This Media Awareness Seminar is aimed at non spokespeople within Police Forces.

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Any employee of the Police Force could be faced with a reporter

The reason to include these people is that the influence and impact of the media extends throughout the whole Police Forces and it is important for every single person employed by the Police to be media aware in their daily duties.

Very often media "gaffes" and "own goals" are not committed by the people who speak to the media. They are occasionally caused by the actions of some who say the wrong thing inadvertently at the scene of an incident, or when they pick up the phone in the office and give away some damaging tit-bit of information to a journalist who is calling "on spec".

The seminar is fun and entertaining, we include lots of video clips to illustrate our points, and encourage audience interaction and the help of willing volunteers. We will highlight the need for proactivity and effective communication skills when dealing with the media. The seminar is designed to give a good overview of the workings of the media and will highlight any areas where further training would be beneficial.

The Seminar would consist of a series of modules – outlined in the agenda – and be presented using a combination of Power Point, Flip Charts, Videos and interactive audience-participation.

We would aim to cover the following subjects:

• The need for Media Awareness and Media Vigilance.
• The need for good Media Relations.
• What to do if you encounter a journalist — either on the phone, at the scene of an incident or in person.
• What to say and what not to say when a journalist calls.
• How to handle a journalist enquiry in a helpful, positive way, without actually giving anything away yourself.
• Pitfalls and traps.
• Doorstepping.
• The role of the Press Office.
• The theory of handling a media interview (for information).
• The theory of handling an on site interview (for information).
• How to prepare for an interview (for information).
• How to generate news interest in your activities.
• Media Strategy and Media Skills.
• Crisis Management and Success Messages.

To break things up a little, we would ask for one (or more) volunteers to take part in one (or more) practice media interviews and a journalist enquiry. This is for your information only, so that you have a better understanding of what is needed, both by the journalist and by your media spokes-person. We would then replay the interview before the group, highlighting the lessons to be learnt from this random example.

Agenda

• Introduction.
• The need for Media Awareness.
• The need for good Media Relations.
• How to handle media enquiries.
• How to recognise a journalist and a media enquiry.
• What to say when a journalist calls-and what not to say.
• How to make sure the right person is contacted when a journalist calls.
• How to conduct a successful media interview (in theory).
• Control-how to take control and get your message across.
• The role of the Press Office.
• Door-stepping journalists.
• News awareness-what makes a story.
• How to recognise a good story.
• Writing a Press Release.
• Newspapers, Radio and TV-different methods of media enquiry.
• Media and News Management Strategies.
• Proactivity-identify and exploit media opportunities.
• Make it newsworthy-what is the journalist looking for?
• Building relationships with journalists.
• Videos of how not to do it.
• Practice interview with one volunteer.
• Playback and analysis.
• Basic rules / do's and don'ts.
• Seminar conclusions.

Please use the form below to contact us for more details.