Guide to Media and Communications

Audience: political staffers, communications professionals working for businesses or charities, campaigners

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If you work with the media, there are a wealth of unwritten rules you need to know in order to ensure your message cuts through. Hear from our team of senior journalists how the press really works and how to avoid making mistakes that reporters can pounce on. Learn simple crisis management tools and gain an understanding of a journalist’s working days, how best to approach them and when, and how to make sure an off the record conversations stays that way. Get tips on conducting broadcast interviews, live and pre-recorded and learn how to brief your boss on what to expect when they go on air. 

We will cover the following, and much more:

• What makes a story?
• How to speak to journalists: when to email and when to phone 
• Rules of engagement with journalists: what is the difference between ‘off the record’ and background briefings?
• Choosing your target publication and audience
• Writing a press release that journalists will read 
• Navigating the national, regional and specialist media
• Three simple rules for broadcast interviews 
• Using social media smartly and effectively
• Managing a crisis: How to respond to media inquiries in an emergency 
• IPSO and the regulatory environment

Who is this course for: 

Anyone who already deals regularly with the media, would like to, or who works for someone who does.