There’s many ways to contact news outlets about news they can use. One way is through news outlets’ websites. Submit press releases and media alerts to Chicago and other Midwest news outlets using the links below. A word of advice: Be selective when choosing news outlets to send your news too. Consider the geographic area the outlets cover and the readership/viewers they serve. Consider publications’ frequency. Will your news be timely by the time it might be published?
Chicago-area Outlets
• ABC Television
WLS-TV (ABC7-Chicago) does not accept press releases via email. All documents should be faxed to (312) 899-8019. For a directory of links for ABC New’s various national programs click here.
• American Bar Association Journal
All press releases should be emailed to releases@abanet.org.
• CBS Television
WBBM-FM (CBS2-Chicago) accepts press releases on its Web site. This page should be used to contact all national programs. Read the rest of this entry »
Photo by Antre on Flickr.com
by Hank DeZutter
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 »
