Edition 520

Good morning, it’s Monday 12th January.

Agatha Christie died, leaving a multi-million pound fortune and a final book waiting to be published on this day in…? (answer in the footnotes)

People I coach frequently recount media situations they have found themselves in, and ask for advice on what they could or should have done.

I’d like to see if you all agree with what I said at the time.

Here’s the gist of our first dilemma:

“I agreed to appear live on Programme X. I prepped, cleared my diary, only to be dropped 15 minutes before going on air.

A few weeks later it happened again. Same programme. Different producer. Same outcome.

Now a third request. The producer is enthusiastic, if slightly apologetic for the way I have been treated in the past.

I understand live broadcasting is unpredictable, however being treated as that disposable leaves a bad taste. I also know that how I respond now may shape how this programme treats me and my organisation in future.”

I won’t name the programme but it’s the BBC, and it’s well-known.

Results next week, and I’ll also outline the advice I gave. 
(I’d love you to email us with the reason for your choice.)

Monday: Polish President Karol Nawrocki begins visit to the UK.


Tuesday: Scottish finance minister Shona Robison delivers Holyrood budget.


Wednesday: WMO & national agencies release global temperatures reports.


Thursday: UK GDP monthly estimate.


Friday: House of Lords continues debate on assisted dying bill.


Saturday: High Seas Treaty takes effect.


Sunday: Africa Cup of Nations final.

3 Quick Tips On:
Down The Line Interviews

1) If the earpiece falls out mid-interview, odds are it will fall out again. Put it back in then keep your hand against your ear. Viewers know what is going on, it means you can focus on your content rather than worry about it happening again. 

2) If there’s a camera operator ask how much of you is in shot. If it’s tight you don’t need to worry about your hands. If it’s wider, then be mindful they don’t keep popping into shot every so often which distracts. Don’t put your hands behind your back and never put them in your pockets.

3) Keep your eyes on the camera lens at all times. This feels unnatural, but trust me, it really matters.

“There is blood in the water”

You may not have heard of Bari Weiss, the new Editor In Chief of CBS News, but her rise is a fascinating tale and one utterly and perfectly for our times. A clash of old and new media. A Presidential cameo. And now a disastrous start for the new anchor in a chair once held by the mighty Walter Cronkite.

(Morning Show writers will be watching closely…)

This Guardian piece is worth a read, as is this firecracker from Vanity Fair.

Footnotes: 


Good Night, and Good Luck.

Netflix is now streaming the Broadway production of George Clooney’s dramatisation of Edward R Murrow’s on-air tangles with Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. I really enjoyed it.


We’re in London, Bristol and Lowestoft this week. (Oh how I’ve missed those train station sandwiches…)

On this day: Agatha Christie died, leaving a rumoured multi-million pound fortune and a final book waiting to be published, on this day in…1976.


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 next Monday. Have a fantastic week.

All at Inside Edge

Edition 519

Good morning, it’s Monday 8th December. Here’s the final Briefing of 2025.

First up: time to bring the curtain down on the weekly video updates. We’ve covered a fair bit of ground over the last 12 months…

Next up: the dogs. Thanks to Stan and Leo for all their efforts this year, which have been minimal…

The Week Ahead:

Monday: John Swinney delivers speech on independence. 

Golden Globes nominations.


Tuesday: Rachel Reeves and Treasury ministers questioned in Parliament.

Turner Prize.


Wednesday: Australian ban on social media for under-16s takes effect.


Thursday: Andrew Bailey appears at Covid-19 Inquiry.

TIME Magazine Person of the Year 
(I don’t want to jump the gun but I’ve had a pretty decent 12 months…)

Friday:  UK GDP monthly estimates.


Sunday: Presidential election runoff in Chile.

Scottish League Cup final. 

Footnotes: 


Reaction to last week’s Word Of The Year includes this from reader Sarah:

“Your word of the year has really resonated with me. I can see how allowing the enjoyment enables a freedom of expression that is otherwise constrained. When I get the opportunity to do interviews I dread them but love the opportunity to share my passion for what we do, so I guess that’s enjoying really.”

Can’t face Mrs Brown’s Boys on Christmas Day?

On this day:

Reagan and Gorbachev signed an historic agreement to reduce the size of their nuclear arsenals on this day in 1987.

We’ll be back, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in January.

If you are lucky enough to get a break in the weeks ahead we hope it’s happy and we hope it’s peaceful. (You deserve it.)

Edition 518

Good morning, it’s Monday 1st December.

Word Of The Year:

For the last few years we’ve had a tradition of jumping on the OED’s Word Of The Year bandwagon with one of our own. 

The word is effectively the concept we’ve been thinking about and developing as trainers perhaps more than any other over the last 12 months.

Surprisingly (maybe?), we’ve opted for the word enjoyment this year.

And here’s why:

“Pointlessly Formulaic”:

Insights into Budget Day from Jessica Elgot, deputy political editor at The Guardian: 

“I will often get 300+ emails offering quotes. 95% of these I won’t even open. Too many rapid reaction quotes are pointlessly formulaic. Mostly we get quotes that say ‘this is a budget of two halves, one half good, the other half bad, time will tell etc….’”

“My real advice is not to prioritise speed but to take time to read the thing and try to highlight stuff that is not obvious and that might make a good day two story – something others might not have clocked.”

The Week Ahead:

Monday: Keir Starmer delivers foreign policy address at Lady Mayor’s Banquet.


Tuesday: OBR at committee session on the Autumn Budget following early publication.

IOPC report on Hillsborough.

Thursday: England men begin second Ashes test against Australia.

Vladimir Putin begins two-day visit to India. 

Friday:  2026 World Cup draw and inaugural (ridiculous) FIFA Peace Prize winner announcement.

House of Lords continues debate on assisted dying bill. 


Saturday: Small Business Saturday.

“Call them the four horsemen of the infocalypse. Unchecked, they will surely destroy our trust in almost anything we read online.”


Excellent, if depressing article from John Thornhill in the FT on the perfect storm of imposter accounts, lax moderation, extremism and synthetic content.


READ HERE

New Year, New Job.

Fancy it?

You have until the 31st December to get your application in.

Good luck!

Footnotes: 


On this day: Rosa Parks was arrested by police in Montgomery, Alabama, after refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person on this day in 1955.

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 next Monday for one more edition before we take a break. 

Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge

Edition 517

Good morning, it’s Monday 24th November. Budget week.

Introverts and Extroverts On Air: 
And why introverts might actually make better interviewees:

The Week Ahead:

Monday: MPs grill Samir Shah and Michael Prescott on the work of the BBC

Peter Kyle and Kemi Badenoch at CBI annual conference


Tuesday: High Court holds full judicial review in challenge to Palestine Action proscription


Wednesday: Rachel Reeves delivers the Autumn Budget


Thursday: Quarterly and long-term migration statistics

Pope Leo begins visit to Turkey

Friday: Black Friday


Saturday: Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s Your Party holds inaugural conference

International Day for Palestine march in London

Right-wing Publishing Powerhouse:

The owner of the Daily Mail is set to buy the Telegraph, according to reports over the weekend.

The deal is likely to trigger an investigation by the media regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority.

“Quiet Piggy”

The response from the leader of the free world to a female reporter asking a perfectly reasonable question on Air Force One. Welcome back to Trump’s America, part 4,657.

We should be used to his misogyny, his bullying, his downright idiocy, right?

Here’s Margaret Sullivan in The Guardian:

“But, for me, “quiet, piggy” somehow breaks through. It should be a bridge too far, not business as usual.Wouldn’t it have been something to see the entire press corps shout back at Trump, in defense of their colleague? Wouldn’t it have been something to see them walk away from the gaggle?”


Why didn’t they?

READ MORE

“Saying The Unsayable” 


This email from reader Dennis in response to the Mark Borkowski article on political rhetoric quoted in last week’s newsletter is bang on the money:

“Regarding the “beige dialect”, I can’t make the definition of deliberately sterile and inoffensive communication tally with the Home Secretary’s inflammatory announcements about immigration law. On both sides of the Atlantic, politicians seem to be using controversy to mobilise angry voters, rather than trying to avoid offence. 


After what had preceded it, I’d hoped that the new government would bring less offensive, more sensible, and perhaps even more “beige” politics. Saying what used to be unsayable isn’t always a good thing.” 

Footnotes: 


On this day: Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of murdering President Kennedy, was himself shot dead in a Dallas police station on this day in 1963.

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 next Monday. Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge