On Media Handling

Blogpost-in-progress. Points as I notice them.

I've done no media training, but I think I can notice a few traits common to media training.
Let's see, there's:

• Staying on message. You want to emphasize a particular point every chance you get. A primitive version is to tack onto an interview "I'd just like to say..." followed by the point you feel needs more emphasis.
• Always answering the question you want to answer, not the question you were actually asked. The trick here is to try to give the impression that you're providing an answer rather than evading the question.
• Always taking the opportunity to make sure any point that might contradict the impression you want to give gets countered. Not so much a problem in one-on-one interviews, but can be problematic in conference-type environments, such as when you're one of a number of guests on a talk-show. NEVER sit back and let an opponent negate the message you're so carefully trying to sell.
• In photoshots, colour makes a difference. Pay attention to it.