USING THE MEDIA

A guide for Groups and Districts in Greater London South West

AN INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC RELATIONS

What comes to mind when you think about a PR consultant? The stereotype is a man, continually on his mobile phone, swigging a G&T or champagne between calls, and speeding from one gimmicky event to another in his sports car. Some are like this, but most are not. Well, are you?

The official definition of PR, from the Institute of Public Relations, is: "The planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics."

What does this mean for us?

PR for you is about projecting the image or personality of the Scout Association to your own 'public', supporters, funders, the local community, and to your other audiences, such as your local council, other voluntary organisations, and not forgetting leaders too.

As soon as you try to list your public, you will find that you have many more than you realise, and that they are much more wide-ranging than you imagined. So PR is about getting your message across to your public, but it's a two-way process. You must communicate with your audiences, but you need to make it easy for them to talk to you too. One-way communication is just hype, which makes people think in terms of "PR stunts" and the like. Real PR involves dialogue – you need to listen to others, to see things from their perspective.

Why bother with PR?

Sad but true – the story so far… If we look at just one Section… on average, the Section got approximately 1,000 newspaper mentions each year. Of this, approximately:

15% promote a really positive and up-beat image – an image we want people to have of us showing Scouting as dynamic, a good laugh with lots of activities, adventure and excitement.

80% promote a naff image of ceremonies, badge presentation and parades.

5% made us look like a bunch of sad muppets by promoting a really naff image of Ging Gang Goolie, Dyb, Dyb, Dyb, knot tying and singing songs round the camp fire. These help re-enforce the traditional stereotypes many people still have of us.

AND WE WONDER WHY WE HAVE AN IMAGE PROBLEM!

As you can see, when we actually get coverage, a lot of it simply reinforces an outdated and boring image. Imagine looking in from the outside – would you want to join an organisation which only seems to present badges and go on parades! This may be how the media perceives us, but this is because on the few occasions we inform them, this is what we present them with.

Use the ideas in this pack to help improve your image and interest in YOU and SCOUTING!

Also, in order to get the funding to do what you do, you need to achieve a profile – with funders and supporters such as local authorities, local groups and districts, local organisations and the public. Funding is an increasingly competitive market, with more organisations but with no more money it's those with the profile that often secure the funding. It might be unfair but it's the reality.

Some people are understandably wary of PR. They wrongly believe that PR is about hyping achievement. They understand it to be about a glossy image; they think it's about hiding flaws and shortcomings in their organisation.

MEDIA RELATIONS

No Great Mystery

When people think of PR, media relations are often the first thing that comes to mind. It's by no means all that PR is about, but it is nevertheless an important part. Many people working in PR like to make out that there is a great mystery in dealing with the media. There isn't. Once you know the basics, you can quickly and easily develop a good working relationship with your local media, and the more often you achieve a success, the more confident you will feel about going to the media the next time. By media we mean radio, television and newspapers (including trade publications). Since most charities most of the time will be dealing with local newspapers, that's the emphasis in this chapter.

How Newspapers Work

When you read a story in the newspaper, or hear something on the radio or television, you may wonder how the media got hold of the story. A great deal of news is generated by news releases, which are issued by companies, charities and pressure groups. A news release is simply a news story that has been set out in a particular style. They used to be called press releases, but nowadays, with our broadcast media seeking out news from business and the community for an ever-increasing number of programmes, press releases have become known as news releases. If you call yours a 'press release', you might alienate or irritate the broadcasters.

News Releases

Many local newspapers have a small staff, so they rely on news releases for much of their coverage. If you send in a good release, the chances are that it will get used verbatim. If you send relevant black and white photographs with your release (suitably captioned), these may also be used. Don't send photos to radio and television though! When a newspaper receives your release, they will do one of three things with it:

They will use it, either word for word or having edited it a little
They will telephone you for further information, and then write their own story
They will bin it, because it is no good, irrelevant for their readership, arrived too late, or because they had too much news already

Local newspapers receive hundreds of releases every week, so the competition is very stiff. Therefore you need to do everything you can to ensure that your release is the one that does not end up in the bin.

One obvious way of increasing your chances of coverage in the local papers is to ensure that your release has a local angle. If your release is not addressed to a named person, it will go to the news desk, where the news editor will look at it. He or she will have neither the time nor the inclination to read all your release; they will just glance at the first paragraph, and if this looks interesting, they will read on. If it's a bore, or they don't understand it, it will land, within seconds, in the nearest waste paper basket.

Releases that look the part

There is a convention when it comes to setting out news releases. Many good releases end up in the bin because they fail to follow the convention and are therefore difficult for newspapers to use, so if you want to maximise your chances of getting into print, make sure that your release looks right.

always DOUBLE SPACE your releases – so that they are easier read and can be easily edited
use WIDE MARGINS – to allow for editing and for the reporter to write notes and instructions for the sub-editor
releases should always be SINGLE SIDED – never type on both sides of a sheet of paper, and talking of typing, make sure that your releases are typed. Hand-written releases are asking to be binned
use your A4 HEADED NOTEPAPER for the top sheet, but plain white paper for continuation sheets
keep releases short – preferably no more than TWO PAGES. Long releases are generally not read because newsrooms are too busy and news editors tend to suffer from information overload. If you need to include a lot of information, put it on a separate sheet as our release is background-briefing material
don't use fancy FORMATTING – if you underline, put words in bold, italics, capitals and so on, you will make life difficult for the reporter who will have to annotate your release with instructions to remove your formatting
never SPLIT a sentence from one page to the next. Ideally don't let a paragraph continue over the page
STAPLE PAGES TOGETHER – it's easy for paper-clipped pages to get separated in a busy newsroom

Releases that live up to the part

Getting a release to look the part is only half the story. It also needs to be:

BRIEF: it should be a short (preferably no more than a page long) and concise story not an epic novel
SNAPPY: use clear, positive language, and short words and sentences
RELEVANT: stick to the essentials and don't explain everything – just enough to make the uninformed reader understand
JARGON-FREE: jargon, clicheés, hype, unexplained abbreviations, facts you are unsure of, should all be avoided

Other points to bear in mind with releases if you want them to be used:

always DATE your release. If you don't, the news editor might bin it, believing it to be old news
include at least one CONTACT NAME and NUMBER. Make sure the contact is available, easy to get hold of, and fully briefed. Also include a HOME NUMBER, as journalists keep strange hours and they can be extremely impatient. If they want to follow up your release, they will soon drop your story if no one answers the telephone after a couple of attempts
don’t try to write witty or clever HEADLINES for the national press they will be re-written by the newspaper. Free newspapers don't mind headlines with puns, as long as they are good ones
use EMBARGOES only if you really must – they can be an irritation to journalists. Embargoes can be useful, however and if used properly, you will be doing reporters and yourself a service. They are valuable for complicated stories such as research reports and annual reports, where a reporter might wish to do some advance work on the story before publication of your report. They are also good if you are sending material to Forward Planning Departments in radio and television. Remember that there is always the danger that your embargo may be broken, although they are generally respected

If you follow these rules, your release is less likely to be binned. But why bother to send a release at all? What will you get out of it?

Chances are that it will generate free, positive publicity. Even if it is not used, it will let local journalists know what you are up to and keep the name of your organisation in their memory.
It can be better initially than a potentially irritating or ill-timed phone call or visit. It puts into the journalists' hands the information YOU want them to have, so it puts you in control.
Local papers are often badly understaffed, so good releases are welcome time-savers for busy reporters.
You can keep a copy, and if a journalist badly misquotes you or twists your story you have got proof.
They are easier to read and more logically ordered than a reporter's scribbled and often illegible shorthand notes. There's less chance that they will get your name or your organisation's name wrong from a release, or give your story the wrong emphasis.

FOLLOW UP

Depending on the release, it might be worth phoning a couple of days later to establish personal contact and to 'sell' your story. However, be careful not to be a nuisance when phoning the media-journalists

They are easily irritated, and even the easy-going ones will get annoyed if you keep pestering them or you catch them as their copy deadline approaches. The best time to call a daily paper is between 10.30am and 11.30am, as this is the least busy period and reporters will have more time to talk and will be more receptive to news. Never call daily newspapers between 4pm and 7pm, this is when journalists are writing and checking their copy or you will get short shrift.

GETTING IN THE PICTURE

If you want pictures taken at your event, include a 'NOTE TO PICTURE EDITOR' at the end of your release, saying when, where, and what photographs can be taken. (That's assuming that you are sending out a release in advance of the event happening.) Only do this if you have something photogenic on offer. Children, animals, funny outfits, props and giant things all make good pictures. Scout standing a long line in uniform do not! You can phone the picture desk to see if they are sending a photographer. If the paper is not sending anyone, Picture editors hate what they call "grip'n'grin". These are photos of smiling people grasping a certificate/giant cheque award. A picture editor of a national daily will have viewed 400 images by midday!

A WHO'S WHO OF NEWSPAPER STAFF

As with most organisations, a newspaper has a structure and it is useful to have a basic understanding of what it is and who does what within it.

Journalist/Reporter

There are specialist reporters or correspondents (such as housing, health and local government correspondents) and general reporters who have to write about a very wide range of issues but who may specialise in none.

Chief Reporter

As the name suggests, the chief reporter is more senior than other reporters and generally gets the best and most interesting assignments. They are usually more experienced than other reporters on the paper.

News Editor

The news editor selects the news, decides where in the paper it will appear and assigns reporters to follow up particular stories.

Sub Editor

Cutting stories to fit the space and headline-writing are two of the main responsibilities of the sub. Sub editors can be brutal, shortening stories by chopping the final paragraph and creating a rather sudden ending!

Editor

As everyone knows, this is the top job on a newspaper. On larger No of newspapers it is generally a management job rather than a hands-on fact writing position, although the editor often writes a leader or comment thing: column. On small papers and free papers, the editor can also be a reporter of sorts.

Ultimately the editor is responsible for the content, tone and style of a newspaper.

WORK HARD AT RELATlONSHIPS!

In many ways being a journalist is rather a lonely job. You dash around town meeting lots of people, but a fair amount of time is spent in unfamiliar rooms with unknown people. That's why journalists appreciate it when someone is there to meet them, greet them, give them a cup of coffee and introduce them to the people they need to talk to.

This is all part of building up a good relationship with journalists. You need to be helpful and professional, always to meet their deadlines, and available to keep them informed of newsworthy developments. Do this and they will soon come to realise that you are an important source of information. Hopefully the closer you get, the more you will be able to trust them not to misrepresent you. You need each other so aim for a reciprocal relationship and you will both gain. Reporters keep a contacts book and refer to it when they need a comment on a particular issue. If you are viewed as especially helpful by a reported they will favour you over another spokesperson, thus giving you the chance to get valuable publicity.

Further publications and resources to assist with PR and Development are available from the Info Centre at Gilwell Park, e-mail info.centre@scout.org.uk or telephone 0845 300 1818, and from the Development page on the GLSW County web site at www.glswscouts.org.uk/development

GLSW Development Project
With thanks to the Thailand Jamboree team for use of their material

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