Types of Media

When reaching out to the media, do not limit yourself to the obvious. Consider all the different types of outlets available to you:

• Papers - dailies or weeklies; papers that have specific target audiences
• Magazines - weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, features or news, etc.
• Radio - local or national news programs and talk shows
• Television - morning, noon and evening news magazine or other feature shows; local or cable talk shows
• Wire services - state and regional services
• Newsletters
• On-line publications - ABC.com, MSNBC.com, etc.

Where is the Best Place to Tell Your Story

Decide which outlets are the best medium in which to tell your story: 

Television
     Does your story have a great visual? Can it easily be boiled down in very short sound-bites? Do you have great spokespeople who can respond easily and quickly to questions? For television news programs (local programs or nationals such as 20/20 or Dateline) - is there a victim in this story? What is the human or consumer angle, or the appeal to the average person? You may also want to provide existing footage (called b-roll) and have spokespeople available to be interviewed.
     Example: A press conference to release a report on potholes on urban highways. This has great television appeal: it is highly visual, can easily be tailored for local media (through city rankings), has a consumer or human interest slant and is a story that is usually easily told. This is a great report detailing the terrible shape of urban highways in the US, and points to the money that is being spent on new road building instead of fixing existing roads. What does the organization that publishes the report really want? Fewer new roads and decreased urban sprawl. This is a great example of telling a 'popular' story to get at a slighter less popular message.
     Note on B-Roll - You may also want to provide existing footage - called b-roll - and have a spokesperson available to be interviewed. B-roll is simply a video tape of a particular scene or event that pertains to your issue. It is usually used as "background" footage for a TV reporter, who will usually insert his/her own reporting as a voice over. B-roll video must be in Beta format and must consist of short clips of the most interesting footage. The entire video shouldn't be more than 2 minutes of short (30 seconds or less) clips. There should be no emphasis on narration since most television producers use b-roll as a backdrop for their own story. It should emphasize specific and quick 'action' or movement, since b-roll does not tell a story on its own. Put simply, b-roll should illustrate the point you want to make.

Radio 
     Do your spokespeople feel comfortable fielding questions from reporters or being taped for quotes that may be placed in a story? Radio stations and programs both locally and nationally operate much like television stations.

Three Main Radio Formats: call-in, news feed and public service announcements.

Call-in shows have one or more guests with a host to discuss an issue and include time toward the end of the show for listeners to call in. With these types of programs, it is important for guests to be prepared to answer a wide range of questions.

News feeds are written by staff or fed from a network. Many times the local station will bolster the story with quotes from appropriate spokespeople.

PSAs are announcements made "in the public interest." These cannot technically be politically partisan or even advocate strongly for any position. They are meant to educate or announce community events. Call the station prior to making a PSA and find out their format requirements (length of piece, 'paid for by' requirements, etc.) and the lead time for submitting (often several weeks before the event).

Example: A good example of when to set-up regional radio interviews is during a promotion for a book that has particular 'regional' or city interest. A book offering a series of stories on individuals who are doing interesting things on environmental issues, or environmental businesses in different areas of the U.S., may have regional or general environmental appeal.

Wire Services or Newswires
     Newswires such as the Associated Press or United Press International are usually geared toward breaking news - such as a lawsuit or startling new report. You can dig around to find a reporter with a beat applicable to your issue, who may write a more indepth piece. For example, Associated Press has an "environment" reporter who is not always tied to breaking news. They are great for organizations with a really hot story, but which may be on a tight budget, since stories from these services may end up getting picked up by papers across the country.
     General wire outlets are not for long-lead stories, and may not always be appropriate for 'technical' or complicated stories. There are, however, more specialized outlets such as Dow Jones (covering more business-related issues), or Inter Press (covering an array of environment, social, and international issues). Several outlets such as Associated Press have specialized reporters to cover Agriculture, and other 'specialty' issues.
     There are also 'paid-for' newswires such as PR Newswire. These companies will, for a fee, send out a release to a specific list (this is not considered journalism, but is another form of PR). Others, like Environmental News Service (ENS) - are paid-for but also have reporters on staff.

Identify Your Target Audience
     Who do you want to influence with your story? How can you communicate with this audience via the media?
Are you trying to reach policymakers? Then you need to focus on the publications they most often read - and respect. For example, consider a campaign aimed at environmental reform of the World Bank. The goal of the effort is to force policymakers to make environmental issues a more central part of the policymaking process. Since the campaign must pressure World Bank officials, it must also, therefore, approach the media that the Bank follows most closely - such as the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times. Or maybe your organization wants the pressure to come from Congressional officials; if so, you should reach out to papers such as Roll Call, The Hill or the Washington Post.
     Suppose you are working on a more grassroots-driven effort such as the fight over Organic Food labels, or Jet Ski use in the National Parks. This may call for contacting print media in key states in which parks are located, or papers read by key legislators on the Agriculture committee. These stories also offer good visuals, such as people riding jet skis or TV reporters roaming through grocery stores. This would be a good opportunity for on-site television interviews with your strongest spokespeople.

Lead Times 
     The amount of time that a news outlet is able to devote to stories varies greatly.

Newswire services such as Associated Press will file immediately following a press briefing or another event, then continue to file updated versions of the same story two or three times later that day.

Newspapers will file the same day that a news story breaks unless it is for a more indepth piece. When working on a same-day news story, be sure to have all your information, contact numbers and key spokespeople available for reporters immediately. Deadlines usually fall around 3 PM. 

Investigative Journalists. Many national newspapers have investigative reporters who will spend weeks researching various aspects of a story in which they have interest. When approaching these journalists, be prepared to work with them in an exclusive manner, feeding them information over the course of a few weeks. Magazines (Features) which have targeted readerships such as women, parents or men have significantly longer lead times. There is very little breaking news in these magazines and they tend to spend a great deal of time researching and writing stories. Typical lead times could be 2-6 months, and you should feel confident trusting them with an embargo (they depend on getting information early).

News Magazines (Weeklies) such as Newseek, Time, or US News & World Report usually come out on Mondays and should be approached a few weeks in advance unless the issue is particularly time-sensitive. They usually have Friday deadlines.

Television Features or Magazines such as 20/20 or Dateline usually work on a story for one or two months. Like magazines, they also may not be able to tell you whether they are interested for a day or two.

Television News shows that air nightly or at noon, and local or national news have a much shorter news cycle - same day for breaking news or a few weeks for longer, feature or investigative stories.

Who Does What?
     Most newspapers and magazines, radio and television stations feature the following staff line-ups. Use it as your guide for creating media lists and pitching stories.

Newspapers & Magazines
Editor, managing editor, or executive editor. Determines overall editorial stance of the newspaper (in conjunction with editorial page personnel) and the general thrust of news gathering.
Metropolitan or city editor. Makes day-to-day decisions on what to cover and who will do it. Can refer you to the reporter who covers your beat.
Editorial page editor. Writes some or all editorials. Supervises any other editorial writers, and those responsible for selecting op-ed pieces and letters to the editor.
Feature editor. Assigns edits and often writes human-interest stories. Usually works closely with Sunday editor.
Lifestyle editor. Similar to feature editor.
Columnist. Writes regular special interest articles on topics such as: outdoors, environment, politics, arts.
Beat reporter. Specializes in a particular field such as environment, energy, education, labor, medicine etc?
Correspondent/Stringer. Covers (on a contractualy basis) a geographical region in the outlying circulation are of a newspaper.

Television & Radio
Executive producer. Lead person for a particular program or a series of programs.
Producer. Responsible for the overall tone and content of news programs and, on smaller stations, assigns crews to cover particular stories.
Assignment editor. On larger stations makes day-to-day decisions about what to cover and who will cover it.
A Futures editor may also screen releases and advisories sent in more than a day in advance.
Station manager. On smaller stations sets policy on news coverage and supervises overall operation.
Program director. May determine content and select participants of talk shows etc?
Public affairs director. In charge of public service announcements.

*prepared from materials produced by Resource Media*