At Ease with the Media: A Program to Help Spokespeople Communicate When It Counts

At Ease With the Media is designed to help an organization's spokespeople manage exchanges with journalists to win-win outcomes, while protecting themselves and their organization at all times.

The book begins by explaining that excellence in media relations is based on balance. On one side, the spokesperson wants to help journalists get their stories by answering questions in clear, concise terms. On the other, the spokesperson wants to achieve a strategic gain—by using the exchange to influence the attitudes, opinions and behaviour of specifically-identifiable audiences important to the organization's success.

Along the way, spokespeople want to protect themselves and their organization at all times.

From there, the book provides insight into:

- Understanding the media.
- Working with reporters.
- Answering questions effectively.
- Preparing themselves and their messages.
- Four important priorities.
- Negotiating interviews effectively.
- Applying specific strategies for success.

During the past 20 years, At Ease With the Media has provided thousands of spokespeople from five continents with the skills and tools to manage exchanges with journalists to win-win outcomes, while protecting themselves and their organization at all times.

Eric Bergman, BPA, ABC, APR, MC, FCPRS

Eric Bergman is the world’s most experienced and credentialed media training professional.

He conducted his first media relations campaign, and coached his first spokespeople, during the summer of 1981, when he promoted two student theatre productions, Pal Joey and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

“I gave very similar advice then to what I would give today,” he says. “Relax, let the interviewer guide the process, tell the story, and make sure people know when the plays are running and how they can purchase tickets.”

Eric formally started his public relations career a year later as a government public affairs officer. During his 30-plus-year career, he has worked in virtually every aspect of public relations and corporate communications. He has been self-employed since 1985.

Since 1993, his business has focused exclusively on presentation skills and media training. In the early 1990s, he developed two unique and effective communication training programs: Present With Ease and At Ease With the Media. “I developed At Ease With the Media to set the global standard for media training,” he says. “The program is based on the highest models of excellence in communication management: win-win outcomes.”

Eric holds a bachelor of professional arts (BPA) in communication studies from Athabasca University and a two-year diploma in advertising and public relations from Grant MacEwan University.

He is an accredited business communicator (ABC), an accredited public relations practitioner (APR), and a master communicator (MC), which is the highest distinction that can be bestowed upon a Canadian member of the International Association of Business Communicators. In 2014, he was named a member of the College of Fellows of the Canadian Public Relations Society (FCPRS).