When the Beijing Olympics were announced, a strategic programme of media training sessions was immediately put in place. No surprise, you might think. But the surprise is that the media training was commissioned by Students For A Free Tibet, not the Chinese Olympic organisers or the Government. The result? You can see it on your TV screens and read it in your papers every day.
According to the International Herald Tribune, the student group has been holding global conferences every other month for members of Pro-Tibet groups, where media training is a focus. Co-ordinator Kalaya’an Mendoza describes the media training sessions as “different types of media workshops, everything from putting together the perfect soundbite to how to deal with the press’s questions.” Does it work? Well, listen to what a representative of the Chinese Embassy in New York , Wenqi Gao, says: “Our voice cannot be heard. We have to improve our image”.
The story has two main morals. First, you have to take media power seriously because if you don’t your competitors will. Ignoring the press does not mean that they will go away. And second, you have to do it quickly. The first race in this year’s Olympics started when the Beijing venue was announced , and the Tibetan pressure groups were first off the starting blocks. Now, the Chinese authorities are on the back foot, wondering how to fight back.
The latest view in Beijing is that the Tibet issue has peaked, and will fade away as the excitement of the Olympics, due to start in only two months, takes hold. But so far, pro-Tibet protests have capture international coverage – and that’s before the world media machine gathers in one place to beam pictures, interviews, comment and analysis of everything that happens to a worldwide audience. What we can be sure of is that this year’s Olympics will be the most watched event, the most read about event, the most discussed event in the world when it is on. What we don’t know is what people will actually be watching, reading, discussing. But, of all the groups and authorities taking an active part in this year’s Olympics, the most media savvy, and the most highly media trained, are those who are campaigning against China’s role in Tibet.
Posted in Latest Media Training News | 1 Comment »
April 16th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Interesting angle. The NY Times covered something very similar. It just shows the importance of being prepared – seven years to plan and coordinate PR and media training initiatives is some feat but clearly it worked.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/business/media/14adco.html?_r=1&ref=media&oref=slogin