Media Training Tip #11: Don't Let This Happen To Your Spokesperson

Considering whether it would be a good idea to arrange a media training session for your company spokesperson? Then immediately click on this link featuring “The Economy? Words Fail Me,” Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank’s video recap of a press conference gone bad.

This is probably the most alarming example we’ve seen showing the dangerous mix of (a.) a well-meaning and educated spokesman who’s uncomfortable and not fully prepared, and, (b.) a member of the print media (armed with a cameraperson) on the hunt for a new and entertaining angle to a story.

There is no doubt about the expertise of interview subject and Harvard Ph.D. Phillip Swagel, the Treasury Department’s “sacrificial lamb” for an early July 2008 press conference about the economy. But some basic media training and interview preparation techniques could have made his day in the spotlight a little less painful to watch.