Press Officer Training

Journalists and press officers are mutually dependent, but too often they don’t understand each other. If you want to use the media to promote a story or raise awareness of an issue you need to know what motivates a journalist.

We’ll tell you makes a story and what doesn’t. We’ll give you the inside track on what a journalist wants and how to make sure they get it. By the end of our course you will know how to marry your need for media coverage with the reporter’s need for a decent story.

Sometimes journalists need you more than you need them. Usually, that’s when you are at the heart of a story and nine times out of ten it means something has gone wrong at your organisation. We know the importance of getting on the front foot. You may not be able to prevent a story being reported at all but you can influence the way it is told. Using real-life scenarios we’ll show you how to handle those tough calls. We cannot give you a magic shield, but we can help you to take control.

We often run our press officer training courses as workshops. Each one will be designed to meet our client’s specific needs but we regularly cover the following areas:

• How to write a press release which will grab the journalist’s attention
• Who to call in the newsroom to promote a story
• The news cycle – when to call and when not to
• How to handle media calls in a crisis
• The importance of crisis planning and how to go about it
• Distinguishing between different broadcast interview types – the essential differences between prepping for a soundbite interview compared with a live interview
• Messaging – how to distil your key messages into memorable answers
• Identifying who your spokesperson should be
• Preparing a spokesperson for a positive media story
• Preparing your representative in times of crisis
• Teaching them how to stay in control