Media Training update w/c 23rd June

Farewell Paul Johnson. The man who led the Institute For Fiscal Studies for 14 years is off to run Queen’s College Oxford.

The airwaves will be poorer for his leaving, as will our collective grasp of the public finances. He’s a brilliant communicator and one of the very best at accessible complexity.

He also has a delicious (and entirely deliberate) turn of phrase. Members of the Liftable Quote Club (and I am definitely one) – revel in this parting shot to the chancellor… 

I should declare a slight conflict of interest as I work with the IFS from time to time, but as someone who has spent the last 16 years trying to get to the bottom of how researchers communicate with clarity and impact, Paul Johnson is up there with the very best.

Good luck to him.

Good morning, it’s Monday 23rd June. 

And this – improbably – is our 500th Monday Media Briefing.

(Some thoughts on that number here (Linkedin)

Stories scheduled for the next seven days:

Today: Government expected to publish its 10-year Industrial Strategy

Tuesday: Netherlands hosts NATO Summit

Wednesday: Committee on Climate Change Progress Report 2025

Thursday: Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends European Council leaders’ summit

Friday: Glastonbury Festival begins

Saturday: British & Irish Lions tour of Australia begins

Sunday: San Francisco and New York City Pride

Here are some of the Top Lines: 

We’ll come back to it in the weeks to come but you can read the full report here.

“There are two very different versions of media training. How do I make a boring person interesting? And how do I make an interesting person boring?” Richard Osman

Media Training gets the Marina Hyde and Richard Osman treatment on The Rest Is Entertainment. 

LISTEN HERE (on wherever you get your podcasts)

Thoroughly enjoyed this Linkedin content from BBC veteran Nick Garnett…

News In Brief:

Former BBC journalists Jo Coburn and Stephen Sackur are joining Times Radio

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“Countering disinformation and providing verified, independent news is what makes the BBC World Service the most trusted international news provider in the world.”

Lord Blunkett makes the case for more World Service funding.

READ MORE (p/w)

Footnotes:

On this day: An Air India passenger jet disintegrated in mid-air off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people on board, on this day in 1985.

Monday weather: St Andrews – 18 and cloudy. Bournemouth – 21 and sunny.

I mentioned at the top this was Monday Media Briefing number 500. Interested in the stories in the news from the very first?

Mutts: I also tried to find a photo from September 2013. It’s pre-Leo unfortunately, but here’s the old timer in (marginally) more spritely times…

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 great week.

All at Inside Edge