1.5 - About University

into the official system. Make communications apriority in your area. Don’t wait until you need themedia.✔ Develop your own media awareness: Become mediasavvy, noticing the kinds of news items covered aboutbusinesses, organizations, and issues that might haverelevance to your organization, and become familiarwith the reporters who cover them. In this way, youwill become aware of media possibilities and cancommunicate them to others.✔ Build a mutually beneficial business relationship withthe media. Reporters and writers, like most people,reciprocate care with care.❑❑❑❑❑❑Send the media a sheet of one-paragraph news tips thatreporters can follow up themselves.Make sure that stories about your organization have alocal angle or content, and are relevant to the reporter’spublication.Be available to the media. Don’t wait until you need themedia; maintain contact.Keep media contact lists up to date.Set up an information storage and retrieval system inwhich you maintain fact sheets, complete articles,interviews, background information, photos, and stockvideo footage. Tell journalists what is in this system,and that they can have access to it whenever they wish.Update the information regularly.In the case of a crisis, have a designated spokesperson;brief that person immediately.S OME TACTICS OF MEDIA RELATIONSFour questions form the base of media thinking, or media savvy:? Who to reach?? How to reach them?? What to say?? What is in it for them?There are many tactics to use when considering the answers to these questions, including:❑❑❑❑❑❑❑❑❑media conferences, for big news;media briefings, media availability sessions, and media conference calls;news releases or pitch letters, for items you want covered;interviews with relevant people;tours of your facility;public service announcements (PSAs), usually for nonprofits only;reaction to unfair reporting;feature stories to publicize what you want featured; andcrisis communication.If you have to write for any of the above, or approve them, or have them written:1. Decide on the message.2. Use short sentences and good paragraphs.3. Use simple, familiar words.See ☛ 8.2 Direct Communication tool for more information on large-scale communications.H OW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL“… key to good media relations strategy is to make the newsperson’s job easy. That is, give him [her] news ofsubstance, with facts [s]he can rely on—all this conveniently packaged and delivered in good time.”—Richard Detweiler, Public Relations ConsultantSECTION 8 TOOLS FOR COMMUNICATION 261