Media Training Update – w/c 6th November

Have a guess how many stories the Mail Online publishes every day. I couldn’t believe it.

(Answer in the footnotes)

Good morning, it’s Monday 6th November.

The week ahead…

Covid-19 Inquiry: Wednesday: Mark Sedwill. Thursday: Priti Patel

Monday: Trump expected to take the stand as his fraud trial continues

Tuesday: The State Opening of Parliament

G7 foreign ministers gather in Japan

Wednesday: New Ofgem rules on prepayment meters in force

Thursday: Nadine Dorries’ The Plot and Coleen Rooney’s ‘Wagatha Christie’ memoir both published. (Decisions, decisions…)

Friday: GRAMMY nominations announced

Saturday: Possible mass march in London for peace in the Middle East

Arab League leaders gather for an emergency summit in Riyadh

Sunday: King Charles III at Cenotaph service marking Remembrance Sunday

Simon Mayo was interviewed in The Times and said something that caught my eye:

“Like a lot of people on radio, I am an introvert – it’s a way of being yourself, or a version of yourself, in a room on your own. There are plenty of loud, extrovert broadcasters out there but I think in radio the presenter would aways come across as a friend behind the microphone. Hopefully that’s where introverts like me come into their own.”

The World At War turned 50 years old last week. This extraordinary 26-episode documentary, then the most expensive factual series ever produced, is narrated by Laurence Olivier.

I fell down a Youtube rabbit hole last week and was gripped – it is just brilliant film-making. Before you read the rest of your emails watch the first 2 minutes of Episode 1…

The Today podcast fields questions from listeners:

How is it decided who will take a lead in a news item or interview? And does it create tensions in the team? 

When you’re covering a story like Gaza, how do you work out what is real and what is disinformation in a busy newsroom? 

What do you see as the future of print journalism? 

It’s just 15 minutes long and an interesting (albeit slightly smug) look behind the scenes of the programme. 

The answers of Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan:

LISTEN HERE 

On the Inside Edge website – Tony’s A-Z of media training: 

Y is for Yes:

I’ll add No to this section too. Either an affirmation or a denial is refreshing because we rarely witness spokespeople – especially politicians – using them. We can avoid them out of caution but if you’re clear it’s a yes – say it. Such directness goes down well, it shows a candour – you’re being straight talking. That doesn’t means you can’t be nuanced at other points in the interview, in fact the audience is more likely to buy in to some complexity because you’ve already won them over.

Footnotes:

Australians rejected a proposal to break ties with the British monarchy and become a republic on this day in 1999.

Highs today of 11 degrees in Keswick and 29 in Miami.

And as for how many stories the Mail Online publishes every day?

Press Gazette calculated that between 13th and 19th September the average each day was…1,490 stories. Utterly terrifying.

That’s it. Just time for the obligatory dog photo. And sometimes only a warm bottom will do… 

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done. We’re @insideedgemedia or just reply to this email. 

Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge