The difference between good media coverage and great media coverage is strategy. This course is for senior communicators who want to move beyond reactive press handling to shape how their organisation is covered at an editorial level. You will learn to design media campaigns, build journalist relationships strategically, drive thought leadership, manage a high-functioning press office and handle sensitive situations with professional judgment.
Advanced media dynamics and strategic engagement, building editorial authority and thought leadership, ethics and professional standards in media relations, and supporting and managing spokespeople.
Every session runs in a small, boardroom-format group — typically six to eight senior professionals. Your trainer tailors content to the specific industries, organisations and challenges each participant brings, so you work on real situations, not generic examples. The learning combines evidence-based best practice briefings with structured discussions, practical workshops and peer learning. This is training with a coaching and consulting flavour — focused on building skills and producing outputs you can apply in your work immediately.
- Design and execute sophisticated media relations strategies across multiple channels
- Build editorial authority and position your organisation as a credible source
- Drive thought leadership through strategic media engagement
- Manage and develop a high-performing press office operation
- Plan and execute professional press conferences and media events
- Support, brief and manage spokespeople effectively for media encounters
- Handle sensitive media situations with sound professional judgment
- Engage with journalists strategically at a senior editorial level
- Navigating the charged relationship between PR and the media
- Balancing tactics and strategy
- Strategic media engagement
- Trends and developments in media relations tactics
- Online media relations
- Building authority in the media
- Thought leadership
- Stimulating and managing third party advocacy
- Issues-led media relations: planned opportunism
- Tricky situations, and how to handle them
- Managing the reputation of the reputation managers
- Universal codes and principles of ethics as applied to PR
- Veracity, harm avoidance, beneficence, confidentiality and fairness
- Media insight
- Analysing the news landscape
- Practical messaging for interviews
- Predicting questions
- Q&A and briefing documents
This course is for communication managers and directors with existing media relations experience who want to operate at a strategic and editorial level. It is designed for professionals who manage press office teams, advise leadership on media strategy, or shape how their organisation engages with journalists.
- Dubai30 October 2026· $1,200Book
The following are some of the ISOC trainers who regularly lead this course, depending whether you join us in London, Dubai or live online.
Yes. We deliver this course for teams of any size, tailored to your organisation’s context and objectives. Contact us to discuss your requirements.
Media Training builds the skill of performing in media interviews — preparation, messaging, handling questions. This course focuses on the strategic level — designing media campaigns, building editorial relationships, managing a press office and driving thought leadership. Many senior communicators benefit from both.
The course includes an element of videotaped media training with replay coaching, but the primary focus is on strategic media relations and editorial engagement rather than interview technique.
Nothing specific is required. If you have a current project, challenge or organisational context relevant to the course, bring it along — the practical exercises can incorporate real-world scenarios.
