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Media training experts

Media training prepares a spokesperson to hold their argument under media questioning, so that what a journalist takes away is the point the spokesperson came to make.

0 experts, updated 26 Oct 2026

What our media training experts do

Media training at Findwell begins with the themes a spokesperson can defend under questioning, narrowed to the two or three they genuinely own. From there the work is rehearsal: mock interviews run and filmed by Findwell's own camera team, played back, and run again with the answers that collapsed under pressure. The questions used in practice are the ones Findwell's press team hears from reporters when pitching, not invented ones. What the spokesperson leaves with is a recorded session, a set of positions they have already said out loud, and the lines they will hold when the interview is live.

How they work

Good media training experts rehearse the hostile version of the question, not the polite one. The judgement is in knowing which answer a journalist will actually use and which will be cut, and that comes from placing work with the business, finance and trade press rather than from a classroom exercise. Findwell films practice interviews with its own photographers and video team, so playback happens the same day and nothing waits on an outside crew. The standard a media training expert holds to is simple: the spokesperson makes an argument a reporter can quote whole, rather than a claim that only makes sense because the firm sells something.

When to bring them in

Call on media training experts before accepting interviews, not after one has gone badly. The usual moment is a spokesperson about to go on the record for the first time, or a leadership team of two to five people being profiled in parallel who need to speak to separate themes without contradicting each other. It also matters once journalists start calling directly, which is what happens when a name becomes the one reporters go to for comment. Findwell asks for at least six months of work, because the practice compounds with the coverage rather than standing apart from it.

Questions about media training experts

The questions we get asked most about media training, answered plainly.

What does a media training expert actually do?
A media training expert prepares a named spokesperson to hold an argument under questioning, on camera, on air and on the record. The method is mock interviews and filmed practice, with the questions a reporter is likely to ask rehearsed before any real interview is accepted. Preparation is built around the two or three themes a spokesperson can defend in detail, rather than a script to be memorised.
What actually happens in a media training session?
Media training sessions run as recorded mock interviews rather than lectures. The spokesperson is put through the questions a reporter would realistically ask, the footage is played back, and the answers are rebuilt until the argument survives interruption and a change of subject. Most of the gain lands inside the session itself, and a short refresher close to a specific interview does more than a course taken months ahead.
How do you tell whether media training has worked?
Media training is judged on what appears in the published piece: whether the quote a journalist selects carries the argument the spokesperson intended, or a stray line from the middle of an answer. Two further checks are whether the same reporter comes back for comment on the next story, and whether the filmed practice is good enough to publish, since journalists check video before accepting a pitch.
Is media training the same as presentation training?
No. Presentation training covers delivering prepared material to an audience that already wants to hear it. Media training rehearses the opposite situation, where the interviewer sets the questions, controls the edit and is under no obligation to use the part of the answer a spokesperson prefers. A confident presenter can still lose control of an interview, which is why the two are trained separately.
When does a firm actually need a media training expert?
Media training is needed before a spokesperson accepts a broadcast, podcast or on-the-record interview, and when several executives are being put forward so the whole bench holds up under the same questions. It matters less for a firm whose public output is bylined articles and written commentary, where drafts are reviewed and signed off before publication and nobody is answering live.