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Making A Difference

Contacting Media

When contacting media with a story idea, you may use one or more of these methods:

  • Query or pitch phone call
  • Query or pitch letter
  • Mail or fax press release
  • Mail or hand deliver press kit
  • Mail or fax news alert

Even if you call first and find that a reporter is interested in your story, it is always good practice to provide the reporter with your written press materials as follow-up. This accomplishes two goals: it makes the reporter's job easier, and it ensures that the reporter receives your message in the language you hope will be used in the final story.

To top of page When Do You Know It's News?
Your story is "news" if it is happening "now" or in the near future, and will be of interest to many people—readers, listeners or viewers of print and broadcast media. News usually runs on the front page or the third page, local page or business page of your newspaper. It also can run on your local newscasts.

An upcoming "open house" where patrons can receive a tour of the library and demonstrations on how to access different reference materials is news. If you are participating in a health fair at your local hospital next week, it is news. It is also news if you have been involved in an unusual situation. For example:

  • Medical librarians at the University of Chicago assisted an emergency room physician identify a drug prescribed in a foreign country. A tourist was admitted to the emergency room for severe respiratory distress after ingesting his medication.
  • The U.S. Navy came to MLA for assistance training its medical personnel on computers when they are at sea for long periods of time and must deal with medical emergencies.

To top of page When Should You Contact Media?
If you have news to announce, you should send out your press materials a week to 10 days ahead of time to give an editor or reporter time to research and write your story. If your news informs the public about an event coming up in the near future, you want to give media time to report on the event so people can plan ahead to attend. Hopefully, you will get coverage more than once if an event is open to the public and of great interest to them.

If you are hoping to be a guest on a radio or television talk show, you should contact news directors, producers or assignment desks three weeks ahead of time.

Print
Compared to broadcast media, print reporters usually have longer lead times and plan farther ahead when writing stories. For that reason, you should send out your news materials from one week to two weeks in advance and follow up by phone a few days before your event to see if you can answer any questions and encourage coverage.

Television
You should let television planning desks know about your news a week or so ahead of time and then follow up the day before and the day of the event to see if there is still interest and to give them any new information.

Most large television stations have planning and assignment desks. The planning desk has a file of interesting news happening each day. The assignment desk makes assignments the day of the event, depending on other news of the day. In smaller markets, this task might be handled by the same person. Plans to do a story on your news can change from moment to moment depending on "breaking news."

For example, a television assignment editor who expresses interest in your story a week before it takes place may plan up to the last minute to send a crew to cover it because of the great visuals and human interest appeal. However, if, as the camera crew is leaving to cover your event, a small plane crashes in a cornfield outside of town, the crew will rush out to the plane crash site and your story will be forgotten.

Don't take this personally. Try again another time.

Radio
You should let radio news directors know about your upcoming event a week ahead of time, and follow up the day before and the day of the event to see if they want to interview you on tape or live, to run the day before or the day of the event.

Since radio depends only on what people can hear, you could be interviewed live or on tape, or someone could come to the library and interview visitors who have toured the library and learned about using the Internet. For a call-in show, you could go into the studio and answer caller's questions about how to find health care information.

Because radio news is broadcast so frequently, a news story can be on the radio almost instantaneously and run more often, compared with newspapers that have to wait until their next edition, or television news that usually has to wait until the next scheduled broadcast, with the exception of programs such as CNN or catastrophic "breaking news" that usually "breaks" into programming.

To top of page What Should You Say? When Should You Stop?
Reporters are busy people under constant deadlines. If you are calling them or sending them information, everything should be brief and to the point. When pitching a story on the phone, cut to the chase and tell the reporter the WHO? WHAT? WHY? WHERE? WHEN? and HOW? of your story. Then stop talking.

You should take into consideration reporters' busiest times and not call during those times. If reporters say they are "on deadline," find out when you can call back and get off the phone quickly.

In general, the busiest times for television and radio are an hour or two before a broadcast. Print reporters are usually available from 9:30 a.m. until the middle of the afternoon. Of course, there are exceptions.

If you call reporters on the phone, tell them your news or story idea and then stop talking. If you reach their voice mail, ask to have them paged, or verify that they are in the office but unavailable. If so, pitch your story on voice mail and follow up the next day if you haven't heard back. Don't continue to leave voice mails. If, after one voice mail and a follow-up call you haven't received a call back, assume that the reporter is not interested and call another time with another story.

Even if you have a good, long conversation or leave a detailed voice mail, you should still follow up with written materials. If it is breaking news, fax your materials (four pages maximum).

In many cases, reporters prefer to be contacted by e-mail. Make your message as brief as possible and provide the reporter with a phone number where you can be reached if they are interested in the story.

To top of page Media Contact Worksheet
It is in your best interest to keep track of the media you contact, including the date you called, their response and any follow-up that is required. That way, if you left a voice mail message for a reporter who is out to lunch, you will know that you should call back. If you promised to send another reporter background information, you will have a record of what you sent and when, so you can follow up after the reporter has had time to review the information.

A sample media contact worksheet is located in the Media Relations section.

To top of page Using PR Newswire
PR Newswire is an electronic distribution service that sends news alerts and news releases directly to computer terminals of print, broadcast and wire service reporters on a local, regional or national basis.

For chapters that have statewide news to distribute, PR Newswire may be the most cost-effective way to reach the most reporters quickly. If you have news in a single market, it is probably as cost-effective to fax and call local media on your own.

Costs for distribution on PR Newswire vary depending on the word count of your materials and how many people you want to reach. Costs typically range between $100 and $300 for local or regional distribution of a one-page news alert or two-page news release.

You should look in your local telephone yellow pages to determine if there is a PR Newswire bureau in your area. You also can call the national PR Newswire number at 800/832-5522 and talk to them about your distribution needs. Make sure to confirm the cost before you fax them your release or news alert.

To top of page Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
A public service announcement (PSA) is a brief message of community interest C 10 to 30 seconds long—that airs on television or radio stations. Television and radio stations donate air time for these announcements based on the public service value and quality of the announcements.

For example, if MLA members are participating in a free health fair for seniors at your local mall, a broadcast station might be inclined to let the public know beforehand as a community service at no cost.

Public service announcements allow organizations to take credit for the good they do in serving the public. They usually are not meant to draw attention to for-profit activities or commercial ventures.

Stations are no longer required by the Federal Communications Commission to fulfill a quota of public service broadcast hours, and as a result, some stations do not use PSAs Others use only professionally produced PSAs. Some air PSAs only on an exclusive basis, acting as a co-sponsor of an organization's public service message; others create their own scripts using the information you provide. Before planning a campaign using PSAs, it is important to determine the policies of the radio and television stations in your area.

Radio PSAs may be pre-recorded and submitted to stations on audiotape. The alternative is to provide an "announcer-read" script that is recorded or read by program hosts or others at the station. To be accepted by a radio station, audiotapes must be high quality and professionally produced.

Some television stations will use announcer-read scripts but many will only accept a professionally produced videotape. The stations usually use tapes in "Beta" or "VHS 3/4" format.

Guidelines for Placing PSAs
Following are a timetable and guidelines for placing PSAs:

Five weeks prior to airing of PSA:

  • Use your local telephone directory to identify the stations in your area. Call and ask the name of the station's public service director, and ask about the station's policy regarding PSAs.
  • Write a personal letter to each public service director who accepts PSAs offering your announcement. Be sure to include information that will convince the station that your PSA is important. For example, "We have AIDS patients all over our city who would benefit from understanding how to access and evaluate the latest medical information available," is a more convincing message than, "medical librarians can help people find credible health care information."

Four weeks prior:

  • Contact the public service directors to confirm receipt of your letter.
  • Ask if you may send them your PSA.

Three weeks prior:

  • Deliver tapes and/or scripts to the stations. Your PSA is four times more likely to be used if you deliver it personally.
  • Call the public service director to confirm receipt of the tapes and/or scripts and interest in airing it.

One week prior:

  • Call the public service director and confirm when your PSA is scheduled to air.
  • Thank them for using your PSA.
  • Try to monitor, tape, or record your PSA.

To top of page

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