Hello!

Welcome to GMT's monthly e-newsletter for September 2009. We send this e-newsletter on the first Monday of every month to share feature announcements, membership tips, links to recent articles from environmental reporters, new members, and other helpful resources.

Word Count: 1,776
Read Time: 5 minutes

In this issue you will find:
1. Member Connections
2. Be in the Know – How GMT Tools Can Help Your Group
3. Buzz from the Beat
4. Link(s) of the Month
5. Community Coverage
6. GMT Welcomes 5 New Members
7. Support: Database Do’s and Don’ts
8. Opt out instructions

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1. Member Connections: S.C.R.A.P. Gallery Recycle Bicycles Traveling Exhibit, and Ask the Reporter with Public News Service

The S.C.R.A.P. Gallery, a several year member located in Indio, California, will open a new exhibit in September that focuses on recycled bicycle parts. Pedal Pushing for the Environment is an exhibition about being creative for the environment. In 13 full- color panels and accompanying bicycle components for reuse, the exhibition details how kids and artists have taken non-reusable bicycles and turned them into unique and inspiring sculptures. The viewer will learn about successful efforts integrating art and the environment.

The exhibition also includes component bicycle parts for museums to encourage museum participants to create a Recycle Bicycle. The completed sculpture will then be documented by the museum by photograph, video or actual presentation and will travel on with the Recycle Bicycle exhibition as it continues throughout the United States.

This exhibit is available for rent to museums and libraries throughout the United States starting in September 2009. The exhibit was created by the S.C.R.A.P. Gallery, The Art Museum for the Environment, located in Indio, California and was made possible by the Cathedral City Department of Environmental Conservation.

For more information contact Karen Riley at 760/861-6479 or karen@scrapgallery.org

Learn more about S.C.R.A.P Gallery’s other programs.

The way we use the planet and our resources makes up our ecological footprint. That is why we are pedal pushing for the environment and helping to make our footprint, our human impact on the environment, a sustainable step in the right direction.
- Karen Riley, S.C.R.A.P. Gallery, Executive Director

Ask the Reporter with GMT on September 15th

Wondering what reporters really think of your news release and want to hear some honest feedback on why they may not have given it the press attention it deserves? Then don’t miss GMT’s September Ask the Reporter Session!

Skip Wood and Eric Mack of Public News Service are generously hosting an Ask the Reporter session to respond to your questions about pitches, headlines, leads, email format, and more. This is an excellent opportunity to talk to a reporter and hear honest feedback and advice.

You may have read both Skip’s and Eric’s August blog posts and training documents which illustrate a few areas of their expertise in storytelling, message development, and press releases. We’re sure they can tackle other topics, too.

Take advantage of this great opportunity on Tuesday, September 15th, 1:00 p.m. eastern to ask your questions and to get some expert advice on the common challenges that nonprofit media teams face.

Read more about Erick Mack, Skip Wood, and Public News Service (PNS).

Participate:
Email Nina Schwartz, nina@greenmediatoolshed.org, with your:
1. Name
2. Organization
3. At least one question for the editors
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2. Be in the Know - How GMT Tools Can Help Your Group: New Series on Storytelling and Press Release writing in Training Center

Skip Wood and Erick Mack, the two editors at Public News Service who will be hosting the September 15th Ask the Reporter session, recently contributed a series of guest blog posts and training documents. Erick’s series on storytelling discusses 6 key components to telling your story to get the media’s attention. Skip Wood wrote 3 excellent training documents on writing a release that covers good leads, unbundling dense information, and some key points on structure that you should not overlook.

Read Erick’s series on storytelling:
Key Components to Telling Your Story (and Getting the Press and Public to Listen)

Read Skip's training advice on message development in press releases:
1. Unbundling: Breaking it Down … A Clever Way to Boost Your Media Impact
2. Pay Attention to the Structure- A Diagram of Advice for your Press Release
3. Surviving the first “delete”… focus on the frame

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3. Buzz from the Beat: Covering the Environment: How Journalists Work the Green Beat

Covering the Environment, released in December, 2007 by Robert L. Wyss, is an excellent resource for GMT members looking to learn more about the history and evolution of the environment beat, and insights on the future of environmental journalism. The book also provides insight and guidance in the actual writing of stories, which is accompanied by story excerpts from experienced journalists.

Read a thorough overview of Wyss’ publication and some reviews.

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3. Link of the month: Developing your Social Media Strategy?

We Are Media has a helpful worksheet on their website that will help guide you through the 5 most important steps to creating a social media strategy. It helps you lay out your program decisions (goals and measurements of success), define and reach your targeted audience, engage the conversation with participants, and pick your social media tactics and tools.

Create your own plan through the worksheet.

View of an example of a successful strategy worksheet by Illinois Arts Alliance

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5. Newsroom Notes section: Seattle reporters move to D.C. newsroom this September

The News Tribune of Washington, D.C. is adding two former Seattle Post-Intelligencer staff to their team this September. Lewis Kamb is a former investigative reporter who covered regional and Native American affairs for 9 years at the Seattle P-I. He’ll now cover city hall news in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Bill Virgin is a former Seattle P-I columnist of 18 years, who will engage the Washington D.C. area in regional economics and large business news beginning this September.

Visit News Tribune and pitch Lewis and Bill at:

News Tribune
www.thenewstribune.com

Lewis Kamb
(253) 597-8542
lewis.kamb(at)thenewstribune.com

Bill Virgin
(253) 597-8686
bill.virgin(at)thenewstribune.com

Get more media updates at Vocus' Media Moves

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6. Let’s Welcome 5 New Members to our GMT Community

Allegheny Land Trust serves as the lead land trust conserving and stewarding lands that support the scenic, recreational and environmental well-being of communities in Allegheny County and its environs.

Since 1935, The Wilderness Society has led the conservation movement in wilderness protection, writing and passing the landmark Wilderness Act and winning lasting protection for 107 million acres of Wilderness, including 56 million acres of spectacular lands in Alaska, eight million acres of fragile desert lands in California and millions more throughout the nation. They use science and collaboration with communities and conservation groups to bring about sensible policies and positive change in land conservation. Above all, they work to achieve their mission: to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places.

The Citizens Coal Council is a grassroots citizens group and individuals who work for social and environmental justice. The Citizens Coal Council and its members strive to protect people, homes, water, communities, and the environment from coal mining damage; restore law and order by enforcing the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act; and help each other win their issues.

Reptile and Amphibian Ecology International is a conservation and research organization striving to discover, document, and preserve the rich diversity of living reptiles and amphibians. Guided by strong scientific principles, they collect ecological data about these unsung species in some of the world's last wild places.

Founded in 2003, the Product Policy Institute promotes waste prevention and sustainable production and consumption practices through good public policy and governance. They advocate public policy that protects public health and safety and slows climate change by encouraging waste prevention, clean production and reduced use of toxics in products.

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7. Media Database Q & A: Improving the Validity of Media Database Records

As you’ve seen through a few announcements this past month, your GMT Support Team is implementing a new project to improve the accuracy of the media contact information in our shared database.

The project will eliminate old User Records created prior to 2007, which are causing inaccurate duplicates in the system. Once we remove these duplicates, you will be able to search more accurately and efficiently for your target reporters.

As a first step in the project, we are asking that members run searches for any user records that they would have created prior to 2006, and report back to us with any records that need to be preserved. The deadline for submitting any old records that still need to be saved is October 23rd, 2009.

Detailed steps and visuals for locating your user records and submitting any needed contacts to GMT Support are available.

To get an overview of the type of contact called User Records and an example of how an old user record could trick you in a search, see our announcement.

If you are feeling alarmed about this project, please be advised that the chances of an old User Record being inaccurate are very high, so it is actually in your best interest to identify these old records on your list and replace them with a more updated contact.

Our shared database system is very unique. It gives you an incredible advantage to benefit from information with nearly 200 environmental groups. These new policies will help maintain the quality of data and keep the number of duplicate or incorrect user records at an absolute minimum.

Thank you for your attention to this project, and we look forward to helping you update your media lists.

For further questions, call the GMT support staff at Nina Schwartz at (202)-659-7710 x10 or Michelle Kohn at x13.

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View past e-newsletters in our monthly e-newsletter archive section of the GMT Training Center: http://www.greenmediatoolshed.org/taxonomy/term/38
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