Why am I back here, I don't even play these games anymore
The problem with the internet is parallel to its greatest achievement: it has given the little man an outlet where he can be heard. Most of the time however, the little man is a little man because he is not worth hearing.
ehhhh i doubt that. If you remember way back when Total Biscuit was interviewing swtor guys and complained Stephen Reid was always in the background keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn't say the wrong thing. If the training was so extensive, he wouldn't have to be there.
Considering I work in PR at the moment and I know a few people who have worked at larger publishers similar to EA. Trust me, every single one of them that deals with media and fans on any kind of regular basis has media training. The PR rep is there to jump in and save the dev in case they get talked into a corner or something comes up. Then you blame the asshole PR guy and not the dev for cutting the interview/chat short.
Taken all interviews given by Bioware people... there is no doubt that each and everyone from these guys had trainings of some sort. I remember from very early on that they kept their "don't know about, can't talk about" very strong in any interview. A reporter can't really get yourselve into a corner if you block his questions with these kind of answers.