MEDIA GUIDELINES Know the person with whom you are speaking. Remember (or ask) the name of the reporter and his news medium/organization. Rely on facts—don’t speculate. If you don‘t know the answer, direct the reporter to someone who does. Always keep in mind your objective. Present Roosevelt as the exciting organization it really is. Present your work as the sound and effective policy it really is. If you make a mistake, set it straight immediately. Say something positive in every answer. Harp on what Roosevelt is, not what Roosevelt isn‘t. Harp on what Roosevelt is doing. Mention Roosevelt in every answer to reporters. For example: ―My work with Roosevelt has focused on . . . ― Ego is your enemy when talking to reporters. Don‘t immediately focus on yourself, don‘t even focus on your school. Focus on what Roosevelt is doing and how you are helping them to achieve that goal. Unless the reporter is obviously going for a humaninterest story, focus on Roosevelt. Five Response Techniques 1. ―Umbrella‖—develop a polished, ten-second ‗sound bite‘ to describe what you do for Roosevelt. 2. ―Bridging‖—try to move the question from one topic to another, or from the negative to the positive, i.e. ―but, I can tell you this. Roosevelt has some great things in the pipeline.‖ 3. ―Bump & Run‖—use a quick response (―yes‖ or ―no‖ or ―it‘s too close to tell‖) to steer the reporter away from one topic and onto a topic that you‘re eager to discuss (i.e. Roosevelt‘s work in policy.) 4. ―Turning the Tables‖—ask yourself a question, then answer it. It doesn‘t really matter what the reporter asked originally. i.e., ‗People ask me, ―How do you handle all this work?‖ and I tell them…‘ 5. ―Flagging‖—use phrases that are quotable and memorable, i.e. ―The most important thing to remember is…‖ or ―There are two things to remember…‖ or ―The key issue is…"
EXAMPLE PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Rebecca Elliott The Roosevelt Institution Phone: 703-927-0283 Fax: (202) 483-2657 rebecca.elliott@rooseveltinstitution.org ADVISORY: Students Tackle Energy Crisis with Policy Initiatives at the Roosevelt Institution’s National Policy Expo Washington, D.C., July 9, 2007—The Roosevelt Institution, the nation‘s first student thinktank, will showcase the policy ideas of its members at this year‘s National Policy Expo. Eleven of Roosevelt‘s forty presenters have pursued new solutions to the energy crisis, which Roosevelt considers one of the most urgent and intricate problems confronting the United States today. These presentations will accompany work by Roosevelt members from across the country on other policy topics. The Expo will connect the Roosevelt Institution‘s ideas to policy professionals, policy makers, and other students. The Expo will take place July 13, at the Academy for Educational Development Conference Center in Washington, D.C. John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress and chief-of-staff under President Clinton, will give the keynote address at 12:35pm, during lunch. At 2:00pm, Roosevelt will make available its key members to answer questions from the media during a press conference at the AED. Doug Bailey and Michael Stegman will deliver closing addresses starting at 5:30pm. Mr. Bailey is the founder of The Hotline and the co-founder of Unity08. Mr. Stegman is the former Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was named one of “Washington’s 100 most influential decision makers” during his tenure at HUD. The Roosevelt Institution will launch its three 25 Ideas publications at the Policy Expo, as well. These documents present 25 student-developed approaches to each of the three challenges: the Energy Challenge of reducing fossil fuel use, the Education Challenge addressing the lack of socioeconomic diversity in higher education, and the Working Families Challenge aimed at the incompatibility of many jobs with a sustainable family life. “Previous generations have left us a lot of problems to take care of when it comes to global warming and the environment,” said Kai Stinchcombe, Executive Director of the Roosevelt Institution, “We can’t afford to wait before we get involved.” About the Roosevelt Institution The Roosevelt Institution is the premiere organization of student thinkers dedicated to infusing the public discourse with their ideas. Approximately seven thousand members from all over the country conduct policy research on pressing issues, and students at Roosevelt’s national office connect those ideas to the policy process through illuminating conferences, presentations, and publications. Roosevelt believes that students make up the ideal source for the progressive ideas that will shape the future of their generation.
WRITING A PRESS RELEASE General guidelines Refer to the example above for guidance on formatting. Press releases should read like news stories. They should be written in the third person, and demonstrate the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, etc. Every press release should have an “angle” that is objectively interesting. Do not “sell” the subject of the release with hype language and overblown adjectives; write about it as objectively as possible. Deal with actual facts. Keep it short. The release should be no longer than a page. The first paragraph should contain the who, what, where, when, why, how and nothing more. Be honest. It seems like common sense, but do not make claims about us that we can’t substantiate.
Guidelines for writing a Roosevelt Institution press release Write several versions of your press release that target different types of publications and writers with different beats. Press releases to an education reporter and to a metro reporter should probably foreground different information. Likewise, press releases to small local papers and large national papers should read differently. Do not allude to political ideologies; we do not want to alienate potential writers. Our boilerplate text (used over and over again at the end of every release) is as follows (can be edited): “The Roosevelt Institution is the premiere organization of student thinkers dedicated to infusing the public discourse with their ideas. Approximately seven thousand members from all over the country conduct policy research on pressing issues, and students at Roosevelt’s national office connect those ideas to the policy process through illuminating conferences, presentations, and publications. Roosevelt believes that students make up the ideal source for the progressive ideas that will shape the future of their generation.” We place “ADVISORY: ” before our headlines. We refer to Roosevelt students as “members,” not “fellows” unless we’re writing about our Senior Fellows. Use “policy idea” or “policy proposal” as opposed to just “policy.” When you mention students, try to be as precise as possible, e.g. “student writers,” “student researchers,” “student thinkers,” etc. Quotes should come from senior staff, particularly Nate and/or Caitlin. If the press release is about the accomplishments of a particular member, you’ll want to include a quote from him/her as well.
NEW MEDIA OUTREACH At a forum on blogging I attended at the Center for American Progress, Ezra Klein and his co-presenters told us that writing a blog is no different than writing a conventional article for a magazine or newspaper. This may be true, but from a communications outreach perspective, new media involve a different set of skills, social protocols, and avenues of information than press, radio, and television. Things happen more quickly, more personally, and more intensively; lines, such as those between a press release and a journalistic or encyclopedic article, a reporter and a policymaker, are blurred. In these kinds of settings, you must think critically about the tone and content of your writing and the identity you're attempting to write from. I'd like to discuss Wikipedia, blogs, and Facebook as three examples of new media outreach efforts. More exist. Oliver Traldi New Media Coordinator @ The Roosevelt Institution‘s National Office Wikipedia For many people, including analysts at think tanks, staff in Congressional offices, and students and professors at colleges and universities, Wikipedia is a starting point for research on virtually any topic. Wikipedia prides itself on a false sense of encyclopedicity. Any successful Wikipedia article will play on this pride. You simply cannot insert copy directly into Wikipedia without quoting it. For example, Roosevelt's Wikipedia article states that The Roosevelt Institution is a U.S. non-profit, non-partisan network of campus-based think tanks. Its stated purpose is to "conduct policy research on the pressing political issues facing our world and connect the fruits of that research to the policy process. In general, you must make certain to write from the perspective of an outside observer recording data about subject material. Spinning Wikipedia articles is about avoiding corporate or polemical language when writing it. Facebook Of all the forms of new media, college students are most likely to be familiar with social networking sites. For that reason, Any event with hopes for attendance from college students and young professionals must advertise on Facebook. These advertisements should mimic a press release, but include as many elements as possible that might attract the attention of random people on Facebook. Funny pictures and descriptions, blatant bribes involving free food or paraphernalia, or some other sort of advertising "gimmick" is essential, because most people are even more constantly inundated with information online than offline.
Blogs Of these three forms of new media outreach, blogs seem the most akin to conventional media. But a communications team should take care not to treat the blogosphere as a set of traditional publications. The most notable feature of the blogosphere is one I alluded to in my introduction: lines between different types of people are blurred. It is not always – it is rarely, I would say – sensible to approach a blogger the way one approaches another journalist. Blogs have an intentional, built-in form of approach: comments. If you want general coverage from the blogosphere of your chapter or Roosevelt as an institution, your best bet is to make intelligently reasoned and articulately worded posts on blogs with interests that align with yours, and to sign them with the organizational information you're trying to get out. On the other hand, if you're having an event and want blog coverage, you should get in touch with local blogs and try to secure some sort of internet access for them at the event so that they can "liveblog." In this case, there's no reason to abandon normal outreach protocol. If students with expertise in specific issue areas are interested or already active in blogging, use Google Alerts to get regular blog updates in areas of specialty, or email our national office to sign them up as policy bloggers. The new media coordinator will get in touch with them if especially relevant posts are made on blogs of interest.