HOW CAN NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS GET MEDIA ATTENTION DURING AN ELECTION YEAR?
Given that news about various political campaigns will consume much of the media’s ink and air time during an election year, Kevin Lampe of Kurth Lampe, a public relations and political consulting firm based in Chicago, offers his advice on how nonprofit organizations can gain media attention for the important community issues they are addressing. He suggests:
Nonprofits can use an election season to deliver their message through political campaigns. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s a respectable way to express your point of view and gain exposure in the marketplace.
Writing a letter to the editor is a great way to (1) correct a mistake, misquote, or distortion in a recent news story; (2) illuminate one or both sides of a controversy involving your profession; or (3) comment on how proposed regulations or policies may affect your clients. Read the rest of this entry »
Media outlets are businesses just like any other. As a result, the media must provide stories that are important, detailed and interesting in order to maintain customers. For this reason, an important but potentially dull public policy story must take an arduous journey to get some form of media coverage. At a recent panel discussion at the Community Media Workshop’s annual Making Media Connections conference, Cornelia Grumman of the Chicago Tribune and David Schaper of radio station WBEZ explained the best ways to get generally unexciting yet important stories into the media.
As a reporter for the Tribune, Cornelia Grumman understands the inherent problems with a newspaper. Familiarization with the quirks and shortcomings of the print media may very well be the first step to getting an article published. The more you know about your disadvantages, the more you can do to combat them. Read the rest of this entry »
Chicago is internationally famous as a “city of neighborhoods,” but its news media celebrate this identity more in theory than practice. Though Chicago has 76 coherent “community areas” and a few hundred identifiable “neighborhoods” within these areas, news and feature stories from and about these areas is usually treated as space filler or calendar fare.
Major downtown Chicago newspapers go through cycles of attempting to cover its neighborhoods better. They have done this by:
Reassigning general assignment reporters to covering certain neighborhood turf,
Creating zoned editions of the papers to permit–especially in the suburbs–better focused “community” stories for their readers, and
Setting up special sections or columns of the paper that specialize in community news.
These efforts come and go, however, and those pitching community stories must stay abreast of the media’s current approaches to covering communities and neighborhoods.
TV news departments often cover neighborhood or community stories by focusing on extraordinary achievements and efforts by “people you should know” or “Chicago’s very own.” Likewise, TV newscasts may feature remarkable achievements or “success stories” of community institutions–housing or school groups or community-based organizations. Any publicist who does not look for and maintain an arsenal of these stories–extraordinary individuals and programs with proven success credentials –should get out of the business. But even stories like these are rarely published by the major media. Read the rest of this entry »
Alex Garcia is an award-winning photojournalist covering real life in the Chicago area and other parts of the world for the Chicago Tribune since 1999. Before coming to Chicago, he worked at the Los Angeles Times and the Long Beach Press-Telegram. He can be reached via email at agarcia@tribune.com.
I used to work for a Ralph Nader organization in Washington D.C., and I remember sitting at the fax machine, wondering what it was going to take to get seemingly out-of-touch reporters to see the story that was screaming to be told.
I remember thinking that if I ever became a journalist, I would help people who needed a particular issue/cause to be fairly represented at whatever newspaper I’m working.
What are some of the things I’ve learned during the past thirteen years on the other end of the fax machine? Read the rest of this entry »
Are Chicago’s Latino-serving nonprofits “too shy or too buena gente” when it comes to seeking news coverage and editorial board meetings? That was one question Gerardo Cardenas of Contratiempo posed to our panel during a meet and greet that featured Gerardo with Tony Martinez of Telemundo Chicago, Fabiola Pomareda of La Raza, Teresa Puente from Chicanísima blog, and Tania Unzueta of RadioArte.
The topic, along with how to make news in the community and quite a few other questions, was hotly debated by the panelists and about 75 folks this afternoon at the National Museum of Mexican Art. Two nice bits of news at the event:
Vocalo and RadioArte jointly announced at the event that the former is sharing its HD signal with RadioArte and the two will collaborate on producing some content. Both stream online but Vocalo sharing its stronger signal will boost the audience for both stations by adding RadioArte’s public affairs, rock en Español and other content to its lineup. (Check the news release here or in Spanish here).
Tony Martinez of Telemundo Chicago reported that the station won a 2009 Emmy for “Outstanding Achievement for Alternate Media/New Media Interactivity” for Tu Voz which is the station’s online, phone bank and related services for connecting with its audience members, helping them with immigration, health or other issues they may face. Read the rest of this entry »
Devices that let you record and communicate with the public can help a nonprofit chronicle events that matter, network with each other, and expand their brands.
by Elsa Wenzel
Originally published in the 2009 Getting on the Air, Online & into Print Media Guide
As tools to record the world’s sights and sounds drop in price,more people have the power in their pockets to show and tell intimate stories with a global audience.
Writer Howard Rheingold describes this as the “little brother” trend. In other words, unlike with fears of “Big Brother” surveilling and controlling the common folk from on high, people on the street can watch the watchers, and each other. The Smart Mobs blog is named after his book describing how digital tools are creating a social revolution. http://www.smartmobs.com/
For better or worse, human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, for example, would never have become public without military members using their own, small cameras. Read the rest of this entry »
They say you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and this colorful aphorism couldn’t be any truer when it comes to media relations. This is a field built on collegial working relationships–not just relationships with reporters, but also with the organizations and officials that at various times we consider to be our allies or our opponents.
Yet, time and again, neophyte communicators and organizations unfamiliar with this deeply personal aspect of media relations disseminate messages and launch campaigns seemingly designed to make enemies out of potential allies. Newbies to our kind of communications work sometimes expect instant favorable coverage for their cause, or see nothing wrong with ad hominem criticisms of people on the other side of the debate. Read the rest of this entry »
With the rise of online news, traditional news has taken a huge hit in audience and circulation numbers in recent years, but in a major media market like Chicago, it is still the place where, yes, millions of people go for information. Just take a look at these numbers: Chicago Tribune - 414,590 average daily […]
You couldn’t miss him. He made a striking image. He was covered in the shawls Jews wear for prayers, carried a long staff and shuffled slowly among the hundreds of marchers headed for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s house in skimpy sandals. He said he was a modern-day Moses, waiting to lead the way for the […]
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