#MizzouMade John Anderson Shares Media Training Tips With Mizzou Athletes
9/23/2016 9:24:00 AM | General
Anderson and Dr. Cynthia Frisby met with third-year Mizzou athletes as part of the new MizzouMade curriculum Thursday
As part of Mizzou Athletics' new #MizzouMade curriculum, the Tigers welcomed ESPN's John Anderson and Mizzou associate journalism professor Dr. Cynthia Frisby for a talk on media training and self-presentation last night at the Columns Club at Memorial Stadium. The new #MizzouMade program is a brand new, comprehensive and strategic student-athlete development program. Last night's presentation offered Mizzou's third-year student athletes insight on how to work with the media and how to put their best foot forward during job interviews.
Anderson, a Mizzou journalism graduate and former track and field high jumper, has been one of the lead anchors on ESPN's SportsCenter since joining the worldwide leader in sports in 1999. He opened Thursday's presentation by offering some friendly tips for the Mizzou athletes for when they meet with the media. Anderson shared three key principles:
- Athletes should never 'deal with the media' but rather 'work with the media' and take away all of the perceived negatives of talking with members of the media.
- Anderson explained that journalists will seek information and that student-athletes have the information they are looking for. Often times the information they are looking for is based out of conflict. Anderson used a football analogy – no one asks about first-and-10 from the 20, but rather fourth-and-goal from the one. He reiterated that reporters are not singling athletes out, but rather have an obligation ask tough questions. He encouraged athletes to tackle those questions head-on rather than not answering.
- He also reminded student-athletes that they are equals with the reporters that cover them.
Following Anderson's opening, he called Trey Harris of Mizzou Baseball to the front of the room and conducted a mock interview with him. Following that, Kevin Pendleton of Mizzou Football did a mock job interview with Dr. Frisby.
After Pendleton did an excellent job in the staged job interview, Dr. Frisby took 10 minutes to go over job interview tips with the group. Anderson then did a mock media interview with Mizzou women's basketball player Bri Porter, who aced the interview despite Anderson intentionally setting her up with trap questions.
The athletes then conducted mock interviews with other athletes before Anderson and Frisby closed the session with final remarks. Be sure to check out the pictures in the gallery above. For all the latest on Mizzou Athletics, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow Mizzou on Twitter @MizzouAthletics.
