Tracy Turner: I’ve been at OSU for about five years now, and I was at the Columbus Dispatch for 11 years. Reporters typically don’t come in with a specialty… you go where the assignments are. The reporter can cover K-12 one day, and something completely different the next. They come to you as the experts.
Why work with the media? What is the advantage?
It can raise your status and make your department and college look really good.
One of the first things to understand is where the reporters are coming from. We maintain a faculty experts list at the college level. We would love to get you on there. What this is saying is that you are comfortable talking to the media and will respond to them when they call.
What does the media want?
It may be important to your sponsors or your organization, but that doesn’t make it newsworthy. If you want coverage or want to pitch a story, look at the significance of the story and what else is happening.
There have been more opportunities for posting things that aren’t necessarily true with the internet lately, so it is important that we provide people with accurate information.
The #1 goal of any journalist is accuracy.
Reporters have to have context for what they’re reporting. It’s about balance and getting different viewpoints.
Think about human interest… personal stories are more interesting. They ask why should I care? Who is this impacting?
Brevity … when you’re talking to a reporter, get to the point. Most news stories are short.
Before the internet, deadlines meant the end of the day. They had all day to research, report, talk to people, write. Now with the internet, you have one minute. As soon as something happens… reporters are concerned with getting it first not getting it right.
It’s always important to respond quickly, even if it’s just saying to them that you will call them back.
Working with the Media
Understand where the reporter is coming from so you know what to expect.
Ask them what they are looking for… you don’t have to respond immediately with an answer if you’re more comfortable waiting 15-20 minutes and gathering your answers.
Another question you can ask the reporter is to understand what kind of deadlines they’re under. You can also ask them what the format of the interview is, where will it take place, over the phone? Will it be recorded? Etc.
Know your key messages before the interview even starts.
Redirect questions when necessary to respond with your talking points.
Do not say yes or no or add an opinion, go on to your point that you want to understand.
Know your reporters and what their scope is.
Reporters don’t have your expertise.
NEVER say “no comment” … it makes it seem like there is a bigger story there.
You can say “I cant really address that, but you can talk to ….” etc. We have redirected reporters to the university level communications, keeping a separation from negative attention in the media. The university is luckily happy to handle that for us.
Don’t ask to review the story, most news organizations have policies that don’t allow this.
Be cautious… reporters can be friendly but they are not your friends. They are not out to get you, but they are out to do their job. Watch what you say, do not rely on “off the record” … if you don’t want it reported, don’t say it.
Don’t fall for the silent treatment. Reporters are allowing you to tell them what they don’t know. Stick with your key points. Don’t feel the need to bridge the silence with your thoughts.
Respond with grace to abrasive questions, its a reporters job to ask hard questions. They’re not talking to you as an individual, they’re talking to you as a representative of the research or the school, etc. they’re not coming after you as an individual, they’re looking at the bigger picture. You can change the tone with how you respond.
They may disarm you with kindness first, it’s not personal, but it’s a way to get you to open up a bit more.
The interview is not over until it’s over, especially when someone has a camera or recording on you.
Reiterate your main points at the end of the interview when they ask if there is anything else you’d like to add at the end.
Reporters have direct access to our researchers.
Resources for Marketing and Communications: communications.cfaes.ohio-state.edu
Crisis Communications
We have a plan here and how you react makes all the difference. Please come to us if you have a crisis so that we can craft a message with you. We want to be accurate.
It helps to look at the plan, which is on our website. Be responsive, be calm and protect our reputation.
Media Coaching
We can help you, give you sample questions, talking points, draft answers, and help build your comfort level talking to the media. We want to make sure that you are prepared. Know that you are not out there alone. We are there to support you and help you.
We do write news releases and do proactive media. If you are working on research, or have something new coming out, we can work with you to promote it. We can do news releases, pitch stories to reporters. We can look at the human interest side of what you are doing… the research you are doing does impact Ohioans so there are always opportunities to work with you to show impact or tell a story.
We’re getting ready to go into a budget year… the more positive press we can get about what we’re doing, it reinforces that.
You can subscribe to our news releases, we do social media campaigns… adding people to our faculty experts list, we don’t always know who everyone is and what their area of expertise is.
It doesn’t have to be a news release, we can send out social media, photos, etc. it doesn’t have to be a traditional “story.”
We have a few mechanisms to do work with us:
We have a project request form for a larger project or for news releases.
You can also reach out directly to our writers in different subject areas. We will be sharing that soon.
We can promote your research if you have something coming out in an academic journal, etc.
An advantage of working with us is that you do get to review the story that we write. We do not want to get you out of context or misquote you. If you are comfortable with the story and we get the right focus.
Question: I would like to be more proactive instead of being called out of the blue…
We have a person on our team that is focused on proactive media relations. To work with people in the college to pitch stories. She will help get the root of what it is, what are the best ways to get the information out, specialty publications, etc.
We serve the entire college, so we cant do everything for everyone. A lot of departments will do outreach to alumni, their department social media pages, they can let us know about different research that your department is doing.
We are such a large college, so we rely on our department and extension communicators to help educate us and keep us connected to what’s happening on the ground level.