Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1204, Controlling Information to the Media.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1204.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful LACA.
That's Los Angeles, California.
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In this episode we're going to listen to a little story about controlling information being careful what kind of information you give to television stations newspapers, radio shows and nowadays, news websites.
Let's get started.
Okay, everybody, have a seat.
The purpose of this meeting is to get everybody on the same page.
I'm passing out the fact sheet we've prepared.
This fact sheet gives a rundown on what has happened to date, so that no one is in the dark about our current situation.
We've also prepared these talking points.
This is for internal use only.
I don't want them leaked to the media.
These talking points have been prepared to help everyone stay on message.
Anyone talking to the media off script will have to answer to me.
These talking points preempt many of the possible questions you'll be asked.
We hope to take the wind out of their sails by addressing some of the media's most likely questions up front.
Any questions?
Um, I've read through these talking points, and I'm still not sure how to answer one key question.
What's that?
Have we solved the huge issue that's the cause of our current problems?
It goes without saying that if the media ever wants a straightforward answer, our response is always no comment.
We are at a meeting in this episode.
The meeting is being run by or managed by Pablo.
Pablo begins by saying, OK, everybody, have a seat, meaning please sit down.
The purpose of this meeting, Pablo continues, is to get everybody on the same page, P-A-G-E.
The expression to be on the same page means to have the same understanding or knowledge about something.
Sometimes it can also mean to have the same opinion about something.
So if you say to someone, I want to make sure we are on the same page.
You are saying to this person?
I want to make sure we both understand the same thing, or we both agree about this issue or have the same knowledge about this issue.
He says, I'm passing out the fact sheet we've prepared.
To pass out is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to give something to many different people, usually a piece of paper.
To pass out means to distribute.
We might also say to hand H-A-N-D out.
A teacher hands out papers to her students, or a boss passes out agendas to the members of the committee.
To pass out, to hand out, to distribute all mean to give something to many different people.
You could also pass out water to people at a party.
Everyone gets a glass of water or a bottle of water.
Pablo is passing out a fact, F-A-C-T, sheet, S-H-E-E-T.
A fact sheet is a piece of paper that contains important details or information about something.
Often fact sheets have simple sentences that just give the most important or key information.
A fact sheet is usually just one piece of paper that contains a summary of the most important information on a topic.
Pablo says A rundown R-U-N-D-O-W-N.
One word is a summary of the most important points or pieces of information.
We might also refer to it as a brief or short overview, O-V-E-R-V-I-E-W.
If, for example, you miss a meeting, you might ask one of your colleagues, one of the people you work with, for a rundown on the meeting, a summary of the most important things that happened.
This is a rundown on what has happened to date, meaning up to the present point or up to this moment.
We might also say so far.
It's a rundown on what has happened to date so that, in order that, no one is in the dark.
To be in the dark means to be unaware or uninformed, without knowledge or information about something.
We often use this with the verb leave.
I don't want to leave you in the dark.
Or, I don't want you to be in the dark.
I want to give you the information.
This expression in the dark would probably be used more often in a business situation, although it could also be used in your personal life.
I'm in the dark about what my neighbor is doing with his dog.
I don't know why it barks or makes noise all the time.
I'm in the dark.
Maybe he's teaching the dog to sing.
I don't know.
Pablo continues, we've also prepared these talking points.
Talking points are key ideas that you want someone to express in an interview, a speech or a.
In business and in politics, talking points are the key ideas that everyone from an organization or everyone who is supporting a particular political candidate talks about, so that the message is the same, coming from the organization.
If you have a organization, a business that has had problems, you want everyone to talk about the problems in the same way, so that the media newspapers magazines, television stations and so forth give the same message to their listeners or readers.
You want everyone to be on the same page by using the same talking points, the same basic pieces of information, so that everyone is giving the same message.
If you don't do that, that could cause problems.
Some people may say one thing.
Other people may say something that contradicts that or that is different from that.
So that's why having talking points is such an important part of modern business and modern politics.
However, Pablo says that these talking points are for internal use only.
Internal, I-N-T-E-R-N-A-L, use, means just within the company or within your organization.
The opposite of internal would be external.
A business or political organization might create a set of talking points that it gives to all of the members of the staff, the people who work there.
But the business or organization doesn't want the media to get these talking points directly, because then it will look like the organization is just trying to present certain information and avoid other information being released.
Of course, that's exactly what the organization is doing.
But you don't want people to think that.
That's why Pablo says I don't want them meaning.
These talking points leaked L-E-A-K-E-D to the media.
To leak something is to share secret information to someone who should not have it, especially to someone in the media a newspaper, a magazine, a television channel and so forth.
Pablo says, these talking points have been prepared to help everyone stay on message.
To stay or be on message means to be focused on the main ideas or main topic, to be consistent in what you are telling people so that you don't have different messages.
Pablo then warns the people at the meeting anyone talking to the media off script will have to answer to me.
Off script means not following the talking points, not giving the message the company wants to give.
Pablo continues.
Pablo continues.
To preempt P-R-E-E-M-P-T means to do something in order to prevent something else from happening or to ensure that something else doesn't happen.
To preempt a disagreement is to do something to prevent a disagreement from happening.
The talking points Pablo has prepared will preempt possible questions.
It will prevent the media from asking certain things.
It will give the answers first, if you will.
He says, To take the wind W-I-N-D out of someone's sails S-A-I-L-S is to take away someone's advantage, or perhaps to make someone feel less confident.
In this case Pablo, is trying to make sure the press doesn't ask embarrassing or critical questions by answering their questions up front.
To do something up front is to do it at the beginning, before something else happens.
If you're going to rent an apartment in the United States, usually you have to give the first month's rent up front before you actually move into the apartment.
Not only the first month's rent, but usually an additional amount of money in case you cause some damage to the apartment.
But we're not talking about apartments here.
We're talking about answering questions before people ask them.
Pablo then asks if any of the members of his meeting have any questions.
Susana says that she's read through the talking points, but she's not sure how to answer one key or important question.
Pablo says, what's that?
Meaning, what question?
Susanna says.
In other words, has the company actually solved the problem about which the media is going to be asking questions?
Pablo says.
It goes without saying that if the media ever wants a straightforward answer, our response is always no comment.
It goes without saying, is an expression we use when we are stating something that is obvious, something that everyone should already know.
It goes without saying that if you come to California, you should bring a hat and sunscreen to put on your skin, because we have a lot of sun.
That's something that we assume everyone knows.
It goes without saying Pablo says that if the media ever wants a straightforward answer, our response is always no comment.
A straightforward, S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T-F-O-R-W-A-R-D answer is a direct and honest answer.
A clear answer.
The media will ask questions and want an honest answer.
And if that happens, Pablo says, our response is always no comment.
No comment is a phrase used when you don't want to answer a reporter's question.
You don't want to answer questions from the newspaper or the television station or the magazine that is asking you questions?
It's a phrase that politicians and business people often use when they are asked questions that they don't want to answer.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Okay, everybody, have a seat.
The purpose of this meeting is to get everybody on the same page.
I'm passing out the fact sheet we've prepared.
This fact sheet gives a rundown on what has happened to date, so that no one is in the dark about our current situation.
We've also prepared these talking points.
This is for internal use only.
I don't want them leaked to the media.
These talking points have been prepared to help everyone stay on message.
Anyone talking to the media off script will have to answer to me.
These talking points preempt many of the possible questions you'll be asked.
We hope to take the wind out of their sails by addressing some of the media's most likely questions up front.
Any questions?
I've read through these talking points, and I'm still not sure how to answer one key question.
What's that?
Have we solved the huge issue that's the cause of our current problems?
It goes without saying that if the media ever want a straightforward answer, our response is always no comment.
It goes without saying that the most wonderful scriptwriter on the internet is our own scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
