Keir Starmer’s interview on Five Live yesterday showed the challenge of cutting through in a noisy media landscape.
Nigel Farage had already stolen the limelight on immigration last week, offering sharp, sweeping solutions. Simple, bold, easy to repeat (though probably not to deliver, but I guess that wasn’t the point).
Starmer, by contrast, leans on complexity and caution.
But when the message is already not so headline-friendly, clarity becomes even more important.
There were moments where his core ideas were probably there, but buried. He almost reluctantly offered to bring the closing of asylum hotels forward – it would be “a good challenge”. But he didn’t add by how much.
The “delivery, delivery, delivery” soundbite fell flat. Phrases like an “orderly, sensible way of solving an issue”, “the politics of grievance”, or “rebuilding and renewing the country” are fairly meaningless without concrete examples and stories to illustrate.
Media interviews aren’t just about being honest and truthful – they’re also about hitting the nail on the head, and saying things that stick with the audience. What’s the point of doing them if the interview is buried under other stuff before nightfall?
It’s not dumbing down to sharpen your message. It’s smart communications discipline. And it can be learned.
At Oxford Media Training, we help leaders simplify their messages and make them hit home. And we practice them so they land. If you think you’d benefit from this, do get in touch.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qify34OLIB4https://lnkd.in/erx5uKCp
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