|
No news story can be assigned a "newsworthiness value" on its own. The newsworthiness of developments within your company depends on a number of factors:
- The marketplace is a primary determinant. Is your story of interest only to a neighborhood newspaper, or might it be important to a regional or national audience as well? News is a business, and journalists will determine the degree of newsworthiness they feel your story contains based largely on its market appeal.
- Newsworthiness depends on other events. Is your story part of a new trend? If so, it's likely to be more newsworthy. Has the government issued a report in the last 24 hours that relates to your industry? Suddenly, you may be newsworthy, whether you want to be or not.
- Newsworthiness changes from day to day. What may be newsworthy tomorrow could be insignificant in the eyes of editors a month from now. The story's newsworthiness value is shaped by what else is going on in the world and how editors rank your development in relation to all the other stories from which they may choose.
This said, you can make your story more newsworthy by understanding certain characteristics that tend to be associated with the stories that do draw the media's attention:
Simplicity
Reporters will reject a story if they feel it is too complicated for their readers to understand. Work to simplify your news story, using examples or analogies to clarify complicated information.
Conflict
Media like reporting any kind of conflict story. It could be conflict between nations, between labor and management, between consumers and manufacturers, between medical experts, among economists. If you are developing a medical product or procedure, can you show how it flies in the face of traditional opinion or previous devices in the way it is applied or operates? Is your new business-to-business Web site going to reduce the amount of conflict that presently exists between your limited manufacturing facilities and storekeepers who are unable to get enough of your product to meet demand?
The unusual
What is out of the ordinary about your story? Does it demonstrate unusual attitudes, heroism, scope, ingenuity? Media are looking for the uncommon; everyday events and announcements get shoved to the bottom, but if you can find an unusual twist or angle to your story, it will rise toward the top.
Top of page |
Change or controversy
Anytime you can associate your story with trends, polls, surveys, customer buying patterns, or new technology, the media likely will jump on it. Survey your own customers, analyze where your customers are spending their dollars and you may be able to announce your own "trend" story.
Entertaining quality
Increasingly, media are looking for news stories that engage readers, listeners and viewers more completely. Can your product or service be demonstrated in an entertaining way? Is the person in your company who will be interviewed enthusiastic and able to use colorful analogies to explain your story? Is your story highly visual, allowing for engaging photos or video images?
Audience impact
Think about the media outlets you are trying to attract. Do you have to "package" your story differently for each one? Do you need to play up the technical aspects of your product for a technology magazine, but the consumer benefits for a television reporter? Does your story have implications beyond your community that would help you attract the attention of the wire services (such as AP or Reuters) or national publications?
Timeliness
Your news item must be timely—it must be a "today" story. By definition, "old news" is not news at all. Can you freshen up an old story by linking it to some new development? After the daily paper has reported your story in brief, might a weekly business publication cover your story in more depth to expand on the original news reports?
Ability to tell it as a story
Whatever your product or service, find a customer or patron whom the media can interview as a way of personalizing the benefits of what you do. His or her story regarding the impact of your product or service makes your news item more credible and more comprehensible to the audience. What impact will the developments you're announcing have on social institutions, on families, on government? Can you talk about this impact in terms of a particular institution, family or agency as an example? If it's brand new, what impact could you expect on a particular kind of person or group?
Whatever your news story, if your want it to be reported, you need to find the "hook" to catch the reporter's interest. The journalist may not understand the value of your announcement until you present it to him in a newsworthy manner. So work to attach newsworthiness characteristics to your story, and it is much more likely to bring you the results you're seeking.
Steve Friedman is Chief Executive Trainer for Franco Public Relations Group. For more information on Franco, contact us at info@franco.com or by phone at 313.567.2300 in Detroit or 702.450.9903 in Las Vegas.
Back to tips list
|
