Media interview prep 101: How to do it right
If you screw up in a meeting in the conference room—eh, you’ll get over it. Botching your time with a member of the media, though, is just the wrong side of calamitous. Heed this advice.
Not long ago I wrote about the media frenzy around Royal Bank’s plans to bring in foreign workers to replace 45 people in its IT department. It started when one of the displaced employees went to the media to tell his side of the story. He was articulate, confident, and strategic, hitting all the right messages.
He talked about the legality of what RBC was doing, the impact on the people in his department, and the impact on his own family. It was a sad story that pretty much went viral until RBC chief executive Gord Nixon issued an apology and promised that the 45 employees would all find comparable employment at RBC.
So there was a happy ending, entirely as a result of pressure from the media.
The importance of preparation
Media coverage is powerful, but how do you ensure that media coverage about your business is positive and that your spokesperson doesn’t mess up?
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