MEDIA HANDLING
Advanced Media Handling
Learn how the most successful comms teams work effectively with the media to influence and generate media coverage.
Learn how the most successful comms teams work effectively with the media to influence and generate media coverage
This full-day Advanced Media Handling workshop supports communications teams to optimise how they work with journalists and media outlets, including in crisis situations.
What you'll learn
This full-day course gives you a clear understanding of how the media works and what journalists need. You'll learn when your spokespeople should speak to the media, how to brief them effectively, and how to manage broadcast crews on-site. We focus on preparing spokespeople to communicate with confidence even under pressure. You'll gain practical tools to help them manage stress, avoid sounding defensive, and use tone, empathy, and body language to defuse hostility and connect with critical audiences. The course also explores how the media operates during a crisis, what journalists look for in accountability interviews, and the common pitfalls to avoid. Through real-world case studies, you'll learn what works, what doesn't and how to communicate clearly when it matters most.
How you'll learn
Your course will be led by a senior broadcast journalist who are also specialist media trainers with years of experience in crisis training. They'll share their expertise and use presentations, case studies, discussion and practical exercises to build your team's media handling skills whether it's dealing with general press inquiries to influencing media coverage during a crisis.
Who this Advanced Media Handling workshop is for
This workshop is designed for teams in press office and communications roles who need to confidently brief journalists, manage TV crews on site, prep senior executives for media interviews, respond to media during a crisis, influence media coverage and help their organisation to limit reputational damage in a crisis.
Course Modules
Module 1: Advanced Media Handling Theory
Media relations strategy
What journalists want and how to pitch to newsdesks
Dealing with journalists/TV crews on your site
Prepping spokespeople for interviews
Effective messaging and crisis questions
Dealing with tricky questions – ABC technique
Module 2: Crisis Media Handling & Practical exercises
Media v your priorities in a crisis
Your crisis issues
Limiting reputational damage
Prepping spokespeople – messaging, tone, empathy
Practical exercise – Prepare a nominated spokesperson to do a mock interview face to face with a trainer. Followed by feedback on messaging, spokesperson prep and interview performance.
What our students say
I honestly thought that the whole day was fabulous!!! You really couldn’t have done anymore for us. The combination of practical exercises and feedback was particularly useful, it was a challenging day (in a very good way) in that we really had to think, learn and adapt quickly. I know the team are significantly better prepared for media interviews after this training.
PA Media Training were efficient, well organised and genuinely lovely people to deal with and, importantly for us, able to provide flexibility around our needs to create the bespoke training we required. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for further training or to recommend them to other organisations.
The training scenarios are as real to life as you could possibly get. They took considerable time to research our current plans and issues and used these to design a series of true to life radio and TV interviews. The team is outstanding, and their expertise and knowledge has been invaluable. Book them – you’ll be glad you did.
The team is flexible, slick, well-resourced and overall simply first class. Their expertise and knowledge have been invaluable. I was delighted with our choice, so I’d have no hesitation in recommending them
The lifelike interview settings and tasks that PA Media Training deal in replicate perfectly the real-world feel of a tough media interview and help the delegates come out of the day feeling much more confident that they can play an active role in representing their organisation.
What a great session we had on Communicating with Impact. Bridgid shared practical techniques to enhance and develop our communications skills so we can present and speak publicly or to senior stakeholders with confidence and impact. I speak for my whole team in highly recommending Bridgid Nzekwu if you are after effective and fun communication training.
The small class sizes nurture a comfortable environment where everyone supports and learns from each other. The staff helped me hone in on my writing skills and develop the confidence to feel comfortable on camera.
Interested in this course?
Talk to the Press Association Academy team about dates, fees and bespoke options.