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If you’ve ever been interviewed by the media, chances are you one time or another looked at the final article in print and wondered, “Where did that quote come from? I didn’t say that.” I’m not referring to a damaging, libelous misquote…just the run-of-the-mill what I meant to say doesn’t match the what the reporter said I said. The instinctive reaction is to blame the reporter. They got it wrong! But consider another possibility: We didn’t make it very easy on the reporter to get it right.

Media training can cure a lot of ills…including the chronic misquote. If you engage in an in-depth media training session, you can expect to work on some critical exercises, designed among other things to ensure accuracy in quoting…

Do the exact opposite of what Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) is doing right now.

When is the last time your company and its key leaders went through a media training exercise? If you don’t know how to answer that question, you might be in trouble.

The importance of having completed a robust media training can best be described in a post by Identity Partner Tom Nixon from May 2009.

Interesting observation. I would only add that the adage, Forewarned is forearmed, is appropriate here. Not only is there value in recognizing that there may be perceived bias going into an interview, but also being aware of what that potential bias is and how to a.) avoid finding yourself in an adversarial position with the [...]

PR firms go to great lengths to make sure that their clients who have the potential to find themselves frequently on the business end of a microphone or reporter’s notepad that those clients are properly media trained. Ambush interviews were always the scariest of scenarios, as an interviewee scrambles to deflect, perhaps, a hostile reporter [...]