Leverage Print to Get Broadcast Attention

by Dick Jones
Dick Jones Communications

When trying for airtime on a broadcast network or on major TV cable, it is often advisable to land a big print placement first.

You've probably seen it yourself. A story gets in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, or USA TODAY, and the broadcast producers and cable bookers call your expert to be interviewed.

As much as ever, major TV gatekeepers seem dependent on print journalists to serve as their story tipsters. Maybe it's because of the 24/7 news cycle, maybe because broadcast news staffing is tight, but it's reality.

As with nearly all of the "rules" of our craft, there are exceptions. Once an NBC field producer showed me a pitch letter that I had written to Tom Brokaw on which Brokaw had scrawled, "Book this." By and large, however, print placements are the way to a broadcaster's heart. Remember this when the vice president for development asks you why you're spending time courting newspapers when most people get their news from television.

Often I have crafted the world's finest pitch letter, sent it to the right person at the network, and waited in vain for a positive reply. In the meantime, that same pitch letter has prompted a print journalist to do a story for a newspaper or magazine. I have then mailed that news clip to the network gatekeeper who, upon viewing the third-party confirmation of a print story, decides it is now a good broadcast story.

You can leverage stories from your local paper to local broadcast media, of course, but sometimes the local paper's story can also yield national broadcast placement if the story warrants it. In most cases (unless you work in a city where networks have a local bureau), you will need to take the initiative and mail the local paper's story to the producer, booker, or assignment editor. While they are scanning the New York Times, they may not be looking at your local press. So you need to call it to their attention.

It can be risky, as you surely know, to use a print placement to leverage coverage by another print outlet. You would never send a New York Times story to a Wall Street Journal editor and expect the Journal to do the story too. Broadcast media, however, are different. The broadcasters not only accept ideas from print media but seem to welcome them.

If you have had any experiences on this topic that you would like to share, we'd like to hear them on PIONet.

We invite your discussion of this topic on PIOnet.

Book Review: On Deadline: Managing Media Relation

by Elizabeth Humphrey
UNC Wilmington

On Deadline: Managing Media Relations (3rd Ed.) By Carole M. Howard and Wilma K. Mathews [Editor's note: Wilma K. Mathews is a PIOnet member.]

Information is king in the world of the media -- so too in the world of media relations.

"Virtually an encyclopedia of media relations" is how Chester Burger, life member of the Counselors Academy of the Public Relations Society of America, refers to On Deadline in its forward. And, with its authors' experiences serving as backdrop, On Deadline indeed encompasses a wide array of information for both novices and experienced practitioners in the profit and non-profit arena.

This book, published by Waveland Press, may be read as a reference book -- a thorough how-to manual. For example, some in the practice feel they may not need the chapter entitled "Getting Started: Setting Up Your Program." However, it provides a great opportunity for an organization to review some of the basics: the development of a communications policy and organizing an office. The language of the book is not condescending, as in, "We have all this experience; do what we did." Instead, it has a conversational tone, leading the reader to begin compiling lists or written policies based on the experiences of practiced professionals.

Introduced by successful events, in the section on media events, the authors walk the reader through a master checklist and a list of guidelines to consider when planning, implementing, and following up for an event. While many may already know to arrange photography or keep track of expenditures, others may appreciate the checklist that also suggests making sure a news-conference setup photographs well or having a person dedicated to the media set up at a separate table. The authors also take the local to global, giving tips on working in the international market.

New media is incorporated, including a discussion of the global changes affecting media relations. Even in a consideration of the Internet, the authors manage to address how the public receives its news, the tools of the trade, helping reporters meet their objectives, and managing crises and other events. Using case studies, the authors provide practical advice in each area, including preparing a shop for the future.

Sprinkled throughout the book are suggestions for being successful; these are highlighted in gray and written by other professionals. They offer case studies, tips, and more lists for managing. The authors are not shy in using lists or quotations, which results in a fractured reading at times. But overall, the wisdom imparted in these far outweighs the disconnect one might experience. At times, for someone who has some experience, the lists become overwhelming. But step back and use the book as a reference, dipping into and out of the information. One can add this book to the list of tools of the trade.

It is obvious the authors have taken time to polish and incorporate advice from their decades of experience. And, at times, a reader may find that the case study or some element is not applicable to their own shop, but a few sentences later there is another nugget or a checklist to review in-house operations that is applicable.

Outside the checklists and suggestions, one concept is particularly useful: evaluation. The authors know that a public relations professional, in managing the media, may have constantly changing and updated checklists and media lists for successful events. However, they also strive for the professional to understand the impact of their job within their organization and news media, which is something that oftentimes may be overlooked.

On Deadline is a practical book that aims to reach a broad audience. The end section lists advice from a broad range of academics and seasoned professionals. While some overlap of information may occur, much of it can bear repetition or review -- just like some information one might find in an encyclopedia.

We invite your discussion of this topic on PIOnet.