I have made several treks to Flagstaff to report about snow. Snow falling in Flagstaff often sent the newsroom into defcon 5. (Reporters sitting around the conference room table during the preceeding editorial meeting wouldn’t look producers in the eye, hoping this strategy would decrease chances of being assigned to once again cover the phenomenon know as snowflakes.) But my lastest trip to Flagstaff seemed more treacherous.
This time, I drove up to conduct media training for an organization the media seem to regularly quote regarding various controversies. I assumed the pounding rain streaking down onto Interstate 17 would eventually relent the further north I drove. I assumed wrong. The rain tracked me the entire two-hour drive. Each time I changed lanes, my car often started to slide as if a thin layer of ice was instead beginning to blanket the pavement. At one point, I drove through a low-hanging cloud, probably unable to see 100 yards ahead.
The media training itself was the easy part. I listed below some of my observations I posted during media training as we helped the organization prepare to navigate future interviews. And to reinforce that rain can not fully dilute the often beautiful drive to and from Flagstaff, I included below a picture of the magnificant clouds that emerged on my drive back.
- Media training participant learns about simplifying answers.
- Media training participant hears about not guessing about numbers and statistics.
- Media training participants discuss the balancing act of how strongly to react in the media.
- Media training participant raises concerns about media stories being one sided.
- Media training participant talks about importance of not responding in anger.
- Media training participant hears about not speculating.
- Media training participant says, “That’s not a good question” when asked a tough question. (That’s not the correct response.)
- Media training participant learns about not repeating back a reporter’s negative question.
- Media training participants hear about handling questions regarding negative stories from the past.