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5 Media Training Lessons from Rolling Stone Co-founder Jann Wenner

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Here are 5 Media Training Lessons from Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner’s recent interview with the New York Times regarding his upcoming book “The Masters,” which features interviews he conducted with artists such as John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and others while at the helm of Rolling Stone.

 

Wenner, when interviewed about why his new book profiles only white males as pioneers of rock, made various statements about blacks and women that have set off a firestorm of criticism.

 

Among his infamous statements, The Times quotes Wenner as saying, “Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.”

 

Such a quote makes Wenner a perfect example of why media training is vital before any media interview.

 

Lesson 1:

Wenner personifies a lesson I’ve taught in every media training class since the mid-1990s, which is for a spokesperson to ask themselves, “If I could attach a dollar to every word I say, would I make money or lose money?”

 

Wenner’s verbal faux pas was done in conjunction with an interview to promote a book. How much has Wenner damaged his book sale? Plus, how much has he damaged the revenue, reputation, and brand of Rolling Stone magazine?

 

Lesson 2:

Many executives arrogantly think they can enter any interview without preparation. Arrogance combined with denial are a one-two punch that few executives survive when they enter an interview without practice. I’ve long taught executives in my media training classes that it is better to make a verbal mistake in private than to make that mistake in public.

 

Lesson 3:

Media training is not supposed to make a spokesperson change their core beliefs. But if the spokesperson’s core beliefs will stir unwanted controversy, it is the media trainer’s job to coach the spokesperson on how to rephrase their statements, since controversy will undoubtedly hurt revenue, reputation, and brand.

 

Lesson 4:

In an interview, the spokesperson must understand the difference between their internal monologue and their external conversation. Case in point, Wenner is quoted as saying, “For public relations sake, maybe I should have gone and found one black and one woman artist to include here that didn’t measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism,” and “Maybe I’m old-fashioned and I don’t give a (expletive) or whatever.”

 

Guess who does give a (expletive)? Women, blacks, and many other potential readers of Rolling Stone and potential purchasers of his book, The Masters.

 

Lesson 5:

You can’t put the genie back in the bottle and you can’t put lipstick on a pig to make an “ugly” creature look prettier. In a clear “oh sh*t” moment, the publisher of Wenner’s book issued a statement that says, “In my interview with The New York Times I made comments that diminished the contributions, genius and impact of black and women artists and I apologize wholeheartedly for those remarks.”

 

Wenner’s quotes caused Rolling Stone magazine to go into crisis response mode. The magazine issued a statement that says, “Jann Wenner’s recent statements to the New York Times do not represent the values and practices of today’s Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner has not been directly involved in our operations since 2019.”

 

In conclusion, no media interview should be taken lightly, and no media interview should ever be done without practice. Every word, phrase, and nuance of an interview will be scrutinized by the journalists. There is no margin for error.

 

 

To discuss media training for you and your organization, schedule a complimentary, confidential call with me https://calendly.com/braud/15min

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…” and founder of SituationHub crisis communications software.

More crisis communications articles:

15 Questions to Ask Before You Use Facebook for Crisis Communications

Can You Handle a Crisis When it Hits by Winging It?

Where is Your Crisis Communications Funnel Clogged?

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Press Conference Tip: Use a Room With Two Doors

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One major press conference tip I often advise companies is to always use a room with two doors. That leads to the question, “Why?” Read more

Most Popular Crisis Communications Videos: Video 1

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A few years back I was running a series of videos asking subscribers some crisis communications and public relations questions. I would ask one question per week on LinkedIn and Twitter.  Next, I would seek their responses on social media, gather them, and then report on what they said the following week. It created an engaging relationship with my colleagues, followers, and professionals in the public relations, corporate communications, media relations and crisis communications industries.

Years later, there is one video that remains my most popular video ever.

I asked social media followers, public relations professionals, and media relations experts, “What should your first words be in a media interview?”

Should you thank your interviewer? Should you spell out your name?

 

 

Here were their responses, as well as a few of my own professional comments as a media trainer.  It doesn’t matter what the first question is if you know how the beginning of the answer starts. Preambles are the perfect way to begin an interview. Buffer a direct question with a preamble. Watch the video to see what I mean.

As a way to show your continued support and to see more of our most popular crisis communications videos, please hit Subscribe on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

And stay tuned for next week’s second most popular crisis communications video ever.

 

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…” and founder of SituationHub crisis communications software.

More crisis communications articles:

15 Questions to Ask Before You Use Facebook for Crisis Communications

Can You Handle a Crisis When it Hits by Winging It?

Where is Your Crisis Communications Funnel Clogged?

How to do an Online Media Interview: Media Training Tips

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It’s finally time to get the lighting right. It’s finally time to get the camera angle right. It’s time to set aside nerves and confusion and get it straight. This late in the game, you either think you have this all down pat (and you could be wrong), or you are still too nervous to get on camera. This is the straightforward, quick guide to doing a proper media interview in your home office or at your workplace. Read more

Virtual Media Training Class

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If media interviews are part of your job, here is the replay to Thursday’s Virtual Media Training.

Use this link to listen.

Talking to the media is hard, even on a sunny day. This is why top leaders, executives, and spokespeople take annual media training classes, either in person or as a virtual media training class. In a media interview, the pressure is on to say the right thing. Doing a media interview is even harder on your darkest day when you are in the middle of a situation that may become a crisis. You can plan and you can prepare. But can you control the media interview?

In this Virtual Media Training, we take away the fear of the media and media interviews by giving you practical techniques to be your best on, potentially, your worst day.

Not every crisis results in a media interview. However, it only takes that one rare interview to damage your revenue, reputation, and brand. Plus, when eyewitnesses are telling your story on social media, the pressure increases for you to issue a statement at the speed of social media.

In this Virtual Media Training Class we will:

  • Examine the power of a preamble in your public statement
  • Explore the differences between an ad-lib statement vs. using a script
  • Understand the critical role of answering questions before they are asked
  • Unlock secrets to avoid the speculation trap
  • Discover the trick to control how the final news report is edited

Your FREE registration has been paid for by the team at SituationHub.com, which is the first and only crisis communications app that can automatically write a news release at the speed of social media.

Your host is crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud.

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Crisis Communication Class Replay: 15 Questions to Ask Before You Use Facebook

Keynote Speaker On Crisis Management: “Words Matter”

Ready or Reactionary? Crisis Communication Class Replay

Virtual and Live Keynote Presentation: “Words Matter”

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Can you name one leader that used the wrong words – costing themselves their career, company, or city thousands or millions of dollars, or worse, lives?

Words matter. Words can inspire. Words can motivate. Words can comfort and console us.

We have plenty of case studies of business leaders, political leaders, and leaders around the world who either said the right thing at the right time or the wrong time at the wrong time. Budgets destroyed, companies destroyed, political careers destroyed, and cities destroyed. Just take Hurricane Katrina for example, and the wrong words that the Mayor used at a critical time. People died, in my opinion, because of what he said and what he failed to say.

There is a secret to picking the right word at the right time to achieve the right results.

These secrets are revealed in this customizable keynote presentation, as well as my crisis communications plans, crisis communications drills, and spokesperson media training.

To prepare your words for your next crisis and talk about your needs, schedule a complimentary, confidential call with me https://calendly.com/braud/15min

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

15 Questions to Ask Before You Use Facebook for Crisis Communications

Can You Handle a Crisis When it Hits by Winging It?

Crisis Management Lessons from Hurricane Katrina vs. COVID19

Virtual Presentation: “Don’t Talk to the Media & Words Matter”

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If you could attach a dollar value to every word you say, would you make money or would you lose money?

Do your words in media interviews or even in conversation with clients, stakeholders, and colleagues enhance your profits, or destroy your revenue, reputation, and brand? The story I’m sharing here appears in my media training classes, as well as in my keynote presentations, “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…” and “Words Matter.”

How much do words matter? In this story, a company spokesperson destroys a $700-million dollar project in a 12-second soundbite. Watch this video to learn to mess up in private, not in public:

“A license to pollute.” Yikes. 4,000 construction jobs never created. 400 permanent jobs never created. Taxes were never paid. Safer roads were never built. The audience heard him say “We have a license to kill.” What should have been said? This spokesperson should have had proper media training to understand and communicate the three things he promises to protect. Preparation needs to be done before the real interview.

Ultimately, you should talk to the media to tell the story of your brand. The keyword is “until.” The key is to do it properly and understand the rules of engagement. The first lesson is don’t talk to the media, but talk to the media’s audience. The media are not your audience. The people at home are your audience. Talk to them. Manage their expectations.

To talk further about how to prepare to talk to the media or how this virtual presentation could benefit your boss or your colleagues, schedule a complimentary, confidential call with me https://calendly.com/braud/15min

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

15 Questions to Ask Before You Use Facebook for Crisis Communications

Can You Handle a Crisis When it Hits by Winging It?

Crisis Management Lessons from Hurricane Katrina vs. COVID19

Media Training for Covid-19 Key Messages: Rule of Threes

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC 

The brain remembers three things better than five. That is why the Rule of Threes is a foundation of media training. So when key medical experts testified before Congress recently, the nit-picker in me appreciated their five tips for preventing the spread of Covid-19, yet I know that a minor shift to three tips could result in more effective crisis communications.

The doctors all suggested:

  1. Wear a mask
  2. Wash your hands frequently
  3. Practice social distancing
  4. Avoid crowds at businesses, bars, and social gatherings
  5. Avoid large family gatherings

Although their advice seems fairly straightforward, as a professional media trainer and crisis communications expert, I am always examining how to communicate more effectively in a crisis.

Watch the video to learn how you can convert these five points into three key messages to clearly explain the guidelines in a way that the spokesperson can easily remember, and listeners can easily remember, using the Rule of Threes, and our Key Message Tree mind-mapping model.

This media training model can be applied to every event for every spokesperson. When you apply the Rule of Threes, your media training will be far more effective.

If you’d like to learn more, schedule a no-obligation conversation with me using this link: https://calendly.com/braud/15min

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

Covid-19 Crisis Communications Webinar Recording

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

“Covid-19 Death Toll is Like 5 Boeing 737 Max 8 Jets Crashing Every Day:” Crisis Communications Tips to Land Analogies

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

Crisis communications surrounding Covid-19 has been difficult. Why is it that you can put a medical expert in front of the media and they have difficulty landing your crisis communications message?

From a communications standpoint, it comes down to: 

  • facts
  • passion
  • outrage, and 
  • fear.

Before reading this blog further, watch the INTRO to the video which describes the disclaimer, my personal bias, and my personal goal for putting out this message:

Now, imagine if a medical expert got on television and made the impassioned plea below: (Note, the entire plea is demonstrated in today’s video for training purposes.)

“The daily death toll from Covid-19 in the United States is like five Boeing 737 Max 8 jets crashing every day and killing everyone on board.

Think about this. Governments around the world were outraged that 346 people died in two crashes of 737 Max 8 jets. Governments and airlines banned the planes from flying because 346 people died.

Yet here we are, in the middle of a pandemic, and there is no outrage when the number of people who die each day in the United States is equal to five jets crashing each day. 

The number of people who have died since the onset of the pandemic in the United States in March is equal to 750 jets crashing and killing everyone on board.

As a country, would we sit idly by if five jets crashed every day? 

As a country, would we be outraged if 750 jets fell out of the sky and killed 150,000 U.S. Citizens?

We would not stand for it.

If terrorists shot down five jets every day in the United States and killed 1,000 people, would we not declare war?

If terrorists killed 150,000 U.S. Citizens over five months, would we not mobilize every bit of energy we have as a united nation to stop them from taking one more life?

So then why is it that we are okay with letting 1,000 U.S. Citizens die every day from a disease that we can fight and stop?

So then why is it that we are okay with letting 150,000 U.S. Citizens die in five months from a disease that we can fight and stop?”  

©2020 Diversified Media, LLC

(…and scene.)

(Footnote: An Axios poll release while I am writing this says 30% of Americans believe the numbers I just used from the CDC are inflated.)

The opposing viewpoint has been effectively using the analogy that says:

“Covid-19 deaths are no different than the deaths we see every year from the common flu.”

The second analogy about the flu has stuck with about one-third of Americans, according to polls.

Here are three reasons why one side has been more successful in messaging:

  1. Medical experts are trying to sell scientific facts.
  2. Medical experts are failing to sell compelling fear or outrage.
  3. and #3 … and this is a big one… those with opposing views have done a better job of getting out front with their own analogies first.

And I’ll add this point to number 3 — Those who have been selling their analogies better, have sold them as a dismissive message to an audience that is usually motivated by fear. In other words, people who are normally motivated and inspired by fear are being told, “You have nothing to fear.”

— Now before you start wondering if this blog is motivated by my politics, the answer is no. For more than 25 years I’ve worked to share crisis communications strategies with you and this is just one more lesson.

It should be noted, that in most crises, there are not two opposing arguments. For example, when a jet crashes and kills all 200 people on board, the President, members of Congress, Governors, and elected officials are not standing in front of the media saying,

“It’s just one jet. More people die every day from the flu than died in that airplane crash.”

So no, this is not a blog that takes sides on the issue because of politics. It is a blog about how to be effective in your crisis communications.

Where did my airplane crash analogy come from? Recently on a television news program, a doctor was trying to use the analogy, but he failed to land the analogy. The doctor failed because his delivery of the analogy lacked passion, fear, and outrage.

So here are the realities as I write this on July 26, 2020:

  • Many passenger jets carry 200 people.
  • The 737 Max 8 was pulled from service after two crashes killed 346 people.
  • Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. at this point have reached daily death tolls of 1,000 people.

In conclusion:

  • Analogies are a great way to communicate.
  • Analogies that tap into fear and outrage can be more effective.
  • If you use analogies, you must sell the message with passion and outrage.
  • When your analogy is compelling, others will use it.

We’ve watched the viral spread of the analogy that Covid-19 deaths are no different than the flu. Let’s watch to see if the analogy about the airline crash takes off.

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

Covid-19 Crisis Communications Webinar Recording

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

How to Do a Remote Media Interview: COVID-19 Media Training Tips

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC 

The number of remote media interviews, online interviews, Zoom interviews, and the like have skyrocketed in the past few weeks. In last week’s video, I asked you, who is doing them well? How is the quality of the videos?

Well, today I am providing you with expert media training strategies to help you look professional, organized, and credible as a source for your media interview.

If lighting, camera angles, technology, and wardrobe stress you out (and rightfully so), this video can help you be a video producer in your own home office or other remote location.

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

Covid-19 Crisis Communications Webinar Recording

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson