We begin a new systems approach for our media courses
01 March, 2008
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A systems-based approach to handling media interviews is now available in Australia. The approach comes as Roger Fry & Company continually tries to improve its courses to meet the learning approaches which senior managers require.
The system-based media course is easy to learn, understand and apply.
It has three elements - message, style and structure. These are formulated through logical models developed by our training company.
To give some background on the development of this new approach, I believe that people who are senior enough and clever enough to be handling the media for their organisation deserve a rational basis for what they are asked to do.
In comparing our courses with others we constantly get feedback that our approach is more rational and explanatory. We are now taking that methodology one step further to produce this three-step system.
The system starts with pro-active message formation, through our 2A+3M model. This is driven by the newsmaker's aim relative to the topic, not by the topic itself.
This method delivers a proactive message, which has a focus on persuading a stakeholder group to think a certain way about the news event.
The second part of the system is to learn and follow the style rules of the media. These are common to print, radio and television. Adopting the precise criteria of shape and style is often enough to ensure usage of one's message.
To put it bluntly, journalists can be more concerned about how you say something, rather than what you actually say. An obvious example is the length of direct quotes - a message in a sentence of more than 30 words is rarely used.
The third and final step in the system is in structuring to make a message watertight - impervious to challenge. We do this by following the rules of modern logic, where the conclusion to an argument comes first.
This works well because it is also the way in which ordinary people conduct normal conversations. If you listen at the dinner table or down at the pub, the person who makes an argument stick uses a structural sequence such as conclusion, reason and example.
We have been testing the new system this year, and we judge its success by the results it produces in media interviews. With news grabs, for example, course participants find interviewing journalists using prepared quotes almost without exception.
In other words, if you don?t get your prepared news grab used, you may not have followed the media's rules, as outlined in the systems approach.