8/10/2021
From the communication desk:
Facing the camera: Effective media communication for Health Workers By Sheila Murithi Many healthcare professionals and administrators spend far much more time preparing for lecture presentations than for media interviews. For the former, they have more control of the situation and a receptive audience waiting to listen to what they have to say. In an interview situation, the interviewee has only a few minutes to answer the question and ensure the audience is engaged and the key message is relayed. At times the interviewee may feel upset they made every possible effort to answer the question but the time was not enough or they often got interjected before they could make their point. Effective media communications mean turning how you normally address presentations upside-down. Most presentations adopt a structure where they begin with an introduction/ background – middle/body – conclusion/solution/ recommendation, this would never fly in a newsroom. A news story will inevitably begin with the conclusion or the resolve and then try to build up by understanding the why, adopting its relevance to the audience by revealing how it may affect their lives. Thus, the interviewee needs not only to know his subject but how much the audience needs to know. Audiences will want to know about the benefits rather than the features. This critical distinction between features and benefits will become apparent when you think about how we react as consumers. For example, your interest in a new phone will probably be restricted to the benefits it produces in terms of picture quality from the camera pixels, phone memory, what it looks like, how much it costs, and its compatibility with the applications you need. You will probably not be interested in its internal features, such as how the motherboard was constructed,
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ISSUE 21 | Kenyatta National Hospital Newsline
how the design varies, where the materials for assembling the phone were sourced. Similarly, patients are not interested in the features that make up the day-to-day professional lives of hospital managers. Their concern is for patient care, service, and safety. When preparing for an interview, most interviewees are “onedimensional” and think what do I want them to know? Will they know how long and hard I had to work for this? I want them to feel like they are talking to an expert. Good interviewees think in three dimensions: What is good for the interviewer? What is good for the audience? What is good for me or my institution? No, of course, you cannot always please all the people but onedimensional thinking is unlikely to please anyone. Think of the key message. A key message is a take-home message, ideally short and simple with limited jargon but easy for the audience to understand. In a media training class, they ask you to consider “the elevator test” – getting your message across between the first and third floor of a building, when the person you are talking to will get out.
Allow 10-15 seconds or so per message. Stick to two or three key messages in an interview. Key messages can either be simple statements of fact or wrapped up in sound-bites – a summary of the story. Generally, publicity works and generates significant benefits. This is why governments and industries all over the world invest so much time and money in it. Furthermore, what would happen if hospital managers and executives were to learn how to effectively communicate when under the lens and tip the conversation in their favor? It ensures that the individual can defend their credibility, protect the hospital’s brand and control the narrative. Dr. Philip Timms a London Psychiatrist summed it all up by stating, “Psychiatrists should not be discouraged from talking to or writing for the media. If we do not represent our position, it will be misrepresented by the media.” Dealing with the media does not come naturally to most people. Healthcare and the media are incongruent cultures. The right kind of preparation and training can help to bridge the gap.
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