Media Training Examples You Can Use to Liven Up Your Presentations
Media training examples aren’t always easy to find. But they’re essential.
You can provide your trainees with all the theory and advice you want, but few things will benefit them more than seeing examples of good and bad media interviews in action.
It can take hours to dig these up on YouTube. We thought we’d save you some time.
We’ve compiled a list here of our favourite interview examples to use in media training. Trainees can learn something from every one of them. They’re also a great way to liven up a presentation, and bring some levity to the proceedings.
What About Sam?
I often kick off interview training with this disastrous interview featuring The Wiggles, the beloved children’s musical group from Australia.
It captures people’s attention right away—either because have kids and know exactly who The Wiggles are, or they’re just intrigued by the dudes in the coloured shirts.
The context here is a morning talk show appearance that is meant to be a bit of a celebration. Greg (the yellow Wiggle on the left) has just rejoined the group after a multi-year hiatus due to a serious illness.
However, things go awry when host Richard Wilkins asks what this means for the guy who filled in for Greg while he was sick.
I usually stop the video at about 1:43. It’s too painful to continue, and by that point my trainees are pretty clear on the point that a little preparation goes a long way.
Defending the School Dress Code
In this video, headmaster Matthew Tate of Hartsdown Academy in the U.K. defends his school’s strict uniform rules which saw 50 children sent home for improper attire on the first day of school.
Notice how firm Tate is in his position, without being a jerk about it. He even calls out a line of questioning that strikes him as offensive.
He isn’t afraid to return to his key messages several times—particularly the one about having the support of the majority of parents.
If you feel you’re correct and your plan is to not give an inch in the interview, then do it the way Tate does—with an even keel and a calm demeanour throughout.
Anne Hathaway vs. Matt Lauer
Actor Anne Hathaway bravely addresses an embarrassing incident in this clip from the Today Show.
For context, Hathaway had been photographed a few days earlier in her press tour, awkwardly exiting a vehicle. The photographer’s angle revealed that she wasn’t wearing underwear, and the image went viral.
Her host here is Matt Lauer, who was fired by NBC five years later when they received reports about inappropriate sexual behaviour in the workplace. In this interview, Lauer leads with humiliation: “Nice to see you. Seen a lot of you lately.”
Hathaway didn’t need to apologize, but she did. Watch how she then delivers the exact message she wants people to take away from the incident, then deftly pivots to promoting the movie she came to talk about.
Bridging Hero
When it comes time to teach spokespeople about bridging, you can do a lot worse than show them this clip of Ravi Marwaha. Marwaha was senior vice-president of Lenovo, the computer hardware company, in 2006 when BBC World had him on to discuss his company’s lacklustre financial results.
Marwaha fields some challenging questions at point blank range from his host. He never gets flustered, and he always stays on message. It’s a masterclass in refusing to play defence, controlling the interview, and telling investors everything they need to hear for reassurance.
Getting Bridging Backwards
Suella Braverman, who was British home secretary at the time of this interview, shows us how not to execute bridging.
The goal in bridging is to briefly acknowledge the question and then re-gain control of the interview by pivoting firmly to your key messages.
Braverman gets it all backwards. She ignores the direct question. She blurts out key messages instead. Then she brings the interview BACK to the topic she didn’t want to talk about. She does this twice.
When One Key Message Isn’t Enough
You always want to add some fun to media training, and few media scrums are more fun than this one featuring the former health minister from the province of Alberta, Tyler Shandro.
Shandro comes equipped with a key message and isn’t shy about repeating it—all of which we encourage our trainees to do. However, Shandro has only one message.
I caution my trainees that they should be ready with a few key messages, and some supporting points to back them up. One key message won’t get you very far in most interviews, no matter how many times you repeat it.
Mind the Visuals
Here’s another one that’s mostly for comic relief, but still contains a couple of good lessons.
West Virginia residents in nine counties were without clean water after this man’s company spilled chemicals into the water supply.
We always advise spokespeople to lead with empathy in times of crisis. When the crisis involves residents who don’t have water, maybe don’t take a big swig of water on camera IMMEDIATELY after this is mentioned.
Generally speaking, this kind of impatience and curtness with media when you are clearly in the wrong is ill-advised.
Contractors Gone Rogue
Sometimes your organization screws up and you just have to own it. Let’s finish with a couple of examples of spokespeople who did just that.
The correct approach to serious reputational issues when you are in the wrong is not complicated: Start with empathy and contrition, then move to actions being taken.
Chris O’Shea, the CEO of British Gas, provides a textbook example here on BBC Radio:
The amount of time and energy O’Shea spends on conveying contrition seems just about right here. He blames his contractors, but takes responsibility for hiring them. And he’s very clear about what the company has done, and the next steps.
#StarbucksWhileBlack
Starbucks faced a reputational crisis in 2018 after a store manager in Philadelphia called police on two Black men who had entered the store and sat down to wait for a friend before ordering anything.
The incident caused the sort of national outcry that only the chairman himself, Howard Schultz, could properly address.
In this interview with CBC This Morning, Schultz conveys full contrition and humanity that seems genuine. He addresses the first question head on, but then adeptly bridges toward the company’s recent announcement and actions being taken as a result of the incident.
Notice how he flags his most important messages for the audience’s attention. (“This is not going to be a one-day event.)
He even subtly—but fairly—spreads the blame around a bit by noting that racism is a systemic problem in the country.
Sometimes in a crisis you just have to take accountability and do it as gracefully as possible. Schultz does a nice job in difficult circumstances.
Use Whichever Examples Make Sense
You don’t have to use them all, but I hope you’ll find a way to work some of these video examples into your media training. You can combine them with a few of the media training exercises we outline in another post, and your trainees should be well on their way to delivering messages confidently and avoiding common pitfalls.
Send Us Yours!
Do you have some favourite video examples that you use in your training? Send us a link to the clip and we may incorporate it into future versions of this post.
