Category Archives: Media Skills Training

This morning in Ottawa CBC radio host Kathleen Petty lamented her Wikipedia entry was “filled with mistakes.” Petty was interviewing a local contributor to the collaborative encyclopedia when she made the comment about her entry. Ironically, the interview was about changes to Wikipedia’s editing policy aimed at preventing errors and vandalism. Wikipedia is loved and…
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UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has been criticized by many in his party for his lackluster public performance.  Summed up best as “lacking passion.” This video of the British Prime Minister, at the TED Global conference, is giving the UK Labour party some hope their leader may be able to hold off a resurgent UK…
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Tell the whole story and nothing but the whole story. I thought a real life political convention anecdote would be appropriate considering all the partisan NDP talk on the blog these days.  At the last convention in Quebec City, I rushed out a research document after Laytonʼs leadership approval numbers were released.  The list had…
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Student journalists are not students for very long.  By this, I mean it only takes two or three years from the time you brush off a student journalist until the time that same journalist is working as the new marquee columnist at the national newspaper.  People hold grudges.  Two or three years from now, would…
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This guest post is by my partner and regular MediaStyle collaborator, Shawn Dearn. When planning any event you want the media to attend and cover, it’s important to remember reporters, photographers, and the all-important camera and sound professionals, likely have a very limited amount of time to spend with you; don’t waste it. You’ve planned…
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Journalism is one of the most ethically-bound professions in Canada.  Not by law, but by tradition, precedent, and practice.  The vast majority of journalists in my country come at their jobs with an objective eye, life experience, and a passion for telling other peoples stories.  What I mean by “ethically-bound” is the one thing binding…
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Arrival, load-in, and rehearsal time for a major media event is hectic.  It means swarms of technicians. In less than two days staging, lighting, computers, power, cabling, electrical, telephone lines, and most times external power generators to run it all requires installation.  As major events evolve in the planning process, the on-site media relations plan…
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CoCo Chanel famously suggested the key to looking fabulous was taking off one accessory before leaving the house.  Editing your look before heading out the door and deciding which angle to pitch journalists is surprisingly similar.  When deciding what to leave in and what to cut from a pitch, remember journalists always want more information…
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On occasion, Public Relations folks have to release bad news.  The industry cliche is, “If you want to hide it, send it out Friday afternoon at five.” I’m sure that before 24 hour news cycles, live blogging, and Twitter, “Friday at five” made sense.  But, send it out Friday at five today?  Expect that the…
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Be friendly and open with everybody at a media outlet.  I’ve heard horror stories about the abuse some camera people, receptionists, and technicians have been subjected to.  I’ll say this: word-of-mouth is key to getting invited back by the media outlet to comment and a media outlet is more than the senior managers, producers, and…
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