Below are some simple methods that will give you confidence going into a media interview and which will help ensure the interview is a success.

• Find out why the interview is taking place and what the journalist wants. Knowing the topic and focus of the interview allows you to research the topic beforehand and to also consider possible questions you will be asked. Your public relations adviser should be able to inform you what the journalist is looking for from you, i.e. explanation, opinion, new information.

• Anticipate the negatives and rehearse the responses. With any story there are potential negative angles. By considering what these might be and anticipating the questions the journalist may ask about them you can prepare a response. Addressing potential awkward questions prior to the interview will give you confidence that you can respond.

• Ensure you have refined your key message. Before the interview consider three key points that you would like to make on the topic you are being interviewed on. This will focus you for the interview, help avoid any moments of silence and will ensure you get your message across.

• Deflect difficult questions and give the answer you want. If asked a difficult question during the interview that you do not want to answer acknowledge the point the interviewer is trying to make and return to one of your key messages. Try not to feel under pressure if this happens and remember to take time to think before answering questions.

• Show passion and enthusiasm. Interviews are more enjoyable for both those taking part and those listening if the interviewee is enthusiastic when speaking on the topic. In the majority of interviews you do you will be the expert so enjoy having the opportunity to share your knowledge with an audience.

Interviews are an important part of increasing your public profile so they should be utilised. If you still feel uncertain about being interviewed training can be provided to help further.

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15 May 2012 Last updated at 19:28

Brighton woman Nicola

Brookes tackles ‘trolls’ after

Facebook abuse

A Brighton woman who was abused on the internet is starting legal action to force Facebook to reveal the identities of those who targeted her.

Nicola Brookes was falsely portrayed as a paedophile and drug dealer by so-called internet trolls.

She is taking High Court action to force Facebook help her identify her abusers so she can then prosecute them.

Facebook issued a statement which said there was no place for bullying on its social networking website.

‘Organised abuse’

Ms Brookes said one online bully created a fake profile in her name which was used to send explicit messages to girls.

She said: “These abusers are not just random people who have nothing better to do with their time.

“These are organised people who have been operating on Facebook for years.”

She said the abuse started six months ago after she posted a message about an X Factor star.

A statement issued by Facebook said: “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the people that use our service.

“Unlike other websites and forums Facebook has a real name culture, which provides greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment.

“We are clear that there is no place for bullying or harassment on Facebook and we respond aggressively to reports of potential abuse.”

Detectives ‘reviewing case’

The statement said users were given tools to report abuse on every page and the option to block people, and reports of harassment were prioritised.

Facebook has not commented on the legal action.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “We have looked at the material sent to us by Ms Brookes and we have told Facebook to remove anything offensive or abusive towards her.

“The matter is still subject of a police investigation and is currently being reviewed by senior detectives to see what further inquiries should be made. Mrs Brookes and her solicitor will be kept in touch with developments.”

He added: “As Facebook is an international website, millions of people from all over the world use it. We need to gather evidence to prove who the person is for a successful prosecution to take place.”

He said specially-trained officers examined any such allegations of bullying, harassment or malicious communication.

Ms Brookes’s solicitor Rapinder Baines confirmed that the case was currently in the hands of barristers and papers would be lodged with the High Court early next week.

The aim of the High Court action is to make Facebook provide details of computers from which the offensive messages came.

That information would then be used to bring a private prosecution against the abusers.

troll law lobbying

PR company backs high profile case

Legal PR firm Byfield Consultancy is supporting a high profile web abuse case as part of a campaign to bring in new laws against internet trolls.

Byfield told PR Week it wants to see stronger police powers against online abuse and is working with solicitors Bains Cohen to handle a pro-bono brief on behalf of Nicola Brookes.

Brookes suffered from abuse after leaving a supportive comment on the Facebook site of The X Factor contestant Frankie Cocozza which seemed to get a little out of hand.

A day  after her post, she received 100 abusive comments. Apparently ‘trolls’ had set up a fake profile using her name, image and personal email and were calling her Cocozza’s drug dealer, a prostitute, and a paedophile.

There were also indecent comments levelled at her daughter and she was forced to seek legal help to get the page removed. The case is going to the High Court in a bid to force Facebook to release the IP addresses of the trolls.

Byfield said that police powers to combat trolls need to be tightened after Brookes was told by the police they were unlikely to be able to arrest anyone.

The agency has launched a media campaign based on research into internet abuse showing more than half of people have received some form of abusive communication.

The company said that it will be the first private prosecution against internet trolls and Byfield wants it to be a test case to effect a change in future prosecutions.

MD of Byfield, Gus Sellitto, who is managing the campaign, said that urgent action needs to be taken to address a very serious and increasing problem of internet trolls.

There needs to be a change in how internet trolling is investigated and how victims of this kind of abuse are treated by the authorities. They will have a lot of work on their hands.

He called for a dedicated police unit to deal with internet trolls, as exist for other forms of serious abuse.

Listed below are effective, but sometimes overlooked, ways of using the press release format.

Five Top uses of Press Releases

1)      Event or Seminars

If you are taking part in an event or a seminar, this can be used to gain media coverage either on the event itself or the topic of the event, via the form of a press release. This can help publicise the event and gain media coverage for a specific topic of interest that you want to highlight.

2)      Charity Activity

If you are taking part in a charity event, take some photos and provide your PR agency or communications team with the details. Local newspapers and magazines favour reporting charity events that involve the local community and that have decent photos accompanying the press release. It sometimes helps to include a copy of the magazine or newspaper you wish to appear in, in the photo.

3)      Legislative Change

If you hear of legislative change which is of interest to your practice area a press release can be prepared on this change and sent to the media before the story breaks. Providing journalists with information before it hits the newswires will increase the chances of coverage and position you or your firm as experts in this field.

4)      High value deal or high profile case

If you are working on a significant or high value deal or high profile case, give your PR agency or communications team a heads-up so that they can prepare a press release for the day the deal is finalised, or the judgment in a case is handed down. This will highly increase the likelihood of the press release being picked up as it will be more newsworthy. When dealing with high profile cases, it is also a good idea to prepare two separate press releases should it be unclear which way the case might go, so that all angles are covered.

5)      Appointments to boards or societies

If you have been appointed as a board member for an organisation or invited to join a prestigious society, this can be drafted up into a short press release and sent out to announce the news. These appointments are often very well picked up in the local press and a great way to get your name and the name of your firm out in the public domain.

of laws on internet ‘trolls’

Hannah Crown, prweek.com, Monday, 14 May 2012, 6:24pm

Legal PR firm Byfield Consultancy is leading a call for laws on the prosecution of internet trolls to be strengthened, by supporting a high profile web abuse case.

The agency is working with solicitors Bains Cohen to handle a pro-bono brief on behalf of Nicola Brookes, who received a volley of abuse after leaving a supportive comment on the Facebook site of The X Factor contestant Frankie Cocozza.

Just 24 hours after her post, she received 100 abusive comments and later discovered that the ‘trolls’ – anonymous internet abusers – had set up a fake profile using her name, image and personal email, calling her Cocozza’s drug dealer, a prostitute and a paedophile.

She also received indecent comments towards her daughter. Brookes was forced to seek legal help to get the site removed and is now going to the High Court in a bid to compel Facebook to release the IP addresses of her tormentors.

Byfield is lobbying to strengthen police powers after Brookes was told that the police were unlikely to be able to bring the trolls to justice. The agency has launched a media campaign based on research into internet abuse showing 53% of people have received some form of abusive communication.

This is the first private prosecution against internet trolls and will be highlighted by Byfield as a ‘test case to effect a change in future prosecutions’.

MD of Byfield Gus Sellitto, who is managing the campaign, said: ‘Urgent action needs to be taken to address a very serious and increasing problem of internet trolls. We urge everyone to support our campaign to effect a change in how internet trolling is investigated; how victims of this kind of abuse are treated by the authorities; and how the abusers are dealt with.

‘We need a dedicated police unit to deal with internet trolls, as exist for other forms of serious abuse, and hope this campaign goes some way in achieving this.’

she sues to stop the madness

A mom who dared to share words of encouragement on Facebook to an unpopular reality-show contestant found herself as the target of a hate campaign that’s raged for six months. After trolls allegedly set up a fake Facebook page in her name and used it to solicit girls as young as 9, Nicola Brookes decided to sue Facebook to find the names of the unseen people who persist in harassing her.

Brookes, who lives in Brighton, England, has been the target of troll hatred on Facebook since last fall, when Frankie Cocozza, an “X-Factor” contestant, was thrown off the British equivalent of “American Idol” for boasting about drug use. Brookes, whose daughter is a fan of the show, was looking at a Facebook page about Cocozza and saw all the snarky remarks posted to him.

“Keep your chin up, Frankie,” she said in her Facebook post. “They’ll move onto someone else soon.” Move on they did, to Brookes herself.

On the fake Facebook page they created in Brookes’ name, the trolls apparently solicited young girls for drugs and for sex, then posted comments on the same page calling Brookes a pedophile. The trolls also later posted Brookes’ Brighton home address and a photo of her daughter, says Brookes.

Facebook removed the fake page, but Brookes wants the social network to turn over the Internet addresses of the perpetrators, hiding behind various identities. She maintains that she did nothing more to inflame their bile than share her “keep your chin up” remark.

“As soon as she posted that comment about the singer, people started hurling awful, nasty comments toward her,” attorney Rupinder Bains told msnbc.com in a phone interview. Her London-based firm, Bains Cohen, took the case on a pro bono basis. Brookes, in her 40s, has Crohn’s disease and has not been able to work for a while. The Facebook fiasco has made her scared to leave her home, with threats continuing, Bains said.

When the law firm asked Facebook to remove the fake page last fall, it did so quickly — “they were great,” said Bains.

“But the trolling hasn’t stopped,” she said. “The trolls will constantly be on there, making comments about Nicola … and then they say things on other blogs elsewhere and on their own Facebook pages. We have to take steps to get the identity of these trolls.”

Facebook, contacted for comment by msnbc.com, shared this statement:

Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the people that use our service. Unlike other websites and forums Facebook has a real-name culture, which provides greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment. We are clear that there is no place for bullying or harassment on Facebook and we respond aggressively to reports of potential abuse.

The site gives users “the tools to report abuse on every page and the option to block people from having any further contact with them.   Reports involving harassment are prioritized, reviewed by a trained team of reviewers and removed if they violate our terms.”

In a story in the Telegraph, a Facebook spokesman said much of the same, adding that the site responds “aggressively to reports of potential abuse,” but declining to comment on the legal action.

Bains believes there may be four or five people behind the harassment/bullying effort on Facebook, but she doesn’t know for sure. The law firm plans to request an injunction from the court in Britain to compel Facebook to turn over the computer addresses of those involved in the cruel campaign.

What happens if such an order is granted and the law firms gets ahold of the names? “We would see criminal prosecution once we’ve identified the trolls,” Bains said. Charges could include violations of harassment and communications laws in Britain.

The case, she said, “just goes to show how the veil of anonymity gives an individual so much strength and power,” including the power to wound.

Meanwhile, Brookes has been “through times of depression because of this,” but she remains on Facebook, Bains said: “She refuses to be beaten by them.”

On BBC Breakfast he discusses Trolls: