Senior managers at Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) attended Media and Communication training on 16 and 17 April 2019 at ISIbalo House. The trainees were divided into two groups, and one group per day was trained on how to conduct themselves in media interviews. The training was conducted by Ms Janine Lazarus from Janine Lazarus Media Consultancy. Ms Lesedi Dibakwane,…
By Janine Lazarus During workshops on Key Message Development, I always beat on about only having three key messages at hand to carry you through any form of communication – particularly when it means having to convey something unpalatable. Anything more than that tends to get lost in the bubbling maelstrom of information we have to wade through each day.…
By Janine Lazarus Let’s call it like it is for once, shall we? No tiresome beating around the bush. Governments generally don’t want you to know that they have Big Boy public relations machinery working for them. Bell Pottinger is one repugnant South African case in point. So while major media outlets in Saudi Arabia cast the disappearance and murder…
I don’t know if you, like me, are mortified by the way people write – or shall I say attempt to write – these days. It seems perfectly acceptable to misspell names, to abbreviate words into The Dreaded Text Speak, and then to sign off with an obligatory emoji. My newspaper editors of old are thrashing about furiously in their…
Date: Thursday, 13 September 2018 Registration: 07:00 to start promptly at 09:00 Times: 09:00 – 17:00 Venue: Protea Hotel by Marriott Johannesburg Balalaika Sandton Address: Maude Street, Sandown, Sandton, 2126 About the Masterclass There are a few things certain in life: Taxes is one, and a crisis – no matter how big or small – is yet another uncomfortable inevitability.…
If there could be anything worse than the largest ever recorded outbreak of this severe form of listeriosis globally, it could only be the way it has been communicated. In fact, from a crisis communications perspective, the killer polony scandal can be used as a case study of how NOT to respond to an unfolding tragedy of such mammoth proportions.…
OK. So you’ve learned the basics of how to deal with the media. And you think you’re ready. The fact is – you’re not. When last did you go through rigorous Media Skills Training? A few years ago? And was it a rather dull PowerPoint presentation with a handy guide book thrown in for good measure? Well, I’ve Got News…
The ability to communicate – be it face-to-face or in written form – is withering away. And I mourn its imminent demise keenly.
There are a few things in life that are unavoidable. One of them is paying your tax – although there are those in high places who seem to slither their way out of that one.
Life is a funny thing. But the one thing it has taught me is that the only constant is change. It doesn’t come easily to most – not least of all to me. It can be a terrifying prospect, a leap into the unknown, and an utterly overwhelming inevitability. I started out my career with laughable delusions of grandeur. Blame…