to the trainee.
To avoid these myths within the media training industry you should:
1. Check the credentials of the owner and/or operator of the media training organisation that you are contracting to do your media training.
2. If you are being told that your media training will be conducted in a TV or radio studio, check the studio to ensure that it is a broadcast quality studio. More importantly, ask why the media training is being conducted in a studio if the majority of your interviews are going to occur in an office environment or outside.
3. Ask the media trainers what sort of training they deliver. Ask them about the changes that have occurred in the media industry in the last several years, especially in terms of interviewing and media-message delivery.
It is essential when you are getting media training that you get the correct type of media training. It needs to be conducted by people with solid credentials and in an environment which is suitable.
Corporate Media Services' Director Doug Weller speaks to Public Relations students at RMIT University about how to use radio to communicate your media message:
Radio is one of the most useful mediums in terms of getting a media message across. People tend to fear radio because it is a live medium. Some people feel that they can’t communicate properly if they can’t see the person who is conducting the interview. However, radio is a terrific medium and is very, very powerful.
Research tells us that most people listen to the radio at some stage of the day. So I just want to give you strategies for dealing with radio and I want to walk you through the different components of the radio medium.
You’ve basically got radio news programs, whether they are on the ABC, SBS or commercial radio networks. In that arena, you are only ever going to get across a very short message. It’s going to be very quick. It’s going to be a ‘grab’ or sound-bite when you are speaking to radio journalists from newsrooms; that is all they want. They don’t want you to go on for twenty minutes because they just don’t have the ability to accommodate that.
I’ve worked for radio news organisations at the ABC and I’ve worked for commercial news organisations. Short snappy comments are what they want. They simply want a ‘grab’. So when you are speaking to people on a radio news program, you simply ask them what they want, and then deliver it. This is very much the case for journalists across the board.
Ask the journalists what they want and what they’re after. Whether it’s a couple of quotes for a newspaper article, a couple of ‘grabs’ for a radio station or a longer interview. Whether it’s going to be pre-recorded or it’s going to be live. You need to empower yourself in this process, you need to actually say to these journalists, ‘what do you actually want from me?’.
You can deliver a series of ‘grabs’ for a radio news journalist or a newsroom but if the audience doesn’t understand your message, there is no point in you actually delivering anything. It needs to be very concise, it needs to be jargon-free and it needs to be snappy, otherwise there is no point to conducting the interview. Focus on the audience and focus on the outcome; never forget that.
Then you move on to radio current affairs. The two major radio current affairs programs in this country are ABC programs called AM and PM. There are other current affairs programs but AM and PM are the main ones: now this is where you need to broaden it out.
Following on from ABC Current Affairs Radio, there are radio programs which are very similar to current affairs interviews. By ‘programs’, I mean interviews you might have with Alan Jones in Sydney or Neil Mitchell in Melbourne. It will be a longer interview and if it is going to be in that arena, it is more likely to be a bit feisty, depending on the topic. You need to know how to get your message across in a situation like that. You also need to know how to remain calm because when people overreact, the whole interview becomes counter-productive. There is generally an amount of ‘radio theatre’ in commercial radio interviews.
And then you’ve got talkback radio. A lot of people fear talkback because anybody can ring in and they can make any claims at all. So people tend to get very scared of talkback radio and they tend to back away from it when there is no need to. Talkback is a terrific medium if you want to get your media message across because there are very few other areas of journalism where the journalist or the commentator will actually give you the floor for a period of time. So people tend to steer away from talkback radio because they’re scared that people are going to call them and make whatever comments they want. Many people fear it will make them look like an idiot.
Suppose you receive a phone call from a commercial radio station, Neil Mitchell for example, wanting you to come on his program and talk about a controversial issue. People tend to back off because their reputation is going to be on the line.
Some people opt to put out a statement instead. But by talking on the program, you have an opportunity to deliver your media message. You simply must be in control and know what you are going to say and how you are going to say it.
If you do receive phone calls out of left field from someone at a talk back radio station, how would you handle that? Somebody rings up and says ‘I am from xyz program and we have been told that you and your organisation are corrupt.’ How do you think you would handle that?
You are only in control of three things in any media situation: firstly, what you say (your key messages), secondly, how you look (the way you are dressed) and finally, how you deliver your media message (e.g. physically and/or verbally). You need to make sure that you are in total control. On radio, you don’t have to worry about the physical delivery but you do have to worry about the verbal delivery and word content. You have no control over anything else in this process except those three things mentioned above. In a radio situation, you are only in control of two things (e.g. points one and three).
Don’t repeat words that can be manipulated by a journalist. A journalist may say that “your organisation is corrupt and outrageous”. You do not respond and say “we are not a corrupt, outrageous organisation”. If you do, you have taken ownership of those words. You are then on their agenda, not your agenda. If faced with accusations like that, you respond by saying “that’s not true, that’s not right. Our organisation is a terrific organisation, we are currently undergoing some problems and we are fixing those problems”.
Some people tell me that because they can’t see the person at the other end during a radio interview being conducted over the phone, they find it very unnerving. Other people prefer communicating over the phone with radio commentators and journalists because they are happy to be on their own territory (e.g. security of their office, home, etc.) because they feel they have more control over the radio interview. By the way, unless you’re the Prime Minister, Police Commissioner or some other kind of dignitary, you are unlikely to have an interview conducted in a studio. The vast majority of radio interviews are conducted over the phone.
When you come up against aggression in a media interview, especially in radio, you need to take control of the process. In every media interview situation, you need to focus on the outcome and you need to focus on the audience.
When we do media training, I say to people, ‘Why are we doing media training? Why would you bother doing media training? What is the point of going through this media training course”? If the audience does not understand your media message, there is no point conducting the media interview. If you are delivering a media message that people don’t understand, it’s like delivering a message to an empty room, there is no point to it. If they understand it but it’s not professional and you’re not calm under pressure, again there is no point to it.
So finally, I want to walk you through some of the theories we are talking about. News journalists, like all journalists, are facing deadlines. The deadlines in a radio newsroom come around very swiftly. Generally speaking, they are either on the hour or the half hour. So understand the amount of pressure these people are under if they’re pumping out news bulletins every half hour. By the time the news bulletin goes to air, if these journalists go and get a cup of tea and get back to the newsroom, they have about twenty minutes before it’s time for the next news bulletin.
So if somebody calls you from a radio newsroom, make sure you give them what they want and need. If they require a couple of ‘grabs’, give them a couple of ‘grabs’. Give them what they need, and consequently, it will work for them and it will work for you.
In a radio news bulletin, you will never hear anything longer than about five to ten seconds, unless it’s a huge news story. Most radio stations have a very broad audience; so again, you need to focus on the objective and the outcome.
It’s very difficult to condense an important issue into about seven or eight seconds but if you don’t, they will. I’ve had people ask me “how can I condense four years of work into a few seconds”? I tell them it’s very hard, however, if you don’t do it, the journalist will, and you may not be happy with the outcome.
So you don’t go into these situations thinking you can’t do this or that. You have to fit in with what the journalist is doing and what the radio station is doing. If you deliver a long rambling quote or comment that goes for thirty seconds and it can’t be edited, then it won’t be used.
Current affairs programs also have deadlines. How do you find out what their deadline is? You ask them. A lot of people feel confronted by the whole process of dealing with journalists and the media and they don’t ask questions. You need to empower yourself in this process and ask the journalist what he or she is looking for, what it’s going to be used for, how much material they will need from you, what audience is the report aimed at? Then you will have a good understanding of where they’re coming from and they will have an understanding that you do know how to deal with a ‘media situation’.
Published Articles
Corporate Media Services' Director Doug Weller is called upon regularly to provide quotes or copy for various publications worldwide.
See articles previously published by Corporate Media Services or where Corporate Media Services' Media Trainers have been quoted
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Australian Media Links
Australian Associated Press (AAP) http://www.aap.com.au - Australian national news agency
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) http://www.abc.net.au - Australia's public broadcaster
Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) http://www.sbs.com.au - Australia's multicultural and multilingual public broadcaster
The Age http://www.theage.com.au - Victoria's daily broadsheet newspaper
The Australian http://www.theaustralian.com.au - Australia's daily broadsheet newspaper
The Courier Mail http://www.couriermail.com.au - Queensland's daily tabloid newspaper
The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au - New South Wales daily broadsheet newspaper
Wikipedia - Media of Australia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_Australia - Wikipedia page of media of Australia information
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International Media Links
CNN http://www.cnn.com/ - Cable News Network
BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk - British Broadcasting Corporation
Daily Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk - British daily broadsheet newspaper
Wall Street Journal (WSJ) http://www.wsj.com - English-language international daily newspaper
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29 April 2010 - MELBOURNE STORM AND THE CRISIS RIPPLE EFFECT - HOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THE MEDIA IF THIS HAPPENED TO YOU?
It will be a long time before the dust settles following the eruption last week within the rugby league football club, Melbourne Storm. The unprecedented crisis for an Australian sporting club unfolded into what we call a Crisis Ripple Effect.
What was a crisis for Melbourne Storm last Thursday afternoon as the news broke had become, by early Friday, a crisis for a range of other organisations as the Crisis Ripple Effect took hold.
Organisations such as sponsors and other sporting bodies across Australia found themselves swamped by calls from a media, desperate for comment on this incredible story.
A series of quickly organised media doorstops and media conferences were held, as individuals and organisations attempted to limit the damage to their reputations.
Dealing with a Crisis Ripple Effect is different to dealing with a direct crisis: a different media strategy needs to be quickly implemented.
If you suspect you may be hit by a Crisis Ripple Effect, ensure you start preparing your key messages and spokesperson or spokespeople immediately.
If the media is coming to your premises, pick your interview location and ensure your signage is NOT in the background. Choose your words carefully and only speak about your issues, not others.
Look professional, sound professional, remain calm and stay on-message.
26 May 2010 - FOR AKER IT MUST HAVE SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME
When Corporate Media Services conducts media training courses, we make the point over and over: Why are you engaging the media? Why are you giving up your time to conduct a media interview? What’s the point?
There are generally only two reasons why you would speak to the media:
1. To be proactive - promote a positive message.
2. To be reactive - manage a crisis.
In both of these situations, it is absolutely essential that you understand what you’re going to say, how you’re going to say it, why you’re going to say it and what the likely fallout will be from your comments.
You should never speak to the media unless you are absolutely clear, or as clear as you can be, in relation to these points.
There has been an enormous amount of publicity given to the comments made by AFL Western Bulldogs Forward, Jason Akermanis, about gay football players revealing their homosexuality. He suggested there was “gay hunting going on” in order to encourage gay footballers to come out.
In one interview he said, “Football is seen to be at the peak of masculinity, which of course then makes homophobia almost at its peak. So we, as footballers, need to be more open if there is, and accept people if they would come out, but at the moment, I’m not sure that while you’re playing, it would be a safe thing.”
The storm these comments created is clear to even the most casual media observer. It even created the 'crisis ripple effect' that we spoke about in the last e-Bulletin.
So what was the point of all this? Maybe we will never know.
What we do know is that his public comments were not clear or focused, they were confusing. Most importantly, what was the point he was trying to make and what was he trying to achieve? His message was ambiguous and his stance unclear.
Never fall into this trap. If you are going to engage media, know what you want to achieve and why. What is the benefit to you and your organisation?
If your comments are going to be controversial, understand that they may create a media frenzy. Be ready for that and know how you are going to handle it.
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