What is media training?
Media training is structured preparation for press interviews, broadcasts, podcasts and high-stakes public speaking. It teaches the person in the chair how to control the message, handle the awkward question, and deliver quotes a journalist will actually use.
Most executives think media training is about learning to speak. It is not. It is about learning to listen. The single biggest mistake spokespeople make is opening their mouths before they have heard the real question. Once you can hear the angle behind the question, everything else gets simpler.
What a good media training course covers
At a minimum, a serious programme will teach five things.
- Message development. How to write three points that a journalist can lift straight off the call and put in their copy.
- Bridging techniques. The phrases that move any question back to your message without sounding evasive.
- Body language and voice. What works on camera, on a Zoom call, and on the phone. Three different settings, three different sets of moves.
- Mock interviews. Real practice with a real journalist, on camera, with playback. The only way to feel the difference.
- Crisis preparation. What to say when something has gone wrong and the press is on the phone.
Who needs media training
Founders going into a funding round. CEOs about to be profiled. Public sector leaders facing scrutiny. Anyone stepping in front of a journalist, a stage, a board or a podcast microphone where what they say will be quoted, recorded, or remembered. If you would rewrite that quote in your head afterwards, you needed media training before it.
How Erbut teaches media training
We are not a PR agency that branched into coaching. We are journalists who still write and edit, training executives through The Erbut Method: Listen, Frame, Bridge, Land. The trainers in the room are the people who would have been asking the questions in your real interview, which is the only kind of training that actually translates to the real chair.
Our Press Interview Mastery course is the flagship one-day programme. For executives who already train regularly, we run condensed one-to-one sessions ahead of specific interviews.
Common questions about media training
How long does media training take?
One full day for the flagship course. Half a day for last-minute one-to-one prep. Two to three sessions for executives who interview frequently.
Is media training the same as PR training?
No. Media training prepares the spokesperson. PR training prepares the team that pitches journalists. We focus on the chair, not the process around it.
What does it cost?
Public group cohorts are transparently priced on each course page. One-to-one coaching and bespoke corporate programmes are scoped to the brief. Book a strategy call for a tailored quote.
Can it be done remotely?
Yes. We deliver live online sessions to leadership teams in any timezone. The mock interviews still happen on camera with playback.