WHAT IS A NEWS STORY?
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING TV, NEWSPAPER, AND RADIO STORIES?
PROVIDING NEWSWORTHY STORIES
HOW DO I PRESENT MY STORY IDEA?
CHOOSING GOOD MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES
How many times have you heard a radio or TV reporter say something like “Next, we hear about a woman who started her own business while she was homeless”? How about a newspaper headline on the order of “Teens Take on Trash and Win?” The chances are you said to yourself, “That might be interesting,” and stayed tuned in or continued reading. Those stories might have come not from a reporter’s digging, but from an organization or initiative like yours.
Organizations involved in advocacy, whether that’s their primary purpose or simply a way of gaining support for the work they do, often pitch stories to the media. Placing news stories can be the cheapest and most effective means of getting your message to the public, and, through them, to policy makers and funders. This section provides some guidelines both for recognizing or creating news stories related to your work that appeal to the media and the public, and for persuading the media to publish or broadcast those stories.
