Workshop: Dealing with the media

Type the word cancer into any news search engine and you can guarantee a wealth of information- not all of it accurate. Medical news tends to be overspun with the main sins being that of omission and exaggeration. But scientists and health care professionals ignore the media at their peril.

Research findings and health information require the vehicle of news outlets to get the messages out to the public. Rather than fearing the media , health professionals can learn to work with the media to ensure fair and accurate reporting. But that involves delivering messages in a way which chimes with the journalists sense of newsworthiness.

This presentation will highlight ways of preparing for an interview with a journalist: learning how to structure an answer in order to communicate an engaging and compelling story ; learning also how to present data in a clear and accurate way.
We also learn how to deal with troublesome or even hostile questioning with techniques as to how to bridge back to your main message without getting sidelined in a verbal tussle.
Ultimately we learn why the media interview is a conversation not a presentation- but why it is also a valuable opportunity rather an ordeal.