Alerting the Press

There are basically two formal ways of contacting the press, the first being media alert and the second being the press release. A third informal ways of exercising subtle media management is through blogging, but it is an indirect way.

Blogging can be combined with proactive media management. Usually it is advantageous to have a more clean cut web presence than merely a blog, if you want to be taken seriously and awarded the socalled "credibility" as a source.

Contacting media can also be effecient and has been employed effectively in various stages of the #iranelection campaign. This is a recent tweet from one of the prominent Iran reporters:

During the early stages of the "Twitter revolution" users also contacted media outlets asking them not to publish user names or links to user profiles, since this could become a short cut for Iranian censors to compile lists for further investigation and, in the end, persecution by police or basiji.

Basic media requirements

Most modern media outlets encourage individuals to point them towards stories of interest, using forms on their websites.

Even if there is no such encouragement or e-mail form, you should feel free to use contact info for editors or relevant reporters, if you have a story you think might interest the media.

For formal press releases you should form a group and get listed as an NGO. A formal organization has far more leverage with the press than an individual, namely an anonymous individual, or an informal group.

Media requires what you call a legal entity, meaning that the group should have at least one named chairman or spokesperson ready to front the organization as a public figure with full accountability for statements, claims and information.

Basic information in a press release

A press release can be composed in several different ways, but in any case you should make sure to answer the following questions:

What, who, when, where and why?

This means, for instance, if you announce a local rally, you should state what you plan to do, who you are, when it will be held, where, and why you chose to do it.

Another approach is the press statement, which does not necessarily revolve around an event, but merely seeks to air an opinion about a topic to get the interest of the media.

It is different from an open letter or letter to the editor in the sense that your interest is not so much to be it published as to highlight your existence and availability as a source.

A press release should be no longer than 1 1/2 page, minus illustrations. Keep it short, sweet and simple.

When the press release is an article

A press release can also be shaped as an article, easy for the media to cut and paste into their news sections. Media workers are often under time pressure, so composing a press release in the shape of an article can help increase chances of exposure.

When writing for the media you should use the news triangle, unless you are doing an in depth feature or an opinion piece, of course.

The news triangle is a structure, where the most important news is put in the top, while additional information is ranked lower on the page, so the article can essentially be cut from below to fit a size format without losing the essential information. Use your spokesperson as a source - keep quoted parts to 2 or 3.

It is also useful to remember the socalled "hit formula" in the music industry:

Hook, break and gimmick.

Translated to journalism it simply means that you must start out by capturing the interest of the reader and add an emotionally evocative passage as well as some kind of surprising or highly unique feature - a gimmick - to make sure the piece is remembered.