Dr. James Onder has been a communications specialist for professional or trade associations, government agencies, and company or nonprofit organizations on a variety of internal and external communication issues. He has worked as a full-time Federal employee and has consulted with a variety of Federal and state governmental organizations on safety and crisis prevention issues. As a member of the TRACK Center for Marketing Public Programs, Dr. Onder provides training to Federal employees involved in media relations.

Lesson 1: Media Relations Overview 

We will discuss the important elements of the foundation for public information offices. We’ll learn that PIO offices communicate not only to the media, but also internally to employees, directly to the public, partners and stakeholders for various issues, as well as to other government and public sector organizations.

Lesson 2: Media Releases

News releases are documents that provide the media and the public with information that the agency feels is important and useful. There are over fifty different types of releases. Most newspaper editors or news directors of electronic media prefer to receive printed information about a situation that an agency would like published or broadcast. A written document eliminates communication errors that may occur over the telephone and saves time if a news reporter is not available in person. Making such information available is a proactive technique to get news coverage. There is uniformity and clarity of important statements. Agencies can provide releases to the media in written form, on the web site, on the Internet, by satellite, by videotape or through the sounds recordings. They are used for proactively getting the word out about agency topics and programs.

Lesson 3: News Interviews

The interview is the heart and soul of newsgathering and dissemination. Being a successful interviewee is both an art and a science, so you will need to learn and develop an arsenal of techniques for the variety of circumstances. You know your agency, your internal audiences in your agency, your partners, your stakeholders and your public better than anybody, so apply what works best. In addition, a number of interview formats will be discussed to help you adapt to specific conditions. For example, there is a big difference between doing a standup interview and appearing on a radio interview program with phone in questions from listeners. Some techniques are suitable to testify in a committee setting and to learn how to convincingly redirect the question, the answer and even reposition the entire interview to get to your key message points. We’ll learn to keep the basics in mind, be creative, be flexible, be positive at all times, and be attentive to a wide-range of response methods. You will also learn techniques for coaching agency principals when only an appearance by a top decision-maker will do.

Lesson 4: News Conferences

Any meeting or interview by two or more competing representatives of the news media will be considered a news conference. There are several types of news conferences, news events and briefings that are live and on-line. They are used: to explain a complex or sensitive issue; to introduce specific people in the agency, to get a story out to everyone simultaneously and avoid favoritism to certain reporters, to avoid numerous individual media interviews, and, to get the word out about an agency program.

Lesson 5: Crisis Communications

In the event of a major or prolonged crisis involving the response of multiple jurisdictions (local, state, tribal, regional, federal, international), agencies and first responders, a complete plan needs to be in place to ensure that accurate and timely information is released to the media. It’s all about leadership. All phases will be discussed in terms of public information components (prevention actions, preparedness actions, risk communications, notification and assessment, activation, request for assistance, response actions, recovery actions, mitigation actions, de-mobilization, after action report). We will also discuss some of the key issues and messages of a large-scale CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological (Radiological Dispersion Devices), Nuclear, and Explosive-high-yield) crisis, VBIED (Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device), LVBIED (Large Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device) and other IED (Improvised Explosive Device).  We will also discuss agroterrorism (food supply) issues. We will emphasize the importance of preparation and to appoint strong persons to lead the effort and to support a cross-operational team approach to managing the crisis. Media does not get all the attention. Good practices require a balance between communications with the media, community partners and the general public.

Lesson 6: Resolving Bad News Situations

There is an endless array of incidents that can damage the reputation of even the finest, established agency. Sometimes even a minor situation can be blown way out of proportion by the media--simply because it happens on a slow news day. As the public information officer in the line of fire for agency, when the media start asking grilling questions, you've got to act promptly and effectively to assure the public or regain any loss of credibility. If the incident is properly handled, it will less apt to compromise the agency's ability to continue to work effectively within the community.

Lesson 7: Correcting Mistakes

Despite your best efforts, reporters may still foul up your story or treat you unfairly. Do not expect to have a positive story each time. Media relations are a game of averages, so be content if you win most of the time. Even if the story is flattering, it may contain a zinger or two, incorrect information or a misquotation. Just keep your batting average high. Before you act, check to be sure it was not agency staff that provided the media incorrect information. If you do act, there are some suggested procedures to follow.

Lesson 8: Media Support of Education Programs

Agencies often proactively reach out to the public with health, safety and prevention programs. In addition to reaching out to at-risk, high-risk populations in agency public information and education programs, the media is often a key component. The campaign will be directed at a specific target audience. Key strategies and techniques will be discussed, how to package materials for the media and ways to select the most effective medium for distributing your messages.

Lesson 9: Practice Interviews and Coaching Exercise

Being a successful interview is an art, not a science, so there is no specific formula that you can follow. Keep the basics in mind, be creative and flexible, and be attentive to all the relevant issues. You know your agency, your internal audiences in your agency, your partners, your stakeholders and the public your normally deal with better than anybody, so apply what works best. We will all do an interview and have a chance to critique ourselves. We will hear from others in class. We will also have a chance to practice coaching the interviewees on improvements.

Lesson 10: Self-Assessment 

This exercise is to help you assess agency needs regarding your effort to gain media support for agency, outreach efforts for hard news information, community education programs, and other forms of communication. Once the assessment is complete, you will develop short-action plans each major item. Action plans will help you bridge some of the topics in this workshop to implementation in your agency. During this session, we will review the basic elements of an agency public information policy and agency Information Quality Guidelines and help determine the need to develop or revise your own.