Media training: the foundation for every great PR win
By Oskar Howell, Mar 24 2026
In today’s media landscape, earned media is tough to win, but incredibly valuable.
Journalists are more frantic than ever, their audiences are more discerning, yet they are also reading fewer articles. The stakes are higher than ever: if you win an interview, a single sentence, or even a missed opportunity, can shape public perception of your brand.
So why are so many businesses pouring resources into pitching, media relations, and strategic communications, only to send a spokesperson into an interview with almost no preparation? Not only is this a wasted opportunity, but it can open the door to genuine reputational damage.
Media training sits at the heart of an effective PR strategy. When done properly, it transforms a capable person into a compelling communicator, able to hold their own in a tough interview, articulate clear points of view, and leave journalists or interviewers with something worth publishing, that’s of true value to their business.
Why the media trainer you choose matters
When building a PR strategy around earned media, the media trainer selected also needs to be a strategic decision.
Not all media training in NZ is equal, and your mileage may vary depending on who you choose.
They say ex-journalists make great PR people, and more often than not, good media trainers have worked in newsrooms before. They know how stories are built, how interviews get edited, and what journalists are listening for (and the questions they’ll ask to find the story). They will put your spokesperson through scenarios that feel realistic and uncomfortable.
How one simple approach can change an interview
You’d better believe that a journalist will prepare for an interview; you should do the same.
Journalists are trained to find the story, and that story might not be the one your organisation wants to tell. Good media training prepares your spokesperson to work within that dynamic without evasion or hostility, and to get as close to the answer a journalist wants to hear without obfuscating the truth.
A good media trainer in NZ will help your spokesperson with the etiquette of an interview, how to get your business messages across, and how to bat away a live grenade if a journalist decides to lob one during an interview. Some things to learn will include bridging (acknowledging a question and redirecting the conversation toward what matters from your organisation’s perspective), keeping a journalist’s audience engaged, and how to think and communicate under pressure.
It’s usually done through mock interviews with experienced media trainers who understand your business, ask uncomfortable questions to gauge your spokesperson’s response and ability to think under pressure, and help cement crucial key messaging your spokesperson may need to fall back on.
When do I need media training?
Two situations spring to mind where media training proves essential: the good news story, when your business has something new, exciting, and timely to say. And the bad, where something’s gone wrong, and your crisis communications strategy kicks in.
Given that these scenarios can often come at short notice or may be time-sensitive, we recommend that at least one authorised spokesperson in your organisation be media trained in the event they need to front an interview.
That means thinking about media training proactively rather than reactively, which will leave you better prepared.
Honesty as a communications strategy
Audiences are growing increasingly adept at detecting bullshit. When someone is avoiding a line of questioning or spinning a yarn. Ina world of fake news, that bullshit meter has never been so powerful. And that means approaching interviews with honesty matters.
Good media training does not teach people to spin. There is a meaningful difference between giving an honest answer and giving an unprepared one. A spokesperson who has thought through their key messages, anticipated likely questions, and practised clear delivery will come across as confident and credible, even when the topic is difficult to tackle.
Interviewers and their audiences respond to spokespeople who add something to the conversation. A comment that offers genuine insight, a real-world perspective, or a clear professional stance is far more likely to be used than a rehearsed, corporate mayonnaise non-answer.
Media training is the first step of thought leadership
If you want to build your profile and reputation, media training is a great place to start. Consistent, credible appearances across relevant publications and platforms build reputation over time, and often, an eloquent, well-executed media interview will put you on a journalist’s list for future slow news days.
We’re taught the importance of respecting a journalist’s time and keeping them on side, and a big part of that is proving your reliability. My favourite example is Brad Olsen from Infometrics, who has a permanent spot on the media circuit thanks to his reliability in an interview.
How do we start?
It’s simple: find the people in your organisation that might make a good spokesperson and begin investing in them with quality media training. This might naturally fit with your CEO, wider senior leadership team or subject matter experts.