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Leadership DevelopmentLeadership Development

Media Relations

Media Relations

Communication

• Common• Community

Media Relations

ReceiverReceiverMessage

The Communication Process

Disseminating informationDisseminating informationDisseminating informationDisseminating information

SenderSender

Media Relations

The Communication Process

SenderSenderSenderSender Message

ChannelChannelChannelChannel

ReceiverReceiverReceiverReceiver

FeedbackNoiseNoise

Media Relations

Basic principles

• “You cannot not communicate.”

• “The medium is the message.”

Media Relations

Dealing with the MediaWhen and How Do You Do It?

Media Relations

Why the media?

• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

First AmendmentFirst Amendment

Media Relations

Why the media?

• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

First AmendmentFirst Amendment

Media Relations

Why the media?

The people’s right to know

Here’s Aundrea

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CrisesHandling Hot News

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• Minimize panic• Maximize response• Refute misinformation• Promote accurate

information

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• Non-response invites trouble

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All in a day’s work

• Dean assassinated in home driveway

• President flies girlfriend to town in university plane

• Dean caught in state capital sex sting operation

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All in a day’s work

• University tent falls on 500 fifth-graders

• Coach castrates steer to inspire win over the Texas longhorns

• Animal rights activists protest greyhound research

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News

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What’s news?•Anything of interest to a

significant number of people in a given group or area.

•Getting caught cold on a hot topic.

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•Determinants– Timeliness– Proximity– Importance– Policy

Editor s

eeks

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•Components– Conflict/Controversy– Progress– Unusualness/

Novelty– Human Interest

Audience se

eks

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The Questions

– Who?– What?– Why?– Where?– When?– How?

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The Questioners

• Reporters– Editors– Commentators– Publishers– Gatekeepers

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Media Relations

The Inverted Pyramid

• Answers before explanations

• Summaries before details

• Conclusions before discussions

• General statement before specifics

Most Important Information

Supporting Data and Examples

Least Important

Data

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Informing the Media

• News releases• Feature stories• Advisories

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Release Date: Month Day, YearDated after: Month Day, YearSlug/Headline

Byline

Dateline -----------------------------------------------------------------------.

Double-space; don’t hyphenate;

don’t split paragraphs between pages. -------------------------------------. ------------------------------.

-more-

NewsContact: (your name or primary source quoted)

Phone: xxx-yyy-zzzz

Press Release Format

Press Release Format

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Press Release Format

Press Release Format

Slug . . . #

----------------------------------------. ----------------------------------------------------.

-------------------------------------. ------------------------------------------------------.

-------------------------------------. ------------------------------------------------------.

-End-

Media Relations

Headlines?Why Bother?

• For the same reason that newspapers bother with them– to grab readers’ (editors’)

attention

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Style

Associated Press

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Quotes(attribution)

• Use quotes to keep from editorializing– avoid value judgments

• First quote: Use title, first name, last name• Subsequent quotes: Last name only ·

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Plugs

• Include information about your organization at the end of your article

• Types of information:– Aims and goals– Major activities– Membership– Cooperating organizations

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Dealing with the Media

It’s Personal and Professional

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Proper Response

• Prepare• Right words• Choose facts carefully• No “no comment”• Never “off the record”• Your own words• Positive offsets negative

Media Relations

The Future?

• Is now– Blogs– Citizen journalists

• The past is prologue– Acta diurna– Broadsides

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Local contacts• Starkville Daily News

– starkvilledailynews.com

• Commercial Dispatch– cdispatch.com/

• WCBI– wcbi.com

• WTVA– wtva.com

• StarkvilleNow– starkville-now.com

• (662) 323-6586

• (662) 328-2424

• (662) 328-1224

• (662) 842-7620

• (662) 324-2489

Media Relations

Media Relations

Listen

Communication

Shared meaningSpeak

Read

Write/encode

Media Relations

Bad Writing Hints

Or"How to write like a doctoral

student."

Source http://ocean.st.usm.edu/~ddavies/gerald.html

Maintained by Dr. David R. Davies, University of Southern Mississippi.

Used by permission of Gerald Grow, Florida A&M University.

Media Relations

1. Start with a simple statement: • "We quit because nobody knew

how to program the computer."

Media Relations

2. Put it in the passive voice, to dilute the responsibility:

• "It was decided to quit."

Media Relations

3. Expand with terminology that does not add meaning:

• "It was decided to terminate."

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4. Build in noun strings:

• "It was decided to terminate project processes."

Media Relations

5. Add a qualifier of uncertain relation to the original statement:

• "On account of the status of the computer, it was decided to terminate project processes."

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6. Add noun strings and terminology to the qualifier:

• "On account of the status of the computer program assessment planning development effort, it was decided to terminate project processes."

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7. Separate related words: • "On account of the status of the

computer program assessment planning development effort, it was decided to terminate until a later date project processes."

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8. Equivocate:

• "On account of the uncertain status of the computer program assessment planning development effort, it was proposed and tentatively accepted to terminate until a later date project processes."

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9. Obfuscate:

• "Due to uncertainties in the status of the computer program assessment planning development effort, proposals were carefully considered and tentatively adopted to suspend temporarily until a later date project processes."

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10. Cover your tracks to make yourself look good:

• "Due to unavoidable uncertainties in the status of the computer program assessment planning development effort, a number of contingency proposals were carefully considered and one was tentatively adopted to suspend on a temporary basis until a later date those project processes deemed unessential to the expeditious fulfillment of contract requirements."

"We quit because nobody knew how to program the computer."

"We quit because nobody knew how to program the computer."

Media Relations

The problem?

Gunning-Mueller Fog IndexFlesch-Kincaid Readability

Formula

FogFogFogFog

Media Relations

Readability scores

• Rating on the average number of syllables per word and words per sentence.

• Flesch Reading Ease score• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score

Media Relations

Readability scores

•  Flesch Reading Ease score– Rates text on a 100-point scale– Higher score indicates easier to

understand document– Aim for a score of approximately 60

to 70

Media Relations

Readability scores• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score

– Rates text on a U.S. grade-school level.

– For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document.

– Aim for a score of approximately 7 to 8.

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Readability Levels13 Warning12 Atlantic Monthly11 Wall Street Journal10 9 Reader’s Digest 8 Ladies Home Journal 7 True Confessions 6 People, TV Guide 5 National Enquirer

GradeLevels

Target

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Readability LevelsMicrosoft Word®

• Tools– Options– Spelling &

Grammar– Show

readability statistics

Media Relations

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

You can break up long sentences by replacing “although,” “while,” and “if” with “however” and “therefore”.

Media Relations

Keep sentences short

Original: Although forecasters had predicted a drop in interest rates during this quarter, they still see no long-term effect on growth.

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Keep sentences short

Revised: Forecasters had predicted a drop in interest rates in this quarter. However, they still see no long-term effect on growth.

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Prefer the simple to the complex

“It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences.”

-Aristotle

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Prefer the familiar word

• English language– 400,000 entries in largest

dictionary– At least 1,000,000 words– Nearly 2,000,000, if

technical words counted– College graduate’s

vocabulary• ~70,000 passive• ~60,000 activeSource: World Wide Words © Michael Quinion

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Prefer the familiar word

• Utilize• Contribute• Beneficial• Acquire• Approximat

ely• Difficult

• Use• Give• Good• Get• About• Hard

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Avoid unnecessary words

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

-William Strunk, Jr.

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Avoid unnecessary words

“Vigorous writing should contain no unnecessary words or sentences just as a drawing should have no unnecessary lines.”

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Put action in your verbs

When application of pressure is employed by the operator, removal of the pin is accomplished.

Press the pin to remove it.

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Write like you talk

Should the supply of national report forms sent to you not be sufficient to meet your requirements, application should be made to this office for additional copies.

Contact my office if you need more national report forms.

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Use terms your reader can picture

“A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words in a book or a newspaper the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt.”

-Mark Twain

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Tie in with your reader’s experience

Mississippi State University’s former president expected the faculty and administrators to take risks.

“You can’t steal second with your foot on first.”

- Mac Portera

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s

experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Make full use of variety

• Average about 17 words per sentence

• But, don’t make every sentence the same length

• Establish a rhythm

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Write to express not to impress

My advice to you, especially but not exclusively to be followed during the period of time when, as a professional, you seek to improve your abilities at an institution of higher learning (such as Mississippi State University, also known as a land-grant institution), is that you be, in all instances where appropriate and in all situations of a communicative nature, brief, in the sense that you constantly speak to the possibility of creating meaningful dialogues using a contextual framework the ideation relevant to the fewest (in the sense of least) possible units of linguistic transfer of meaning from one conscious entity to another.

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

Be brief.

Clear the Fog Short sentences Simple vs. complex The familiar word Unnecessary words Action verbs Write like you talk Picture terms Reader’s experience Variety To express

not to impress

Source: Communication Briefings (October, 1995)

Media Relations

•K•I•S•S

eepthort &imple

Rememberto

your communications