Media training, and the importance of current experience

​I was doing some media training last week with a multinational company here in Geneva. I often media train alongside Michael Dempsey, a freelance journalist – and the client gave me some very interesting feedback.
 
Usually, he said, media training is offered by either former journalists or by a PR agency (usually fielding a media training expert who may or may not still be ‘working with the media’).
 
What he liked about our approach was that we are both current, active media practitioners.
 
I run a small consultancy and am very hands on. This means that I set up every interview for clients with the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal or the NY Times. I don’t hand this to a junior staffer.
 
This is a stark contrast to when I was in a senior role in a big global PR firm. Then, like many of my senior peers, I did not call the media directly as most of my time was taken up with management matters.
 
Likewise, my co trainer, Mike Dempsey does not just do media training – he still writes stories for the BBC, and has worked for the Financial Times and most UK national daily titles as well as CNN and other broadcasters.
 
Why do I mention this? Because this makes a real difference. It means when I give advice on what works or does not work with the global business media like TIME or the Wall Street Journal, I know what I am talking about as I speak to them every day and place stories with them every day.
 
When Mike talks about what the BBC wants he speaks from personal experience of journalism as it is conducted today.
 
This matters to our clients – they know that when it comes to media training, real and recent knowledge of the media wants and how the media works is what makes the training valuable.
 
What do you think?  What’s your experience of what works and doesn’t work in media training?

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