About This Course
When a crisis strikes, the speed and quality of an organisation's media response can determine whether it emerges with its reputation intact or suffers lasting public and commercial damage. Journalists, social media audiences, regulators, and investors all form rapid judgements based on what an organisation says — and what it fails to say — in the critical hours following an incident. Yet many organisations discover, too late, that their communications teams and senior leaders are unprepared for the intensity, pace, and adversarial nature of crisis media scrutiny.
TrainingComplex's Media Relations during Crises Training is a five-day immersive programme designed to close that preparedness gap. Drawing on real-world case studies from across Africa, the Middle East, and global markets, the course gives participants a structured, repeatable approach to managing media relations from the moment a crisis breaks through to post-incident reputation recovery. Participants will develop the messaging discipline, spokesperson confidence, and inter-departmental coordination skills that distinguish organisations that navigate crises well from those that compound them through poor communication.
The programme combines evidence-based crisis communication theory with practical, high-pressure exercises including live press conference simulations, on-camera spokesperson coaching, and social media war-gaming. Every module is designed to produce immediately applicable skills, tools, and templates that participants can take back to their organisations and embed in their crisis communication plans. Whether your organisation faces product recalls, environmental incidents, executive misconduct allegations, industrial accidents, or cyber breaches, this training will prepare your team to respond with clarity, credibility, and control.
Who Should Attend
- Corporate Communications Managers and Directors
- Public Relations Officers and Spokespersons
- Senior Executives and C-Suite Leaders with media-facing responsibilities
- Government and Public Sector Communications Officers
- Brand and Marketing Managers involved in reputation management
- Risk and Compliance Officers who interface with communications teams
- Human Resources Directors managing sensitive workforce-related disclosures
- NGO and Development Sector Communications Leads
- Corporate Affairs and Stakeholder Relations Professionals
Learning Objectives
- Understand the anatomy of a media crisis and how it escalates across traditional and digital channels
- Apply structured crisis communication frameworks to develop rapid, consistent organisational messaging
- Draft holding statements, press releases, and key messages under simulated crisis time pressure
- Deliver confident, on-message spokesperson performances in press conferences and broadcast interviews
- Manage hostile and adversarial media questioning using proven deflection and bridging techniques
- Coordinate crisis communications across multiple internal departments and external agencies
- Monitor and respond to social media amplification during a live crisis
- Protect and rebuild organisational reputation through post-crisis communication strategies
- Develop and maintain a crisis communications plan aligned to organisational risk profiles
- Evaluate and learn from real-world crisis communication successes and failures
Course Modules
Module 1: The Anatomy of a Media Crisis
- Defining a media crisis and distinguishing it from routine negative coverage
- How crises escalate: the speed, scale, and channel dynamics of modern media
- The three phases of a crisis: pre-crisis, acute crisis, and recovery
- Organisational vulnerabilities and common crisis triggers across sectors
- The role of social media in amplifying and accelerating crisis narratives
- Case study: How a delayed response turned a manageable incident into a reputational catastrophe
Module 2: Crisis Communication Frameworks and Planning
- Overview of leading crisis communication models including SCCT and the Five Ws framework
- Building a crisis communication plan: components, owners, and activation triggers
- Establishing a Crisis Communication Team: roles, responsibilities, and escalation protocols
- Pre-approved holding statement libraries and message approval workflows
- Mapping stakeholders and defining communication priorities for each group
- Conduct a crisis communication readiness audit for your own organisation
Module 3: Crafting Crisis Messages That Hold Under Scrutiny
- The principles of effective crisis messaging: clarity, empathy, accountability, and action
- Developing core key messages and supporting proof points under time pressure
- Writing holding statements that buy time without creating legal or reputational liability
- Avoiding the language traps that make crises worse: denial, deflection, and jargon
- Tailoring messages for different audiences: media, employees, regulators, and the public
- Draft-under-pressure exercise: producing a holding statement for a live simulated scenario
Module 4: Spokesperson Selection and Preparation
- Criteria for selecting the right spokesperson for different types of crises
- The spokesperson's role: what they must do, must not do, and must always remember
- Preparing the spokesperson: briefing packs, Q&A development, and pre-interview rehearsal
- Managing multiple spokespersons and maintaining message consistency across the team
- Physical and vocal presence: body language, tone, and composure under camera pressure
- On-camera coaching session with individual video review and structured feedback
Module 5: Handling Hostile Media Questioning
- Understanding journalist tactics: the loaded question, the false premise, and the gotcha approach
- Bridging techniques: how to acknowledge a question and return to key messages
- Deflection and reframing strategies for legally sensitive or unanswerable questions
- Managing silence, pauses, and pressure without losing composure or credibility
- Responding to speculation, rumour, and inaccurate reporting without amplifying falsehoods
- Adversarial questioning drills with facilitator-led debrief and individual feedback
Module 6: Press Conferences and Media Briefings in Crisis Situations
- When to call a press conference versus issuing a written statement
- Structuring and staging a crisis press conference: logistics, timing, and format
- Opening statements that set the tone, establish facts, and project organisational control
- Managing a room of competing, aggressive journalists without losing authority
- Co-ordinating multiple executives or technical experts on the same platform
- Live press conference simulation with full debrief and performance review
Module 7: Digital and Social Media Crisis Management
- How social media reshapes the timeline and geography of a crisis
- Monitoring tools and real-time listening strategies for detecting a developing crisis online
- Crafting platform-appropriate crisis responses for Twitter/X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp
- Managing viral misinformation, deepfakes, and coordinated online attacks
- Deciding when to engage, when to correct, and when to stay silent on social media
- Social media war-gaming exercise: managing a simulated multi-platform crisis in real time
Module 8: Internal Communications and Stakeholder Coordination During a Crisis
- Why internal communication is as critical as external media relations during a crisis
- Keeping employees informed, reassured, and aligned with the organisation's official position
- Coordinating with legal, HR, operations, and finance without creating message conflicts
- Managing board and executive committee communications during a live crisis
- Engaging regulators, investors, and key partners with appropriately tailored messaging
- Group coordination exercise: managing a simulated multi-department crisis response
Module 9: Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Considerations in Crisis Communication
- The tension between transparency and legal liability in crisis statements
- What communications teams must understand about sub judice, defamation, and admission of liability
- Regulatory disclosure obligations and the communications implications of compliance requirements
- Ethical obligations: balancing organisational interests with public interest and truth
- Working effectively with legal counsel to produce statements that are both honest and safe
- Case study: When organisations got the legal-communications balance badly wrong
Module 10: Post-Crisis Communication and Reputation Recovery
- Transitioning from acute crisis response to recovery communication
- Auditing what was said, to whom, and through which channels during the crisis
- Apologising effectively: the structure of a credible, restorative public apology
- Rebuilding media relationships and restoring journalist trust after a contentious crisis
- Long-term reputation repair strategies: proof points, earned media, and stakeholder re-engagement
- Developing a crisis communication after-action report and embedding lessons into the crisis plan
Requirements & Prerequisites
Participants should have at least two years of professional experience in communications, public relations, corporate affairs, marketing, or a senior leadership role with media-facing responsibilities. A basic familiarity with how news media and social media platforms operate is assumed. No formal academic qualifications in communications are required, though a working knowledge of organisational risk or stakeholder management is beneficial.
Training Methodology
- Live press conference simulations with professional journalist role-players putting participants under real media pressure
- On-camera spokesperson coaching sessions with individual video playback and structured feedback
- Social media crisis war-gaming using realistic simulated platforms to track and respond to breaking online narratives
- Case study analysis of landmark crisis communications events including product recalls, environmental disasters, and executive scandals
- Draft-under-pressure exercises where participants produce holding statements and key messages within strict time limits
- Small-group messaging workshops where teams stress-test and refine each other's crisis narratives
- Bridging and deflection technique drills using adversarial questioning from the facilitator
- Crisis communication plan template development with peer review and facilitator critique
- Reflective debrief sessions after each simulation to consolidate lessons and identify personal improvement areas
Organisational Benefits
- Reduced reputational damage during incidents through faster, more coordinated media responses
- Spokespersons who project confidence and credibility under media pressure, protecting brand trust
- A ready-to-deploy crisis communications plan tailored to the organisation's specific risk landscape
- Consistency of messaging across all departments, reducing the risk of contradictory public statements
- Greater media literacy across the leadership team, enabling better decision-making during high-stakes situations
- Stronger relationships with journalists built on transparency and professionalism even under difficult circumstances
- Reduced legal and regulatory exposure through carefully worded, legally aware crisis communications
- Improved employee and stakeholder confidence in organisational leadership during difficult periods
- Organisation-wide adoption of crisis communication protocols that can be activated immediately when needed
Where Is Media Relations during Crises Training Offered?
This course runs in-person across: Kampala, Cape Town, Nairobi, Nakuru, Dubai, Naivasha, Riyadh, Accra, Lagos, Johannesburg, Abuja, Kigali, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Addis Ababa, Pretoria, Arusha, Kisumu, plus Live Virtual (online) cohorts. Browse live dates for your city below.
Upcoming Schedules
| Location | Format | Dates | Price |
|---|
| Kampala, Uganda |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
USD 1,900 |
| Cape Town, South Africa |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Nairobi, Kenya |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
KES 105,000 |
| Nakuru, Kenya |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
KES 115,000 |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,100 |
| Naivasha, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
KES 115,000 |
| Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,500 |
| Accra, Ghana |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Lagos, Nigeria |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,500 |
| Johannesburg, South Africa |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,500 |
| Abuja, Nigeria |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 2,800 |
| Kigali, Rwanda |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 1,900 |
| Mombasa, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
KES 120,000 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
24 Oct 2026 – 15 Nov 2026 |
KES 80,000 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
26 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
KES 80,000 |
+237 more dates — view live schedule →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a formal background in public relations to attend this course?
No formal PR qualification is required. The course is designed for anyone with at least two years of professional experience in communications, corporate affairs, marketing, or a leadership role with media responsibilities. What matters most is that you have some familiarity with how your organisation interfaces with the media.
Will I receive a certificate upon completing the course?
Yes. All participants who complete the five-day programme receive a Certificate of Completion from TrainingComplex, which can be used for professional development records and portfolio evidence.
How practical is the course — is it mostly theory or hands-on?
The course is heavily practical. More than half of the programme time is devoted to simulations, on-camera coaching, drafting exercises, and war-gaming activities. Theory and frameworks are introduced to support the practical work, not replace it.
Can the course be delivered in-house for our organisation's communications and leadership team?
Yes. TrainingComplex offers customised in-house delivery of this programme, including scenario design tailored to your sector's specific crisis risks. Contact our training coordinators to discuss a bespoke group booking.
What should I bring or prepare before attending?
Participants are encouraged to bring any existing crisis communications plan or media policy their organisation has in place, as these will be used as reference material during the plan-development modules. No advance reading is required, though a brief pre-course questionnaire will be sent to help the facilitator contextualise examples to your sector.
