I just returned from two days of intensive training at the National Judicial College in Reno where I served as the facilitator and instructor for a course on media relations, education and outreach for a group of court administrators, judges and press secretaries from Ukraine. I was actually working in the capacity as a faculty member of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media through a grant provided by USAID. It was an interesting opportunity and required me to work at my engagement of the group. The entire session required the help of two interpreters, so I'm not sure if any of my jokes made it to the punchline, but I did seem to encourage them to talk about the issues they face and share a few insightful points about the importance of transparency in the judiciary.
We started with a comparison of the press in the United States with the press in Ukraine. I was surprised to learn that in Ukraine, the press secretary for the courts will announce an event and the media must then seek permission to attend the event; sort of like obtaining a reservation for a press conference. This surprised me because I often have to work real hard to interest a journalist in a program or press event and then hope they actually show up. In Ukraine, they don't worry so much if the media attends the event, which may change after my two-days of training.
We eventually got into some interesting ideas of how to teach Ukrainians about the courts through outreach and education. Traditional community outreach programs, media relations and even a television show were discussed. All of these ideas were presented with enthusiasm and I was excited to see them thinking up strategies and tactics for sharing their court stories with the public.
The best part of the training had to be the Hands-On Interview session, where I attempted to prepare them for a tough US-style TV interview by having them take questions on camera. We prepared in advance and I must say I probably overdid it. These folks were phenomenal at deflecting! In fact, I began to wonder if I had been a poor interviewer in my television reporting days. One of their favorite approaches, and near universal, was to question the reporter's understanding of the event and indicate on camera that they were not convinced the reporter's version was fact. "I will need more time to review that allegation," or "I think we would need to look into that." I loved that! I don't know if it would work in the US, where the mere hint of a controversy often cements public opinion, but the participants assured me that in the Ukraine this approach would work.
As for social media, the Ukrainian press secretaries were not so impressed; seems, they would like to learn the basics of public relations and media relations before spending their days Twittering about it. I met some great people, including Yuriy Mikhin, Nataliay Petrova and Hilary Drew. Thank you to everyone!
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