San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom Acts Like a Complete Jerk in a Media Interview
I’m always on the lookout for good on-camera examples of spokespeople doing a terrible job. It’s a great teaching tool — seriously. So if you’ve got any examples, by all means forward them to me.
Playboy SF Mayor Gavin Newsom has made a dandy contribution to the archive with his interview on CBS 5 here in [...]
Sure Fire Elements of Media Stories, Or How to Get in the Times if You’re Looking for a Job (Hint: Be Cute, Young, Blond and a Twin)
Part of my media training curriculum is explaining to people that the media covers only a set group of topics — they are broad, but they are really all you will find in American mainstream media, so if you want coverage, you better figure out which buckets your story fits in.
They are:
Novelty: things that don’t [...]
Even White House Reporters Don't Like Interviews "On Background"
One of the most important techniques every spokesperson should master is negotiating the “terms of the interview.” All too often, spokespeople go into interviews assuming one thing, while the journalist assumes another. Later, after the spokesperson has blabbed about your their product, bad-mouthed the competition and otherwise made a fool of himself, he blurts out, [...]
An Olympian Effort: Media-Training Streetwalkers
Cities go to extraordinary lengths to beautify themselves to be in the international spotlight during the Olympics, but Vancouver has taken it to new levels. Reuters reports that a Vancouver non-profit has been handing out “media-training” brochures to prostitutes in the beautiful British Columbia city in advance of the Olympics being held there next winter.
“It [...]
Yahoo's CEO Shows the Big Boys How It's Done
Nice to see some refreshing candor from Yahoo’s newish CEO, Carol Bartz.
At the hipper-than-thou D Conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, Bartz stage-whispered the f-bomb at media high priestess Kara Swisher, not a direct shot but definitely a signal that she was to be taken seriously.
Then, at the same conference, she interrupted an interview [...]
GM's Wagoner Uses the B-word and Gets Burned
Being a spokesperson is hard — seriously. And being the spokesperson when you are also the CEO of General Motors in 2009 must be close to impossible. But hey, that’s why they get paid the big bucks, right?
GM’s CEO inadvertently used the phrase “bankruptcy…could work,” at a media breakfast with the Wall Street Journal in [...]
Pitch perfect media interview by Hyundai CEO
For an example of a corporate spokesman giving a great media interview, check out the interview of Hyundai CEO John Krafcik on All Things Considered last week. Krafcik was on NPR to tout Hyundai’s Assurance Plan, under which consumers can return the car during the first year if they lose their job.
The write-up doesn’t do [...]
Bad Journalistic Skills Are the Flip Side of Bad PR Pitches
The bad PR pitches highlighted in yesterday’s post about the new Dear PR Flack site are half of the equation. What about the other: bad reporting and writing skills?
Just as in any profession, there are some good journalists and a lot of mediocre ones. And just as in any profession, the good ones tend to [...]
Public Speaking Tip: Don’t Emulate Obama
If Barack Obama is indeed elected President, he will turn out to be one of the most articulate Presidents ever. I’ve been listening to Obama read his two books (Dreams From My Father and Audacity of Hope) on CD and he is a joy to listen to. As a writer and public speaker, I am [...]
Paulson Makes Himself Available and Controls the Debate
Say what you will about the current financial mess on Wall Street, you have to credit Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for making himself fully available to the media despite the crushing responsibilities and obligations he must have. He was on four Sunday talk shows yesterday and did countless other media appearances and press conferences over [...]