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Media Planning
As you plan for the new year, you’re likely thinking about media coverage. I began my professional life as a daily newspaper journalist, covering the arts. To this day, the guiding principles of that training remain my core values: learning, communication, and integrity.
As someone who’s lived on the “other side,” I offer you four fundamentals to consider while you strategize your print coverage.
1. A journalist is not a publicist.
It is not the journalist’s job to raise your public profile, to sell your tickets, or to supplement your grant proposals. Those may be secondary gains for you, but they are not the journalist’s concern. The job of a journalist is to find and write good stories for readers. If you want to gain the attention of a journalist, then provide her with good story ideas.
2. You are capable of generating good story ideas.
Consider these questions, from the reader’s perspective:
A good story idea offers a fresh “hook.” A concert or exhibit, for example, is not in itself newsworthy. Hundreds of concerts or exhibits happen in your community every year. What’s different about this one?
A good story idea is timely. What’s new about what you’re offering?
A good story idea is relevant to the readership. Why do/should they care?
A good story idea has impact. What’s the larger significance of what you’re pitching?
A good story idea contains colorful characters and a compelling plot. It’s a miniature drama. That’s why it’s called a “story.” What’s the basic outline of your story?
A good story idea provides photo opportunities. Editors are seduced by the lure of great images. What attractive visuals does your story include?
3. A journalist works in good faith.
An arts journalist is in it for the love of the art, just like you. She’s overworked and underpaid, just like you. She’s creative, just like you. A journalist is a human being who, like all human beings, responds well to respect. She doesn’t respond well to low-grade hostility or indignant entitlement.
4. Criticism is not the same as reporting.
In a perfect world, there would be a firewall between arts reporters and arts critics, because news and criticism are two completely different beasts. In our imperfect world, however, the lines between the two have become blurred. The same individuals have to report and interpret and evaluate. But don’t be lulled into a false sense of press partisanship. Just because a writer is eager to cover the opening of your new building doesn’t mean she will write a rave of your new work. Conversely, just because the last review was less than a rave doesn’t mean she’s uninterested in covering your news and features. Know which hat a journalist is wearing each time you talk with her, then adjust your expectations and behavior accordingly.
Best,
Ann
December 2006