The art of public speaking and media engagement goes beyond polished and prepared talking points and facts - they are built on authenticity, empathy, and the ability to connect through storytelling.
Telum Media spoke to Tim Ayliffe and Steve Carey, seasoned TV journalists turned communications professionals, who shared how preparation, emotional intelligence, and purpose can elevate any engagement. Their advice underscores that lasting impact comes from balancing authority with compassion and delivering messages that connect with audiences.
What are the key elements that make media interviews and public speaking engagements impactful?
Steve Carey
The key to impactful speaking lies in connecting with your audience in a way that feels real and memorable. Those who speak with passion, conviction, and a sense of purpose tend to leave a mark.
Strong anecdotes or personal stories help bridge the gap between the speaker and the listener because they are relatable. For example, a victim of crime sharing the raw shock, fear, and long-term impact of their experience, or a champion footballer celebrating a win, showing the elation through voice, movement, and emotion.
Ultimately, it's about having a strong, authentic message that resonates with a wider audience, delivered with honesty and clarity. Those who bring a deadpan or listless energy tend to fail and certainly don’t connect with anyone watching, reading or listening.
Tim Ayliffe
Three things come to mind: authenticity, honesty, and what I like to call "relating the personal".
Whether people agree with you or not, they will always listen when they feel a connection. Sharing something personal or drawn from real life can often achieve that.
Media interviews and public speaking engagements are storytelling opportunities, so it is important to make sure you have a good story to tell.
Throughout your career, you've seen countless examples of people engaging with the media or speaking publicly. What's one common thing they often get wrong without realising?
Tim Ayliffe
People who rely too heavily on talking points lose audiences quickly because they come across as inauthentic and rehearsed. Those who are overwhelmingly negative can also lead to audiences switching off.
Steve Carey
The most common mistake is people not taking a strong position. Sitting on the fence and "waffling" provides journalists and the audience with little value.
To avoid this, always:
• Know what you want to say (top three messages) and rehearse it.
• Pressure-test your arguments with a colleague or trainer before facing the media or audience.
• Bring fresh data or a strong case study to back up your story.
• Avoid jargon or acronyms, as they are barriers to clear communication.
Soft skills like empathy and emotional intelligence are often overlooked in public speaking. How do they influence how a message is received, and how can professionals strengthen these skills?
Steve Carey
Empathy and emotional intelligence shape how your message is received, particularly when delivering tough or sensitive news.
Some key approaches include:
• Consider how the audience will hear and interpret your words - what do they want / need to hear?
• In a crisis, acknowledge those directly affected first because it sets the tone.
• Always ask yourself, "Does this pass the pub test?" If not, think again!
• Rehearse your top three messages with a trusted colleague or professional.
These steps ensure your message balances authority with compassion and respect.
Tim Ayliffe
Real-life examples that support an argument are crucial to a good interview, or speech. Relating a topic to people shows a level of empathy and understanding that is crucial to delivering messages that people will understand and connect with.
When preparing for a media interview or major presentation, what are your top strategies for delivering with impact and managing nerves?
Tim Ayliffe
No matter how experienced you are, you should always have a plan for every public speaking opportunity.
If you are someone who likes to write notes, ensure they're short and in bullet-point form so that you don't get caught out trying to recite a script. But once the interview starts, put your notes away - you won't need them if you have prepared properly.
Also, take a moment for yourself before the interview begins and avoid rushing.
Steve Carey
Preparation and mindset are critical. To deliver with impact, know your topic and craft three clear key messages, rehearse using plain and conversational language, and use a strong anecdote or key data point to set the tone.
For managing nerves, three simple strategies work well. Take several deep breaths before speaking to calm your nerves and steady your voice. Drop your shoulders slightly to reduce tension, which improves overall delivery. Finally, imagine the audience as family friends to shift into a more relaxed storytelling mode.
Many junior professionals hesitate to voice their opinions in meetings or on public platforms. What advice would you give to help them step out of their comfort zone and build confidence in speaking up?
Steve Carey
Confidence grows through preparation and practice.
To step out of your comfort zone, frame your question or comment in terms of its value to the business or audience. Judge the moment and take opportunities when invited. Keep your contributions short, sharp, and to the point. And, accept that the first attempt may not be perfect, but persistence will build confidence.
The more often you contribute, the easier and more natural it becomes.
Tim Ayliffe
People should never be afraid to speak up if they have something important or valuable to add. Pick your moment and keep your cool.
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Every few years, someone declares the death of the media release.
Today, the arguments sound familiar. Journalists don't read them anymore. Everything is social-first. AI is replacing traditional media outreach. It's all about the pitch. Press releases are becoming little more than AI-generated filler.
And yet, when we speak with journalists across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, a different picture emerges.
Media releases aren't dead, but expectations around them have changed significantly.
We've analysed more than 10,000 Journalist Interest Survey responses in the Telum Media platform collected over the past five years, alongside insights gathered from conversations with editors, reporters, and producers across the region.
Key takeaways:
- Journalists still value useful PR content
- Relevance matters more than reach
- The pitch and the release serve different roles
- The best releases reduce friction for journalists
- Modern releases need to support multiple platforms
The conclusion is clear: journalists still value media releases, but they value them for different reasons than they once did.
The media release has evolved from a distribution tool into something far more strategic.
The media release is no longer the story
For decades, many PR professionals treated the media release as the centrepiece of media relations activity.
Write the release. Send it widely. Hope for coverage - “spray and pray”.
That approach was far from perfect, but you could get away with it in an era when newsrooms were larger, competition for attention was lower, and journalists had more time to evaluate incoming information.
Today's reality is very different.
Journalists are producing content across multiple platforms, often with smaller teams and tighter deadlines. Their inboxes are flooded with pitches, announcements, thought leadership submissions, and increasingly, AI-generated content.
As a result, journalists have become far more selective about what earns their attention.
The modern media release is no longer just about news stories. It has become a source-of-truth asset, a newsroom resource, and a content hub that supports broader communications activity.
The best PR teams understand this shift.
“The strongest message from journalists can be summarised in a single phrase: ‘Understand what I cover’. Relevance remains the most important factor in successful media engagement.”
What journalists are actually rejecting
One of the most revealing findings from our analysis is that journalists are not rejecting PR content altogether.
What they're rejecting is low-value outreach.
Across thousands of responses, the same frustrations appeared repeatedly:
- Irrelevant pitches
- Generic outreach
- Mass distribution
- Weak story angles
- Excessive follow-ups
In other words, this is less a rejection of media releases and more a rejection of poor media relations practice.
The strongest message from journalists can be summarised in a single phrase:
"Understand what I cover."
Relevance remains the most important factor in successful media engagement. In fact, our journalist surveys over the past two years have seen a sharp increase in a desire for both relevance and personalisation in pitches.
Journalists increasingly assess pitches within seconds. If the connection to their beat, audience, or current priorities isn't immediately obvious, the opportunity is often lost before the email is even opened.
The pitch and the release have different jobs
One of the biggest misconceptions in modern media relations is treating the pitch and the release as the same thing.
They are not.
The pitch exists to earn attention; the release exists to support the story.
The best pitches are:
- Brief
- Human
- Relevant
- Contextual
- Conversational
The best releases are:
- Structured
- Factual
- Complete
- Reusable
- Easy to reference
At a recent Telum Media event, a senior journalist described the fastest way to kill a pitch with a single word: “Respect”. Or a lack thereof.
A generic greeting. A story unrelated to their beat. A mass-produced email that demonstrates no understanding of their audience.
All signal a lack of respect for the journalist's time and expertise.
High-performing PR teams increasingly write pitches and releases for different audiences. The pitch is written for the journalist. The release is written for the journalist's audience.
That distinction matters.
Why journalists still value media releases
Despite predictions of their demise, journalists continue to actively request media releases.
But they want releases that help them work more efficiently.
The most common requests include concise writing, clear headlines, strong news angles, supporting data (with downloadable images and assets), spokesperson access, and easy-to-use formats.
These preferences reveal the modern role of the release: it functions as a workflow tool.
A strong release helps journalists:
- Understand the story quickly
- Verify information
- Access supporting materials
- Build content efficiently
The best releases reduce friction. And in today's newsroom environment, reducing friction is often more valuable than generating hype.
Think beyond media coverage
Another major shift is that media releases are increasingly serving multiple audiences.
A modern release doesn’t just support journalists; it might also support clients and prospects, employees, investors and analysts, partners, and search visibility.
Rather than creating a single-use document, leading communications teams are building content ecosystems.
The release becomes the foundation for:
- Media outreach
- Newsroom content
- Executive communications
- Social media content
- Email campaigns
- Sales collateral
- Thought leadership activity
This approach not only improves consistency but also increases the return on investment from every announcement.
The role of the modern media release
Not every story needs a release
Perhaps one of the most important lessons is recognising when a media release is the wrong tool.
Releases tend to perform best when there is:
- Genuine news value
- Multiple stakeholder audiences
- A need for factual consistency
- Strong supporting assets
- Broader business significance
They are often less effective for internal milestones framed as major news (or self-congratulatory announcements), generic thought leadership, and untargeted mass outreach.
In some situations, a targeted pitch, LinkedIn strategy, executive commentary programme, or direct relationship-based outreach may be more effective.
Good communications strategy isn't about defaulting to a media release; it's about choosing the right tool for the objective.
A framework for modern media releases
If there is one word that captures what journalists are asking for today, it is respect.
At Telum Media, we summarise this through the RESPECT framework:
R – Relevance
Make it relevant to the journalist, their audience and the moment.
E – Efficiency
Help journalists work faster through clear, concise, and usable content.
S – Substance
Provide genuine value through expertise, data, insight, or access.
P – Personalisation
Demonstrate that you've done your homework.
E – Ecosystem
Think beyond the release and consider how it supports broader communications goals.
C – Clarity
Make the key message immediately obvious.
T – Timing
Reach out at the right time, not simply any time.
What journalists are asking for in a pitch / media release: RESPECT
The future of the media release
The debate over whether media releases are dead misses the point.
The more useful question is how do we make releases work better in today’s media environment?
Journalists still value relevant information, credible sources, strong story angles, and efficient communication. Media releases continue to play an important role in delivering those things.
But success today depends less on the existence of the release itself and more on how strategically it is used.
The media release remains a valuable communications tool.
Just not in the way many of us were taught to use it.
FAQs
Are media releases still useful in 2026?
Yes. Journalists still value media releases, but these days want targeted outreach, relevance to their beat, alignment with their audience, and contextual pitching.
What makes a media release useful to journalists?
Journalists are looking for releases in a format that helps them work efficiently. Which means releases that are concise, factual, with a clear angle, contain usable quotes, and come with downloadable assets and supporting data.
What is the difference between a pitch and a media release?
A pitch earns the journalist’s attention in their cluttered Inbox. A media release supports the story by providing structured, factual, and reusable information relevant to their audience.
With more than 30 years’ experience spanning journalism, corporate communications and media intelligence, Reuben Aitchison is Telum Media’s Head of Insights and Communications.
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