Media training for spokespeople who will face real journalists
Softcat, a FTSE 250 company, trained its team with us for crisis interviews in 2025.
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What happens on a media training day with us?
Your team spends most of the day answering questions on camera. A full day covers six stages, and a half day trims the theory and keeps the filmed interviews. Before the day we ask about your upcoming announcements, your known risks and any coverage you would rather forget. Those become the scenarios.
Briefing call
We find out what is coming up, who will speak and which questions you dread. That shapes every scenario.
Sharper key messages
We cut your messaging down to three points a spokesperson can say in one breath, each with a fact behind it.
How journalists work
Delegates learn how a reporter picks an angle, what off the record really means and why the two-part question catches people out.
Filmed mock interviews
Each delegate sits a filmed interview on a realistic scenario, with questions that start gentle and turn hostile.
Playback and critique
The group watches the footage back. We point out the habits that weaken an answer and the moments that landed well.
Notes to keep
Delegates leave with notes on their strengths and fixes, plus a guide to use before the next interview.
How Softcat prepared its team for a crisis interview
Softcat is a FTSE 250 IT company, and journalists often ask it for comment. Most of its alliance, partner and vendor specialists had never done a media interview. We trained them over two sessions in September and October 2025.
We built two crisis scenarios from Softcat’s real risks: a partner putting its status under review, and a global outage caused by a third-party vendor. Each came with 20 practice questions. Will Ockenden led the first session in Birmingham, where every delegate sat a ten-minute filmed interview. In the second, on Teams, former BBC and Times journalist Helen Nugent interviewed each delegate on the scenario they had not yet seen.
By the second session, delegates stayed calm, used evidence to give context and showed empathy from their first answer.
What does our media training cover?
Four skills come up in almost every session. We weight them around the interviews your team is most likely to give.
Crisis and hostile interviews
When a story turns against you, the first answer sets the tone for the coverage that follows. We rehearse the questions you fear most, so your spokesperson hears them first in a training room. See our crisis management training for a full crisis plan.
Key messages and soundbites
We turn a page of corporate messaging into three short points, each with proof behind it. Journalists quote lines that are clear and specific, so we write and test those lines with you.
TV, radio, podcast and print
Each format needs a slightly different approach, from a ten-second radio answer to a long print interview. Delegates practise the formats they will really face, and we work on tone, pace, eye contact and distracting habits.
Bridging and staying on message
Delegates learn to answer the question asked, then steer back to their point without dodging. We drill the tactics that catch people out, including the Columbo question and the seven question types journalists use.
Who delivers your media training?
Your trainers are Will Ockenden and Chris Norton, the two directors of Prohibition PR. Between them they have more than 45 years of experience across PR, media and communications, in agencies and in house.
Will is a social media and PR specialist who ran the filmed crisis interviews for Softcat. Chris founded Prohibition in 2012 and hosts Embracing Marketing Mistakes, which reached number one in the Apple Podcasts marketing chart.
For journalist-led sessions we bring in working journalists. Helen Nugent, formerly of the BBC and The Times, interviewed the Softcat delegates.
Send a few lines about the interview, launch or risk ahead. We will reply within 24 hours with a quote.
How much does media training cost?
We quote each session for your team, because the price depends on how many delegates you bring, how many scenarios we build and whether we travel to you. Tell us what you need and we will send a quote within 24 hours. There are three main formats.
Half-day workshop
Message work and one filmed interview for each delegate. It suits a small group with one announcement coming up.
Full-day course
Several filmed interviews per delegate, crisis scenarios and longer playback. It suits teams who may face hostile or live interviews.
One-to-one coaching
Focused coaching for a CEO, founder or director before a specific interview, in person or on a video call.
Is our media training right for your team?
A good fit
Organisations with a launch, a results announcement or a known risk ahead. Leaders who are new to interviews, and experienced spokespeople who want tougher practice. In-house PR teams who prepare spokespeople themselves.
Probably not the right fit
If you want to book one seat on a public course with other companies, a public course provider will suit you better, because every session we run is built for one organisation. Our training also doesn’t lead to an accredited qualification.
Media training inside our PR campaigns
For Qoria (formerly Smoothwall), we briefed the spokesperson ahead of its February 2025 research launch on AI and child safety.
Some of the organisations we have trained
Our training clients include Softcat, Durham University, WWF International, Freeths and Alzheimer’s Society. Prohibition PR is rated 4.9 out of 5 from 19 reviews on Clutch.
Media training questions we get asked
Can media training be done remotely?
Yes. We run sessions on Teams or Zoom, with interviews recorded and played back on screen. Softcat’s second session ran on Teams, with a journalist interviewing each delegate live.
Do you train people who have never done an interview?
Yes, and they often gain the most. Most of the Softcat delegates were new to media interviews. We start with how journalists work before anyone goes on camera.
Do you offer media training in Leeds?
Yes. Our office is at 4 Sovereign Street in Leeds, and we also train teams at their own premises across the UK.
Is media training the same as presentation training?
They overlap, but the pressure is different. In a presentation you control the questions. In a media interview a journalist controls them, and their job is to find the story.
Further Training
- Communications TrainingCommunications TrainingRead more
- Crisis Management TrainingCrisis Management TrainingRead more
- Social Media TrainingSocial Media TrainingRead more
- Media TrainingMedia TrainingRead more
- AI TrainingAI TrainingRead more
Get a quote for your media training
Tell us who needs training and what is coming up. We will reply within 24 hours with a quote. Prefer to talk it through? Call us on 0113 430 4160.
