Entries by Lindsay Williams

A Journalist, a CEO and the Urge to Gossip

The fallout from the mishandling of the closure of Nigel Farage’s Coutts bank account is multifaceted and likely to continue for months. But the media training lesson is as simple as it comes and is included in even the most basic of media training courses. Don’t gossip with journalists. Don’t assume comments are off the […]

A Moderate Voice on Northern Ireland

This weekend I greatly enjoyed listening to Jonathan Powell on this New Statesman Vodcast. It is easy to assume that measured, moderate voices are inevitably boring. And with our Media Coach lens we would particularly expect ‘boring’ in the use of language. Clients constantly reach for bland almost meaningless phrases because they want to avoid […]

Ten Tips for Sounding More Authoritative When Speaking

My views on how people should sound in a media interview or during a presentation are based on 25 years of broadcasting and 20 years of coaching. When I coach, we nearly always use filming and playback, so that the person being coached can decide for themselves if they like the results. I highly recommend […]

Most Common Mistakes in Broadcast Interviews

There are quite a few things to get your head around if you want or need to become a talking head for your company or your cause. Our broadcast media training is designed to help people understand how to prepare ahead of an interview and how to behave during an interview. But in this post, […]

Isabel Oakeshott, a Divisive but Impressive Interviewee

The publication in The Telegraph last week, of a series of stories based on Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages, is a very addictive and divisive subject for those of us that consider ourselves journalists.   On the one hand it is an enormous scoop. Whatever you think about how the information came into the public domain, […]

Please Do Answer the Question in a Media Interview

We are all used to politicians refusing to answer questions but it was quite shocking last Monday on Channel 4 News, to see a spokesperson for junior doctors simply parrot prepared lines without any attempts to answer a question.   Why you should answer the question before using prepared lines. You retain your credibility You […]

Is There Such a Thing as Voice Privilege?

I was rather taken aback to read an article in the FT this week about ‘voice privilege’.  It really annoyed me. Read the article here but as it’s behind a paywall, here is a quick summary. The author argues that having a nice voice is a huge advantage in life, and Boris Johnson is a […]

Learn to be Quotable and You Will Control the Headlines

As a media trainer, I am constantly urging people to be a little more creative or adventurous with their language…for the simple reason that it will ensure journalists report the things they say. In recent days I have been looking for some new examples to prove this point and I offer five here. I am […]