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If a picture’s worth a thousand words here’s why the opposite may be true

The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals to the left. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci to the right. So who’s the cavalier chap with the enigmatic face in the centre? And what’s his story?

Why choosing the right words is like a priceless oil painting is the subject of the latest episode in Rich Uridge’s Z to A of Media Training.


Poets spend a lot of time thinking about the right word to conjure up the right image. And the best poets – like Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney and Dylan Thomas – do so brilliantly and almost always in the plainest of language. Here’s Richard latest poem, hopefully without an inappropriate word in sight. Do the words he’s chosen readily conjure up images? You be the judge….

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Why you should hammer home your key messages in interviews and presentations

You may well know what you’re trying to get across in a job or media interview or presentation. But does your audience? Probably not! Which is why it’s important you don’t leave your key messages to chance. So take a leaf out of Winston Churchill’s public speaking playbook.

In this episode of the Z to A of Media Training, ACM’s communication coach, Rich Uridge, delves into his toolbox to make a point and drive it home.

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How to make your key messages stand out in a media interview or presentation

You know what’s important when you’re giving an interview or presentation. But the audience doesn’t – unless you them them! Tagging is promotional technique that allows you to make your key messages loud, clear and “sticky.” In other words stick in people’s minds rather than go in one ear and out the other before you’ve barely finished speaking.

You use tags and labels on Christmas presents and suitcases so why not in interviews and presentations?

T is for Tagging is part of a growing collection of how to videos on The Z to A of Media Training here and on our YouTube channel.

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Why interviewees should be in the driving seat for media interviews

Are you a nervous passenger? Do you pay proper attention to road signs? Do the whole mirror, signal, manoeuvre routine?

There are lessons everywhere if only we care to look. Even on the drive to work.

So here’s how to pass your interview driving test and get rid of the L plates. Because, as somebody famous found out, making a media U turn isn’t as easy as in a car. D is for Driving: the Z to A of media training by Richard Uridge.

The Z to A of Media Training (because everbody starts at A)
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Is broadcast media training still worth it in a landscape dominated by social media?

In this episode of the Z to A of Media Training, ACM’s lead media trainer, Rich Uridge, explains why broadcast media training is as valuable now as it ever was because it’s the discipline that underpins pretty much all editorial content.

The Z to A of Media Training (because everbody starts at A)
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Why less is more in media interviews and presentations

Knowing when enough is enough in a media interview or presentation is really important. After all you could be Gone in 60 Seconds. Or half that.

So here’s some wise advice from ACM Training’s old owl, Rich Uridge, on keeping it short in this, the latest episode of the Z to A of Media Training.

The Z to A of Media Training (because everbody starts at A)
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Exit stage left

Why walking off a media interview is rarely (but not always) a bad idea.


I’ve spent a big chunk of my working life helping people deal with the media. Training them to stay put and stay calm in interviews – even when the questions are tough and the style is adversarial.

Getting up and walking out is never a good look, I’ve always argued. You’ll be remembered for the contretemps not the content. But there’s always an exception to the rule as the death of Sir John Nott, the former Conservative Defence Secretary, aged 92 reminds us.

Here he is in 1982 walking out of a live television interview with Sir Robin Day. A part of me wishes more politicans would do the same. But I guess the fact we’re still showing this clip more than 40 years later proves my point. That leaving the stage risks upstaging whatever it was you were trying to say.

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Care home missed opportunities to protect 88-year-old woman beaten to death by another resident who used walking stick as weapon

When interviewer becomes interviewee

There’s been a saying in journalism pretty much since the invention of the moveable type printing press: “Today’s news is tomorrow’s chip wrappers.”

Although in the post Gutenberg world of rolling news channels, online content and ever decreasing attention spans it’s probably more accurate to say this morning’s news is forgotten by lunchtime.

In fact news cycles are now so fast that you could almost literally blink and miss a story.

But here’s a story those of you who know me will realise I don’t want people to miss. Because it concerns a huge and growing issue – dementia.

On a busy news day, as us hacks call them, I can understand why this story was squeezed out of the mainstream bulletins. So in case you blinked and missed it here it is.


By the way if you’re interested in hearing more about the case you can listen here to an interview I gave to BBC Three Counties radio after the jury returned their verdict.

And you can read the BBC News online version of the story here. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr4xvlqegp2o

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Who do you trust? And why it’s important in an election super year!

According to the UN 3.7 billion voters in 72 countries went to the polls in 2024. That made it the biggest election year in human history. Just think of it – a half the world’s population voting. Many for the first time.

But it’s also safe to say that trust in democracy is at its lowest for some time. Perhaps the lowest ever. People say they don’t trust politicians. People say they don’t trust the journalists who report on politicians. They don’t trust the news. They don’t watch the news. They don’t listen to the news. They don’t read the news. They’ve become less engaged if not disengaged.

So this felt like a really important webinar. A chance to discuss why trust and engagement with audiences has fallen. And, crucially, how to build it back up.

Richard Uridge chairs the discussion with: Victoria Steveley, deputy chief audience editor at the Belfast Telegraph: Pip Tomson most recently with ITV’s Good Morning Britain and GB News – the latter where the line between journalists and politicians has been especially blurred; Daniel Mollitor, business editor at the German Press Agency DPA; and Naomi Owusu co-founder and CEO at Tickaroo the live blogging platform which is helping taking online journalism to new and hopefully more trusted levels.

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When saying you’re being respectful is, in fact, disrespectful

Saying you’re being respectful to an interviewer or co-contributor in a media interview can come across as the exact opposite – disrespectful – as the UK’s Minister of State for Illegal Migration, Michael Tomlinson, demonstrated in an excruciating interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He was being interviewed by Mishal Husain the day after the British government’s Rwanda bill under which illegal migrants could be sent to the African country passed in the House of Commons. The full exchange is at the bottom of this post. But first ACM Training’s head media trainer, Richard Uridge, deconstructs the interview for the benefit of anyone who finds it difficult to deal with interruptions in this the latest episode in the Z to A of Media Training.

With thanks to the Conservative MP for providing an object lesson. Or should that be an abject lesson?


Here you can listen to the full interview. Copyright, of course, resides with the BBC. It’s nearly 11 minutes long but both educational and, if you’re into politics, entertaining.

The Z to A of Media Training (because everbody starts at A)