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01 Oct 2009
Every Second Counts
For anyone who has ever been involved in Media Training the idea that the media are ‘always on’ should be familiar. That means being aware that what you say and how you react will be used as part of the interview no matter if you feel that it falls within the official interview meeting or not. When it comes to broadcast, ‘always on’ clearly also applies to keeping your guard up for the whole time the cameras are rolling right up to the very last second.
For a man with seemingly an army of advisers behind him, and a pretty respected PR professional to share pillow talk with, the final death stare of Gordon Brown could be seen as at best an ill judgement at worst a possible ‘Michael Howard Newsnight moment’ destined to be repeated again and again until we all believe that he is always like this.
If you’ve seen the piece you may feel it is nothing like as explosive as the Evening Standard’s front page headline ‘Gordon Brown loses it in TV meltdown’ www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23750607-gordon-brown-turns-on-media-in-tv-meltdown.do. However that’s what it said and that was the message placed up on hundreds of newsstands across the Capital. When media are battling for readers and viewers, an opportunity to turn the screw like this on a public figure that, for the moment at least, looks out on his feet, can’t be missed.
So the message to those who court the media spotlight, and in the case of Politicians who need it to communicate with the electorate, is clear, keep your wits, keep your cool and remember that sometimes even your final stare can be the story that sells.
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