Media Training Update w/c 27th April

Edition 533

Enjoyed Esther Addley’s article on people deploying their dogs as props to manage a media crisis. But I can’t help thinking it relies on well-behaved pets. I’m not sure Leo hurtling after a fox and Stan planting his back legs into the ground in order to sniff every lamp post is conducive to successfully “flooding the channel”.

Morning, it’s Monday 27th April.

“So what do you do for work?”

A drink with a friend prompted an interesting discussion about how bashful and/or muddled we can sound when asked what we do for a living. The advice my friend was given is to imagine you are describing someone else’s job rather than your own. (I tried it the other day and it worked a treat.) 

The reason I mention this…last week an academic was struggling to give their research sufficient currency and heft in the interviews we were recording. (Making yourself and your work important on air isn’t bragging, it’s a pre-requisite.) I switched off the cameras, stole the tactic and challenged them to talk to me about their research as if it was someone else’s. The impact was game-changing, and remained so when the cameras were switched back on. 

Thought it was worth mentioning. Could the tactic work for you?

You The Editor

If it can be consistently demonstrated that the words (and sometimes threats) posted by Donald Trump on Truth Social do not translate into tangible actions, should they be allowed to dominate the news cycle of a particular story in the way they currently do? 

It’s a brave (and some would say foolish) editor who chooses to downplay a newsline directly from the frenzied fingers of the President of the United States, but there’s never been a communication style remotely like this from any other incumbent of the Oval Office. 

There’s a genuine tension in some (not all) newsrooms about what approach to take. If you were in charge, what would you do? 

I’ll post some of your responses in future weeks but for now…

Monday: King Charles and Queen Camilla begin visit to the United States.

Tuesday: Foreign Affairs Committee questions Morgan McSweeney on Peter Mandelson appointment.

Wednesday: Federal Reserve interest rate decision and Jay Powell’s final press conference.

Thursday: Bank of England interest rate decision and monetary policy report.

Friday: Ban on no-fault evictions takes effect under Renters’ Rights Act.

Saturday: Royal visit concludes with final events in Bermuda.

Sunday: Eight OPEC+ countries meet. 

Footnotes:

Sky News is launching its first paywalled app. (As Comcast is only committed to continue funding Sky News until 2028 expect a lot more of these announcements over the next couple of years.)

On This Day: The House of Commons elected a woman to the post of Speaker for the first time in its 700-year history on this day in 1992. Betty Boothroyd stayed in the post until 2000.

Our Week: Terrifying, frankly. London, Geneva, Brighton and Sheffield.

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 in a fortnight. Go well.



All at Inside Edge