Should we get cross on air?
By srw1976 on
November 12, 2010
I loved an item on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme this week. While it may seem like one for sports fans, I think we could ask the same question of all our spokespeople – has media training gone too far and made everyone a bit bland?
The PM programme debated this in light of an interview with the manager of Blackpool football club, Ian Holloway, who was very forthright in an interview with a sports reporter.
You can listen to it here up until 17 November. Just scroll along to 24 minutes and 50 seconds for the item within this one-hour programme. I also loved it as the guy has such a fab Bristol accent – being a West Country girl myself, I always feel at home when I hear the dialect. (Although I be a bit more Zumerzet than Brissle.)
Should we be more relaxed about our spokespeople getting a bit cross on air? I would say not, I think the art of good media training is to keep your spokesperson on track but with a bit of personality. And lets face it, what might be good for ‘back pages’ may not cut it on the city pages. And what about accents? Love ‘em or hate ‘em?
PR practitioners are communicating with extremely diverse publics. Regional accents are a refreshing change in an industry which has become extremely monotone.
Where do I start?
Let me get the cards on the table. I’m a Seasider season ticket holder, and I think Ollie is a genius.
There’s a lot I love about his idiosyncrasies, his accent is one of them. His leadership is another – a man who’s leadership has taken his team into the best football league in the world and by doing so has just made it better!
That’s the same team that were odds on favourites for relegation from the Championship last season, not promotion. The same team that still wash their own shirts. The same team who’s combined earnings are less than Wayne Rooney.
I’ve watched the critics and pundits eat humble pie over the last 3 months. Their wisdom has been challenged, their tone has moved from patronising to admiration.
So, before the PR pundits shake their heads in disbelief and send their media training credentials to Bloomfield Road, think again.
I really don’t think Ollie needs media training, in fact I would argue he could take a few classes. He’s not polished, boring, corporate, full of soundbites and rhetoric. Yes, the things you’re conditoned to become in taditional media training. He’s engaging, he’s passionate, he’s clever, he’s endearing.
He’s just broke all the rules, he speaks his mind and doesn’t sit on the fence, he’s just put the ‘gritty’ back into integrity, he’s just earned his place in the Orator’s Hall of Fame.
What’s even more interesting is his leadership story. Coming to a blog near you soon here http://ciprinside.wordpress.com/
He could teach most blue-chip CEOs a thing or two about engagement.
The future’s not orange, it’s Tangerine.
I don’t have a problem with regional accents it’s people who use them as an excuse to speak badly that I can’t stand. There’s probably more of a need for elocution lessons than media training in some departments.
Oh, and every time someone says “to be honest” or “basically” they should have their fingers broken!
When I do media training I find people far too worried about their accents, whether or not to wear glasses (always a good idea to wear them if you can’t see otherwise!) or whether they wave their hands around too much. It sounds easy but the secret really is to be yourself, although that may take practice in the rather artificial surroundings of a broadcast interview. Make sure the messages you want to get across are in a language that best suits you and your personality – so do not attempt to speak the language of your organisation’s annual report. On this particular interview I would say passion can work – it means you care – but make sure you always stay in control of the message.
[...] room with my youngest son at the last game of the season last yea. Reading a recent post by PR Academy on Blackpool manager Ian Holloway’s media skills, I was inspired to unpack his leadership [...]