Whether it's a Panorama Special going undercover at a Probation Hostel in Avon and Somerset, or a local paper criticising Probation Officers for being responsible for a crime wave by persistent offenders, the Probation Service is undoubtedly being given a rough ride by the media nationally, as well as locally.

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No comment will only make things worse

In Avon and Somerset, Panorama Reporter Paul Kenyon went undercover to Probation Hostels and reported that offenders were going unsupervised and unmonitored throughout the day causing havoc for local communities. A transcript of the interview given by Jeanette Whitford, Chief Probation Officer for Avon and Somerset, can be found on the BBC's website.

But the damage has already been done. It is very hard for the Probation Service to respond to the media in this way, while it feels hamstrung because it cannot be seen to be critical of the Criminal Justice System, the Courts or individual judges.

So what can you say? Do you need to respond to the media? How do you do this without making things worse?

These are questions Media Friendly are trying to grapple with. We set up shop in the late 1990s to help the Public Sector deal with the culture of blame so prevalent in both the local and national media. We have consistently championed the Regions and a Regional media response, because it is so hard to contest and fight against some national papers with an entrenched negative attitude to the public sector such as The Daily Mail. But it is possible to work with nearly all local papers.

And we want to help you turn around this blame culture, because as former journalists poachers turned gamekeepers we know the tricks and know what they want from a story.

With regard to the Probation Service we understand your issues and your challenges, such as: More accurate and effective assessment and management of risk and dangerousness. More involvement of victims of serious sexual and other violent crime. Offender programmes that have a track record in reducing re–offending. Intervening early to take young people away from crime. Prompt enforcement of community orders and release licences. Providing courts with good information and pre-trial services. Valuing and achieving diversity in the National Probation Service.

To this end we have developed a specially tailored Media Training course for the Probation Service which can be tailored for your region locally.