Media Training Update w/c 25th November

Morning all, it’s Monday 25th November. The week ahead:

Monday: Sturgess inquiry hears evidence on Russian state involvement

Joe Biden pardons his Thanksgiving turkeys (one for West Wing fans)

Tuesday: MPs debate Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Wednesday: Tusk Conservation Awards

Thursday: Statistics on migration and irregular migration

Sixth form college teachers strike

Friday: First debate on assisted dying bill

Republic of Ireland holds parliamentary elections

Emmanuel Macron visits Notre Dame Cathedral ahead of re-opening

Saturday: Alex Salmond memorial service

Sunday: South Africa assumes G20 presidency

At the heart of our media training is the concept of the Top Line – the angle you draw out of an issue or piece of research to hang an interview on.

With that in mind, a question. If you had undertaken research into peoples’ ability to spot a fake accent (which received extensive coverage last week), which of these top lines would you opt for?

The Times is on the left, and The Guardian on the right (unusually)…

Results in next week’s Briefing.

The Times reports that the superb Mishal Husain is to leave Today after an 11 year stint.

Her last programme is expected to be in January.

READ MORE (no paywall)

Journalists at the Guardian Media Group will go on strike next month in protest at a planned sale of The Observer.

“My colleagues are unable to speak up or voice their opinions because their mortgages are literally on the line. So allow me: we believe @tortoise simply does not have the cash reserves. We believe this is the death of a 240-year-old newspaper.”

Carole Cadwalladr

READ MORE

__

Meanwhile Jay Rayner, The Observer’s restaurant critic for the last 25 years, is leaving to join the Financial Times in the same role, amid the escalating backlash.

We’ll bring the curtain down on Year Of The Expert next week but for now the final chapter of Part 5 – So What’s Stopping You? I loved this question so saved it to the very end…

“The thing that stops me engaging with the media is this – why should I just give up my knowledge? The decades (and it is decades) I have spent on this subject – it just feels like that body of knowledge deserves more than 5 minutes at ten o’clock at night on BBC 5 Live.”

LISTEN HERE

“When I do die, after 50 years in politics, all they will show on the news is 60 seconds of me thumping a fellow in Wales.”

John Prescott, in 2019.

He was wrong. His death dominated the news cycle for 24 hours – however this is one line you may have missed…

(Source: Popbitch)

Footnotes:

On this day: The funeral of the assassinated President, John F Kennedy, took place in Washington on this day in 1963.

Weather: 10 degrees in Manchester, 11 degrees in Morecambe, 29 degrees in Muscat.

Mutts: Stan, in younger days…

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done. We’re @insideedgemedia or just reply to this email. 

Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge