The media play a major role in spreading—or blocking and misinterpreting—your messages to the outside world. As a rule, you will have the most luck getting to know your local media, but there are ways to get to know at least some of the others as well. Get to know as many reporters as you can, and how they operate. Figure out what you can do to make their jobs easier. The better informed the media are, the more likely they are to be accurate and thorough.
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1. Get to Know Your Media
The media
play a major roll in spreading—or blocking and misinterpreting—your messages to
the outside world.
As we have seen elsewhere, there are local, regional, national and international media. As a rule, you will have the most luck getting to know your local media, but there are ways to get to know at least some of the others as well.
Do any regional, national, or international media have local news bureaus or branch offices in your town? For that matter, do they have any local “stringers,” freelance reporters who regularly work for them? Think of them as independent sales reps or brokers.
Get to know
as many reporters as you can and how they operate.
There are
numerous ways to do this, such as:
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2. Media
The media
cannot be ignored.
You do have
to deal with them, but you do not always have to do so completely on their terms. A
professional staff operating with a well-planned communication strategy can help develop a
professional working relationship with the media that will benefit both them and you.
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3. Educating the Media
Many
organizations produce media packets of background
information that are designed to help reporters understand what it is that they do. This
is especially helpful if a organization’s product or service is complex or highly
technical.
These
background packages are often produced in three-ring binders so that they can easily be
used for reference and updated as needed. Many organizations routinely send these out to any
reporter who asks for one, and will often call and ask new reporters who are covering them
if they would like a background package.
Here are some suggestions about what such a package could include:
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4. Case Study:
Earthquake Coverage Survival Guide
Caltech, more
formally known as the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California, is the
world’s premier center for earthquake research. They work with the
Together they
have produced the “Earthquake Coverage Survival Guide” for reporters who have to
write about earthquakes. Since Southern California is one of the most seismically active
areas of the world that means their media kit is for all
The thick three-ring binder is broken down into eight sections:
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5. Case Study:
Earthquake Coverage Survival Guide (Continued)
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6. Case
Study: Earthquake Coverage Survival Guide (Continued)
Caltech and
USGS introduced their “Survival Guide” in January, 2002 at a half-day media
workshop on the 8th anniversary of the catastrophic magnitude 6.7 Northridge,
California, Earthquake of 1994 that left 57 people dead, 9,300 injured, destroyed 13,000
buildings, made 50,000 homeless, and did more than US$13 billion in damages.
The workshop
included lectures by Caltech and USGS seismologists about fault lines, ruptures, strains,
and different types of faults, epicenters, magnitude and all the other terms that you hear
when there has been a major earthquake. The earthquake sensor system was explained to show
how quakes are measured, and how quickly the information is processed. Terms such as
aftershock, foreshock, and swarms were also explained in light of
Other topics covered included how buildings are damaged. This included video of a building built and then destroyed on a “shake table” that produces earthquake-intensity shaking under laboratory conditions. New building codes were also shown and explained.
Scientists also explained what they currently know about the subject and what they hope to know in the future. They were also available for interviews after the seminar.
Caltech’s
media relations staff explained that while they were happy about the media coverage the
seminar produced, the main reason for the event was to educate as many reporters and
editors as possible so they are better prepared to properly cover and explain Southern
California’s “next big one.” And yes, there will always be a “next big
one.”
The entire workshop is available online at http://pr.caltech.edu/events/eq101/.
7. Case Study: One-on-One at
A former
reporter for the
Since the Star
is one of
The seminars included reference material, time with the PR staff, a nuclear physicist, several engineers and others who were able to walk the reporter through the process of generating nuclear power. They also explained how it compared to electrical generation through hydroelectric power and with conventional fossil fuels.
There was also a session on nuclear safety, what would happen in a meltdown, what was done with the spent nuclear rods, and all the other issues that might someday become important for the reporter to know.
Ontario Hydro also took the reporter on a tour of a nuclear plant.
The reporter never wrote about the seminars, but the information learned there appeared in scores of stories over the years that he covered the utility.
A Hydro
spokesman explained that having a reporter on a major daily newspaper who actually
understood what the utility did, how it did it, and how nuclear power worked was well
worth the time, money, and effort that went into putting on the seminar.
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8. The Expert Directory
Every organization has experts and expertise. organizations with good media relations people make sure that those experts are available to the media.
One way to do
this is to publish an “experts directory.”
Although normally done by colleges and universities, many medical facilities also publish
them. A growing number of major organizations also produce them.
The directories are distributed free to the media.
They are normally cross-indexed according to the expert’s name and field. This way a reporter in need of an expert can quickly find one or more to choose from on topics as diverse as nuclear power, cloning, DNA, artificial hearts, fingerprints, physical anthropology, statistical analysis, the development of baby food, the theory of relativity, the history of advertising, or the evolution of the computer chip.
Expert directories often contain brief biographies of the experts, as well as contact information, and will often include more than the expected areas. Different expert directors have included an electrical engineer who was also an amateur historian and the author of several scholarly history books on the U.S. Army-Indian wars of the American southwest; a heart surgeon who was also a respected astronomer; a cultural anthropologist who could explain the odds of blackjack, poker, and other gambling games; and a Roman Catholic nun who was an expert on art.
While some directories are huge, others are quite slim. The size does not matter. What does matter is the fact that it is one more tool for reporters to use when they need an expert in a hurry. This provides not only one more way to get your organization’s name and people out to the public, but also a way to show that your organization is a good community citizen.
9. Try Your Hand at Journalism
One way to
get a better sense of why reporters do what they do and in the way they do it is to try
your hand at journalism. Spend a few hours in
their shoes.
This doesn’t mean quitting your job and getting hired as a reporter.
Instead, go to a media conference with nothing but a pencil and a notebook. Become a newspaper reporter for the day. Identify yourself as working as a freelance writer, or for your own organization magazine. Take notes. Ask questions. Pick up all the materials that are handed out. Go someplace outside of your sector of activity. If you work for a bank, for example, go to a media conference about wastewater treatment, or a new surgical procedure. While some reporters have “beats” and cover the same sector of activity all the time, many of them are thrown into situations they know little or nothing about, especially when they are just starting out in the project/programme purpose.
Then write your news story, just the way the other reporters do, and do it before quitting time. You will see that many of the reporters write the story there on laptops. Some of them will just pick up a telephone and dictate their stories to their rewrite desks.
The next day, compare your story to theirs.
The point of the exercise is not to see if you can write as well as they do. The point is to see what it’s like to work under their conditions, and then to compare the news conference you were at to the ones your organization puts on.
What can you
do to make it easier for the reporters who cover your news conferences? You are not doing
this because you love the media. You are doing it to make it easier for them to do their
jobs properly. The easier you make it for them to so their jobs, the better chance you
have of your organizations stories being presented.
10. The Care and Feeding of Journalists
Successful
public relations people identify five basic truths about dealing with the news media.
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1. Media relations people ensure… |
A. Experts are available to the media |
2. If a new reporter doesn’t understand your project/programme purpose… |
B. Never lie to the public |
3. Media packets |
C. Set up a seminar or two at your facility |
D. Background information for reporters on different topics |
|
5.The better informed the media is… |
E. Can develop a professional working relationship with the media |
6. Good public relations people… |
F. The more likely the media is to be accurate |
Answers:
1.) A
2.) C
3.) D
4.) E
5.) F
6.) B
Multiple-Choice
1. Important skills for reporters include ________ .
a. Asking
the right questions
b. Explain
answers to the readers
c. Being experts in many industries
a. Both A and B
2. organization experts should be ________ .
a. Brought out only when there’s a crisis.
b. Fascinating
c. Older, more experienced employees
d. Available
to the media
3. organizations can get to know which reporters to know by ________ .
a. Joining
organizations that the media belongs to
b. Sending them presents on their birthdays
c. Holding
formal receptions or seminars for them
d. Both
A and C
4. Important skills for the organization’s media relations personnel include ______ .
b. A working knowledge of media operations
c. Some relationship with reporters who cover their sector of activity
d. Answering questions promptly and properly
e. All of the above
True / False
1. _____ An expert’s directory should be available to other employees, not the media.
2. _____ Getting to know as many reporters as you can is a good idea.
3. _____ The media relations people in an organization need to make the reporter’s job as simple as possible.
4. _____ Knowing the local media is much more important than the national media.
5. _____ Holding a reception just for the media will be seen as bribery by your organization’s stakeholders.
6. _____ The media can spread or block your messages – it is that powerful.
Answers:
1. F – It should be available to both.
2. T
3. T
4. F – Although you may deal with the local media far more often, national media can be very powerful.
5. F – Although some stakeholders may question the organization’s motives, these are common occurrences.
6. T
Summary
The media can
spread, block, or misinterpret an organization’s messages to the outside world. As a
rule, you should get to know your local media, but there are ways to get to know at least
some of the others as well. Getting to know as many reporters as you can, how they
operate, and making their jobs easier helps them be more accurate and thorough.
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Test
1. _____ An expert’s directory should have biographical data to make it more human.
2. _____ The closer you are to the media, the better the chance your message will be distributed accurately.
3. _____ Love them or hate them, the media cannot be ignored.
4. _____ If there’s one skill a reporter must have, it’s making a deadline.
5. _____ A media package is only necessary for highly complex products or services.
6. _____ Earthquakes happen so infrequently that media packages are a waste of time.
7. _____ Joining the local press club is considered to be giving in to the media.
8. _____ Knowing how the media operates is nice, but it’s not all that important.
9. _____ The most important thing about an expert’s directory is that it’s usable.
10. ____ A well-planned communication strategy helps the organization and the media.
Answers:
1. T
2. T
3. T
4. T
5. F – All organizations can benefit from providing media packets.
6. F – Although they happen infrequently, their impact is large, so the more a reporter knows about them, the more accurate the information presented to the audience.
7. F – It’s a good way to work more closely with the media.
8. F – It’s a very important skill for a media relation’s department.
9. T
10. T
Bibliography
Lewis, Jeff & Jones, Dick (2001). How to Get Noticed by the National Media, Trellis Publishing.
Marconi, Joseph (1999). The Complete Guide to Publicity, McGraw-Hill NTC.
Smith, Jeanette (1995). The New Publicity Kit, John Wiley & Sons.
Glossary
Media packet– Background information about products or services or a specific topic given to various media.
Experts directory – Employees who have special knowledge and experience on various topics.
Journalism – The profession of gathering, analyzing, and reporting information to the public.
Learning Objectives
· The media can spread, block, misinterpret, or misrepresent any message an organization wishes the outside world to know.
· Media packets provide the media with background information on the organization, its products, and its services as reference material for current and future stories.
Q&A
1. Why should an organization
educate the media?
In today’s world, having a good relationship with the media can make or break a organization, so it behooves an organization to be on good terms with the media and help it in any way possible. One way is to provide reporters with Media packets.
Media packets are often 3-ring binders with information on the organization, its products, and its services. This information could include background information on the sector of activity, its terminology, and its history, the history of your organization, what your organization does and how it does it, a directory of the organization’s top management and experts with biographies, recent annual reports and news releases, and any other information the organization deems necessary for the media to do a creditable job when reporting on the organization.
2. What
should we know about dealing with the news media?
First, know that the main thing a journalist wants is a good story. Second, by knowing how the media works, you’ll know that different media has different needs. A trade publication will have different requirements for a story than the radio or television, both in content and presentation. Third, it is important to know when the different deadlines for stories are. Radio, newspapers and television want topical stories. Magazines and the Internet can wait a bit longer to get a more in-depth report. Fourth, be professional with them and be as helpful as possible. That doesn’t mean you have to tell them everything they want to know. Finally, always be honest with the media.
3. What is a good way to get to know the media?
First, contact the local media or media that has branches in your area. Sometimes there are free-lance reporters who cover the local area or a specific topic or sector of activity that would helpful to know. Get to know as many reporters as you can and how they operate, especially if they come to media events your organization initiates, such as a seminar or formal reception. Reporters who cover your specific sector of activity or topic are very good to introduce yourself to. You can join a local press club or other media-based organization.
By making yourself available and personable to the media, you are more likely to get favorable or, at least, partial treatment from them.