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Working With the Media
By
Debra Lemoine
You’ve been appointed the public relations coordinator for your organization. Your job is to entice the media into writing about your group’s activities. But the only school-related articles you ever see in the news are drug busts and school board meetings. How do you compete?
The “negative” articles may receive the front-page splash, but in general, the news media is looking to talk about what is going on and what has happened in the community. Getting the word out about your organization or event can be easily accomplished through the news media. You just have to present your information properly, know what to expect, and understand how the process works.
Let's say you’ve got a car wash fund-raiser coming up and want to spotlight the awards your organization won at state conference. No problem. Just don’t expect a front-page article. Most newspapers, radio stations and televisions stations have a section they save for simply telling the public about what is going on. Media, especially broadcasters, often refer to this as a community calendar. Newspapers also will run around three paragraphs about your event in a “briefs” section of some sort. My newspaper has a weekly brief section called “School Notebook” where any news related to schools such as open houses, school board meetings, or student and educator awards is printed. Many newspapers have a section specifically for education related news. Often newspapers will include guidelines and a contact person for submitting news for that section. Some smaller television stations will have their own version of community briefs as well, especially if they have a locally produced talk-show type program.
If your awards are impressive enough or if there is an opportunity for a good photograph, a newspaper might use a picture. Newspapers are often searching for what they call “wild art,” a picture and caption that appears without a related story. Local TV news may want to create a short story on an event with a lot of action and the potential for good pictures. Even if the best picture you have are students holding up plaques (not a very exciting picture), some journalists are looking to spotlight students who are succeeding in school and will do so with a photo and a caption. But the more exciting and interesting your picture is, the better its chances of seeing print.
But some days are busier than others. You may be asked to take the picture yourself instead of the newspaper sending a photographer. Make sure there is plenty of light on the people and have the picture in focus. You would be surprised how many dark, unfocused pictures newspapers receive. Another tip is to include the fewest people possible. News photographers prefer to take pictures of no more than five to seven people because too many people in the photograph makes it difficult to recognize faces. If you must have 20 people in the picture, go ahead. You just won’t be able to make out the faces when or if it's printed in the paper.
If you are asked to submit a photo, you will also be asked to include information for a caption, often called a “cutline” by journalists. Include the name, age (if students) and awards of each person in order that they appear in the photograph. For example, write, “first row, left to right: Ms. Jane Doe, adviser; John Smith, 16, president (2nd place in public speaking); and Mary Jones, 17, treasurer (4th place in job interview).”
I should warn you: happy stuff like community news can usually “hold.” In other words, if an editor does not have enough room in the paper or the news program that day because of higher priority stories, he will often wait to use it another day. And that other day could be weeks later. If there is a time element, such as student singing Christmas carols at a hospital, then the editor must and will use it sometime during the Christmas holidays. If it's non-time-specific, be prepared to wait a while to see your story.
And who knows? Perhaps what you submit to the media will be considered worthy of a full article or TV news story. If you can convince the journalist that it is a good story or if you can tie your situation into a larger issue, like teaching financial literacy to students, you have a good shot. The latter is the best way to go about it; if you can connect what happened in your organization to the latest "hot" education topic, you've got a great chance of a full, feature story.
Debra Lemoine is an award-winning education reporter currently with the Antelope Valley Press, a daily community newspaper in Southern California covering the 300,000 residents of Lancaster and Palmdale. She also has several years of experience as a professional public relations officer, as well as extensive experience in working with student organizations.
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