New Delhi, July 15 - Diplomats need more than diplomatic skills to tackle the media in this round-the-clock TV age.

A group of 25 members of the elite Indian Foreign Service (IFS) was imparted this invaluable lesson at a unique training session that included ambushes by TV journalists perennially hungry for news.

As soon as the external affairs ministry officers walked through the door for their class, a camera-wielding journalist surprised them with a volley of questions.

The queries related to the day's hottest foreign policy headline.

The 'ambushed' videos were then critiqued extensively by the small group of officers themselves.

The organisers explained, patiently but with a lot of emphasis, what all needed to be done to take on the increasingly aggressive media -- and how not to trip in front of TV cameras in particular.

'We were told that instead of saying anything, the first thing is to show empathy with the victims, if there is a disaster or terror attack,' an official who attended the training told IANS on condition he was not named.

'Also, importantly, stall for time -- tell the media that we will get back to them later,' the officials were told.

The July 6-10 workshop was conducted by the Mumbai-based Indian branch of US firm Media Training Worldwide (MTW), which has been training corporate leaders and foreign politicians on how to manage the media.

India's Foreign Service Institute had contacted the company to extend the lessons to its diplomats. The aim, one officer said, was to arm the diplomats with much-needed skills to manage the media.

A multiple-page questionnaire had been sent earlier to all the nominated diplomats, asking them details of when and how they had handled the media until then.