It didn’t take long for the BBC’s Acting Director-General Tim Davie to trend on Twitter today, thanks in large part to his decision to walk out of an interview with Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan. Many have been quick to claim this “storming off” was a very poor start to Davie’s new job. But others […]
A prescription for fewer complaints against doctors
Today’s General Medical Council story on complaints about doctors reaching record levels contained an intriguing statistic: the number of allegations about doctors’ communication skills has risen by 69 per cent in the last year. We shouldn’t let bald stats blind us to the fact many doctors are brilliant at talking to patients, but clearly some […]
The bottom line on media training
BBC Radio 4’s Evan Davis discussed media training last week on his “The Bottom Line” programme – a regular round-table show, where captains of industry and major organisations mull over business issues. It raised a few interesting points, which are worth further scrutiny and provide useful lessons for anyone about to face the media, whether […]
Key lessons you can bank on in a crisis
So, following days of mounting pressure after the interest rate-rigging scandal broke, Barclays boss Bob Diamond has resigned. Aside from what lessons may be learnt about financial best practice, there’s plenty all companies can glean from this City saga about how to handle a crisis: – Crises can quickly make a business appear reactive, not […]
Taking a pounding – lessons from a treasury interviewee
There’s a saying among journalists that when it comes to interviewing politicians, we start with the mindset of, “What ‘porkies’ are you going to try to tell me, you b***stard?” This might seem harsh, but I wish I had a pound for every delegate in a media training session who has said, “What I really […]
How to stop social media becoming anti-social
Remember when you used to hear about a crisis first on the Six O’Clock News? Now many bosses probably long for their dirty laundry to get its first airing there, because it might just give them an hour or so to plan a response. These days within minutes or even seconds of your catastrophic commercial […]
The eyes have it – where to look in a TV interview
When faced with a media interview, most people are frightened of expressing something the wrong way. In reality, many an interviewee has been let down by looking the wrong way (and I’m not talking about their appearance). It’s their eyes that are the problem, not their mouths. There’s something about a TV camera that is […]