Media Training update w/c 13th July

Edition 541

Good morning. It’s Monday 13th July.

Blame the heat, but I’m feeling increasingly irritated at so-called media training tips people tell me they’ve been told over the years which I believe to be terrible advice.

For instance…

Or:

“Always name-check the presenter in interviews”

No. Just… no. It’s one of those bits of media training folklore that’s been passed around for years, despite there being no evidence it achieves anything.

The audience already knows who the presenter is. They don’t need reminding every 30 seconds. If anything, it can make the interview sound like a private chat between two media people rather than a conversation with the listener.

And then there’s live broadcasting. Breaking news happens. The presenter changes at the last minute. The programme is reshuffled. You open confidently with, “Well, Ben…” The person on the other end says, “It’s John.”


Not ideal.


Or worse, you’ve accidentally called them by the name of the colleague they’ve spent the last 15 years sharing a 4am alarm with, quietly competing against for airtime, and privately complaining about in the green room. So you’ve managed to irritate the presenter before you’ve even answered the first question.

With the heatwave due to continue all week my plan is to return grumpily to more of these next Monday.

What did The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar mean by this?

This explainer from Media Editor Michael Savage exposes the dark arts routinely deployed by newspaper editors and political parties…

The Newsgathering Diary takes a week off as I’m writing this particular edition well ahead of time. 
Normal service resumes next Monday.

Apologies.

The Sky/ITV Merger:

“Sky’s proposed transaction will ensure that Sky News and ITV News remain editorially independent, continue to serve the UK with distinct editorial voices, and give everyone the robust and regional choices they deserve. We’ll remain free to air, and we’ll commit ourselves to making the best global, national and regional news accessible to the broadest digital audiences – through the technology investments our company has committed to our newsroom today and well into the future.”

David Rhodes

Executive Chairman, Sky News Group

The Rest Is Entertainment team do a good segment on the implications of the merger towards the end of their Taylor/Travis episode.

Footnotes:

On This Day… Ruth Ellis – now posthumously pardoned – was hanged at Holloway Prison on this day in 1955.

Our Week: Again, Brighton and London this week.

Photo of the week: (h/t Andy Mc)

The Mutt Photo:

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done, please let us know.

Back on Monday. Have a brilliant week.



All at Inside Edge