A Collaborative Approach for Media Training between Technical Communication and Public Relations Tutorial

Talking to the media often becomes part of the job description for subject matter experts (SMEs) who can discuss an organization´s research or new products. Media training can prepare SMEs for media interviews by helping them identify major points to discuss and showing them how to present that information to the reporter. Prior research in professional communication supports the need for media training for scientific or engineering SMEs based on the public´s increased interest in these areas. As part of this media training tutorial, I introduce eight guidelines based on my own experience as a public relations counselor and on research conducted in an organizational setting with SMEs in health information technology.