Media Training Worldwide

The following letter appeared in the April 2006 issue of Public Relations Tactics Magazine.

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Re: The Feb 2006 The Seven Serious Weaknesses found in most media training.

The article should have included an eighth serious weakness:

Engaging in a phony debate between style and substance. All professional media trainers securitize EVERY aspect of a client’s style and substance. Of course clients must have a clear, focused, interesting and memorable message that engages the audience and the reporter. But a strong message alone is never enough.

A competent PR practitioner would never let a client send a letter or press release to the media filled with great ideas but no periods or capital letters. Why? Because the bad grammar would destroy the credibility of the messenger and make the ideas ignored. Similarly, any media trainer who doesn’t help a client minimize the “umms” in his or her speech is guilty of malpractice. Because too many “umms” make someone appear to be either too nervous or too annoying to be credible.

Competent media trainers can not act as a mere friend to their clients. Bad news must be delivered. If you have a client who is a spokesperson for a youth and health related product and who wears an ill-fitting toupee that looks especially bad on TV, then that client must be told AND convinced to get rid of it (or find a more expensive and less-noticeable replacement).

No, it’s never enough to look good for the cameras and yet fail to deliver on substance and message. But great ideas must be packaged in every medium. Every excellent serious book of fiction or nonfiction is packaged with graphics, cover art, typesetting, and massive editing. The first draft of great ideas in handwritten scrawl is never enough to sell to the public—it must be refined.

Professional media trainers know their job is to question and improve every aspect of their client’s style and substance.

Sincerely,

TJ Walker
Media Training