The Work Site

News Releases:

Getting Attention, Framing the Story

KEY PRINCIPLES

1. Be brief.  Reporters and editors are busy and work on tight deadlines. They are not likely to plow through long documents. Keep it to one page if possible. You can add a separate page of background if needed.

2. Tell why this makes a good story for the media. Most reporters and editors are less  interested in whether your cause is just than in whether a story will appeal to their audience. They are looking for controversy or unexpected or new developments or information, and in many cases compelling visuals.

3. Frame the story to show the public interest connection.  The first impression reporters and editors get may influence how they report the story. If our goals are good for the public interest – and not just the special interests of our organization or its members -- we need to reflect that from the first news release in the headline, lead sentences, facts provided, and the choice of who is quoted and what they say.

4. Make clear that people, not just institutions, are taking action.  “Thousands of ____ in our community” are doing something, not XYZ organization.

5. Be credible. Use a factual, and not sarcastic or angry, tone. Give facts that back up key assertions.

MECHANICS

Decide whether to do a release at all. Bombarding reporters with releases can cause them to tune out. Releases are best for news that is likely to be of interest to a broad cross-section of the media. In some situations it may be better to call, email, or schedule lunch with specific journalists who are most likely to be interested, or to schedule a briefing with any interested reporters.

Provide clear contact information. List at the top the name of your organization, the date of release, and a person to contact for more information with office and/or cell phone numbers.

Use the headline to show why it’s a good story for the media and that our goals are in the public interest. The headline can be in two parts if needed to accomplish those purposes. Remember that it may be all a reporter or editor reads before deciding whether they are interested in your story. A short quote or soundbite can be one of the two parts of the headline.

Start with one or two lead sentences that capture the story and the public interest frame. In the process, you need to provide certain basics: who, what, when, where, why, how.

Provide a short quote in the second or third paragraph. Quotes should be 12 to 20 words. They should comments on the situation in a memorable way, rather than restating facts that are better presented in the release’s text. They may be conversational, idiomatic expressions, analogies, word plays, surprising facts or twists.

Use bold type or bullets to organize the information, as is done in this tip sheet.

Describe your organization as you want reporters to think of it, using short “boilerplate” language at the bottom of every release in italic or smaller type. Over time, this repetition helps establish your organization’s identity, as well as avoiding the need for questions about the most basic facts.

Don’t provide the other side’s argument. You can anticipate it and knock it down through the facts, arguments, and quotes you provide, but the release is stating the truth, not taking on the form of a “he said, she said” news story.

Avoid jargon or explain it.

Double-check all facts, names, numbers and have more than one person proofread.

DISTRIBUTION

Give the media plenty of lead time. That means the advance warning they need to put your story into their plans – not the time they would need to do it if it were already in their plans. You can “embargo” a story until a date and time you name, but recognize that reporters don’t have to observe your rules and may use the information to get the story out of someone else. Embargoes work best with one or more reporters you trust.

Provide it to individuals by name if possible. If you don’t know who the assignment editor is, call and ask.

Ask reporters if they prefer fax or email. If it’s email, make sure the subject line will be of interest to reporters and not just to us. Attach the release but also paste it into the email itself.

Call, don’t just send. You can’t assume that because you sent a release it was read. Make follow-up calls.

Send to specialty media if appropriate, such as ethnic media, weeklies, and online news sources.

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