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1) Your secretary tells you that the BBC has rung to arrange an interview for you to comment on a national issue in the news. Do you:

 

a) Tell them you are too busy
b) Get your secretary to write you a briefing note on all the latest research on the issue so you are well prepared
c) Find out if the interview is for radio or TV, local or national, live or pre-recorded, a long or short contribution. Then make sure you know enough to be able to comment
 
Doing (a) is a waste of a good opportunity to promote yourself and your organisation as experts in the field. It could also mean that the next time the researcher/ journalist is looking for an expert they won’t bother trying you, but go straight to your competitors. At the very least it is worth trying to build a rapport with the journalist, even if you can’t help them this time.
Getting loads of information in a briefing note (b) may be over-preparation. You may only be required to give a “soundbite” and even in a longer interview trying to get across too much can be a hindrance.
What you really need to know before any media interview is the format (c). An interview for the Today programme is very different from one for your local BBC radio station, which is very different again from an appearance on Newsnight opposite a Government minister.

 
2) What percentage of press releases end up in the bin?

 a) 8

b) 40

c) 97

The answer is (c). Although some say it is as low as 95%! There are lots of reasons why press releases get binned, one of the main ones is that they are about something that really isn't very interesting. Before you send a press release think: is it really going to interest the readers, listeners or viewers of the media outlet you are aiming it at?

Another big reason for a press release being binned is that  it is about something interesting, but is badly written. It's no good hiding the interesting bits in paragraph 12 -  the news editor won't read that far.

(If you run a small or  medium-sized business and want to know more about how to write a press release come along to one of Kate Betts Media's business seminars.)

 

3) There’s been a terrible incident at your organisation, which has resulted in some very negative publicity. Do you:

a) Say “no comment” to journalists
b) Decide on a company spokesman and prepare carefully what they are going to say
c) You’ve already prepared for this as part of your crisis management planning

“No comment” (a) sounds like you have something to hide. Far better to be upfront and say something to the media (b). They will report on the story anyway. It is possible to say not very much, but sound like you are saying something: “We are very concerned about what happened and will be launching an immediate investigation into exactly what happened. If there are any lessons to be learned we will take those on board.”

Even better you will have plans in place for such a scenario (c) and rather than scrambling around trying to work out who is going to say what, you will have rehearsed how to deal with the media as part of your crisis management planning.

If you'd like help dealing with the media contact us now.