Since the early 90s, the MTI Network has developed a number of training courses designed to fulfill a need for maritime companies to learn how the media works and why shipping accidents are so popular with news media around the world.

Each course fulfills a need for staff at different levels of seniority, from our entry level awareness course (for receptionists, secretaries, middle managers who should not answer questions but rather redirect media to authorized spokesmen), to our advanced media awareness course, for superintendents, department heads, general management, to our full one day Advanced Broadcast media training course for company spokespeople.  There is also a specialist ‘crisis care’ course, in cases where multiple deaths may occur, usually for companies involved in passenger lines/cruise lines/ferries.

Half Day Basic Media Awareness Training Course

During an incident, the front line handling of the telephone call is a crucial role. The Media Awareness Training Course focuses more on using the telephone as a medium to receive enquiries and answering/referring callers to authorized spokesmen in the correct manner without giving away any information.

Prepares those who have this responsibility how to respond, how to avoid creating an impression of disorder and how to optimise lines of communication. It is critical that 'what to say' and 'what not to say' is clearly identified and tested, specifically when dealing with the media, friends, relatives and operational issues.

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Half Day Advanced Media Awareness Course

A half-day seminar for up to 15-20 people outlines the major issues raised by the media during an incident, how it can affect the organisations involved and how to handle related enquiries. It is designed for both office and sea-based personnel and looks critically at the roles of all those involved from receptionist to CEO.

The course also looks at the structure of the media response effort and the importance of establishing an offsite information centre. Practical and interactive exercises are carried out by telephone and minicam, based on realistic scenarios  created by MTI using the company’s vessels.

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Full Day Advanced Broadcast Media Training Course

The MTI advanced broadcast media training course has provided training for over 1500 senior executives in the maritime industry. It is approved and promoted by INTERTANKO for their members and associate members.

MTI creates a ‘studio setting’ to create the pressure of 'live' interviews, which in an incident context especially, can be unnerving and intimidating. It is crucial that individuals expected to undertake media responsibilities as spokesmen be familiar with the media and the interview processes.

MTI course trainers and a broadcast journalist provide a high level of realism. Realistic incident scenarios, dealing with potentially damaging situations are addressed during the course and the objective of the course is to provide participants with the confidence to deal with hostile media to enable them to communicate fair and balanced reporting during an incident.

All major interview styles are covered: face-to-face, down the line, doorstepping and a simulated press conference.

* face-to-face: this is a normal television interview on a basic industry topic, with the idea being to give the participant a general feel of what it is like to be in front of a camera; how to answer basic questions, how to avoid getting yourself into problem areas, how to look and act on broadcast media.

** Down-the-line: a common form of interviewing used by the television/radio media which involves an interviewee being in one location with only the means of an earpiece and a camera as contact with his/her interviewer - who could be on the other side of the world.

*** Door-stepping: the recreation of a scenario where the interviewee must address the media as though they were camped outside his/her front door

**** Press Conference: if an incident is serious, there comes a time when there is a need for the company to call a press conference, for any number of reasons. In this exercise, we group participants in 2s and 3s and ask them to write a short statement, then they go into our ‘studio’, deliver their statement and take questions from the floor.  

For each style of interview, all performances are played back, analysed and the performance of each participant is discussed for style and presentation and industry/company content.

Objectives:
The one day broadcast media training course has the following objective:

• Training a front line team of spokesmen to protect the Company's most important asset - its REPUTATION - during a crisis.
• To give shipping executives greater confidence and practical experience in dealing with the media, including 'live' television studio and location video/film unit techniques.
• To understand how professional broadcasters make programmes. To bridge the communications gap that exists between the media and the shipping industry.
• To identify areas in which the shipping industry comes under attack by media journalists.

Crisis Care Course

This course is designed to train staff in the sensitive handling of distressed passengers, employees and relatives in the event of an incident, particularly when deaths are involved.