Media Training for Executives

Why Media Training Matters for Listed Company Executives

Every public statement from a listed company executive carries weight. A stumbled answer in a live interview can move share prices. An ill-judged comment on social media can trigger regulatory attention. A defensive response to legitimate criticism can extend a crisis by days.

Media training prepares executives for these high-stakes interactions. It's not about scripting authentic leaders into corporate robots. It's about ensuring they can communicate effectively under pressure while avoiding common pitfalls that damage companies.

The best time for media training is before you need it. Executives who face their first hostile interview during an actual crisis are at significant disadvantage. Those who've practised handling difficult questions respond more effectively when the stakes are real.

Core Media Training Skills

Effective media performance requires specific skills that can be developed through training and practice. These skills apply across interview formats, from broadcast TV to podcast appearances to investor presentations.

1. Message discipline: staying on your key points regardless of question direction
2. Bridging techniques: transitioning from difficult questions to your prepared messages
3. Body language awareness: projecting confidence and credibility non-verbally
4. Soundbite development: expressing complex ideas in memorable, quotable phrases
5. Active listening: understanding what's really being asked before responding
6. Emotional regulation: maintaining composure under provocative questioning

These skills reinforce each other. Strong message discipline makes bridging easier. Good active listening helps identify where bridges are needed. Emotional regulation enables everything else to function under pressure.

Understanding Interview Dynamics

Media interviews operate by different rules than normal conversations. Journalists have their own agendas and pressures. Understanding these dynamics helps executives navigate interviews more effectively.

Recognising these techniques in real-time allows executives to respond strategically rather than reactively. This awareness comes through training and practice.

Handling Difficult Questions

Difficult questions are inevitable. Whether it's about disappointing results, executive departures, or controversial decisions, listed company leaders face tough questioning regularly. The key is having frameworks for these situations.

The bridging technique is essential. When asked a difficult question, acknowledge it briefly, then bridge to your key message. "That's an important issue, and what I can tell you is..." This approach avoids stonewalling while maintaining message discipline.

Some questions require direct answers. Evasion on factual matters damages credibility more than an uncomfortable truth. Know which questions need straight answers and which allow more flexibility. Generally, factual questions need facts. Opinion or speculative questions offer more room.

Key principles include acknowledging legitimate concerns rather than dismissing them, correcting factual errors immediately and directly, avoiding the phrase "no comment" as it implies guilt, bridging to what you can say rather than emphasising what you cannot, taking responsibility where appropriate, and staying calm regardless of how questions are framed.

Video and Social Media Considerations

Traditional media training focused on broadcast interviews and press conferences. These formats remain important, but executives now face additional channels that require adapted approaches.

Video content for social media differs from broadcast interviews. Clips are shorter. Viewer attention is more fragmented. The visual environment matters more. At Corpcast, we work with executives on social-first video content that translates their expertise into formats that engage modern audiences.

Social media also creates direct interaction opportunities. Executives active on LinkedIn or Twitter need training for these channels. The informality is different from traditional media, but the reputational risks remain. A poorly judged personal tweet can damage a company as much as a broadcast interview gone wrong.

Crisis-Specific Media Training

Crisis situations amplify every media training principle. Stakes are higher. Scrutiny is more intense. Mistakes cost more. Executives who will serve as spokespeople during crises need additional preparation.

Crisis media training typically includes scenario-based practice with realistic role-play. Trainers simulate aggressive journalist behaviour that executives might face during actual incidents. This experience builds resilience and identifies areas needing development.

Key crisis media principles include leading with empathy when people are affected, focusing on what you're doing rather than what went wrong, committing to transparency and following through, avoiding blame until facts are established, and updating regularly even when there's little new information.

Building Long-Term Capability

Media training isn't a one-time event. Skills developed in training sessions fade without reinforcement. The most effective programmes include ongoing elements that maintain readiness.

Regular refresher sessions keep skills sharp. Pre-briefings before significant media appearances apply training to specific situations. Post-appearance debriefs identify improvement areas. This continuous approach builds genuinely capable spokespeople rather than people who completed training once.

Consider training depth across your executive team. Having only one media-trained spokesperson creates vulnerability. What happens if they're unavailable during a crisis? Broader capability provides resilience and flexibility.

Practical Training Elements

Effective media training programmes combine several elements including theory sessions covering media dynamics and techniques, message development workshops for key company narratives, on-camera practice with professional-grade recording, intensive feedback reviewing actual performance, crisis simulation exercises with realistic scenarios, and ongoing coaching before significant appearances.

The on-camera practice element is particularly valuable. Many executives have never seen themselves being interviewed. Watching their own performance reveals habits they weren't aware of, from filler words to fidgeting to defensive body language. This self-awareness enables targeted improvement.

Our team at Corpcast includes professionals with extensive media training and on-camera experience. We understand what works in both traditional media contexts and the social-first video formats increasingly important for reaching diverse investor audiences. Get in touch at hello@corpcast.co.uk to discuss training for your executive team.