newsrooms

Most of you will forecast sales, expenses, product introductions, and budgets for 2016, but let me ask you to spend some time on your communications planning. Most of the businesses I have worked with want more favorable or more impactful relationships with the press, yet they are often victims of their own (bad) habits. If public relations is part of your marketing objectives in the coming year, take a moment to review this list of New Year’s resolutions for communicating successfully with the media.

Resolve to create clear messages. Communicate in plain language that is easily understood by everyone, not just corporate leadership. Use language that is concrete rather than abstract thoughts and business speak that cloaks the real meaning. Rather than saying “We are committed to our employees…” try “Our benefits package and internal promotions show we invest in our employees.” Put more meat in your message and commit yourself to creating emails and press releases that present factual information supported by your in-house experts. Above all, eliminate jargon and business cliches that only have meaning for industry insiders or your operations team and communicate how your products and services will impact your customer’s life.

Resolve to end wordsmithing. In the interest of full disclosure, I hate that term. If you typically revise a press release ten times, you’re over complicating the process (see above). In most cases, journalists will not copy and paste your press release or email directly into their stories. That press release you labored over will be paraphrased, rewritten, or even used only for reference, so edit for clarity not pontification.

Resolve to end spin. Spin is dead thanks to the transparency of the internet.

Good journalists can sniff out spin and get to the truth of an issue simply by doing a Google search, so don’t throw a towel over the truth.

That doesn’t mean you need to reveal proprietary information, financial or strategic plans, or employees’ personal information—but you should present reliable information. A good friend of mine is an excellent, experienced reporter who will go the extra mile to re-state or paraphrase information just to get to the core of an issue, and she is rightfully proud of her ability to identify spin.

Resolve to tailor your messages. What you say to a business journalist may be very different from your message to a broadcast reporter. Understand the differences in financial media, trade press, social media and broadcast media and present information accordingly. Doing so will allow you to present different facets of a story to reporters and, hopefully, get more of your message out to your target audience. Not every press interaction needs to focus on your product or service—find a sliver of content that you think might interest a specific medium and contact that journalist.

Resolve to treat journalists like real people. Just like you, they’re doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. Provide thorough, vetted information and interviews with interesting experts who can add dimension to an issue. Understand their deadlines and provide information they can use in a follow-up report. Follow the reporters on social media and comment on their stories—maybe even say thank you. However, if a reporter gets information wrong or presents a misleading story, it is fair to contact them and discuss the issue. Most journalists want to present accurate information and will update a report on a website or run a clarification.

Resolve to read/follow media outlets. Now you’re asking “how can I fit one more thing into my day?” If your business is considering a public relations or community relations program, it’s a good idea to read the media outlets you wish to target. I know this sounds obvious, but many businesses don’t follow their industry trades or associations. Stay on top of news feeds, trends, and look at the stories covered in print, on websites, and on social media to determine if you also have information that’s worthwhile for the reporters and editors.

Business communications are no longer in a push environment where companies issue dozens of press releases and push information out to the media. Today we operate in a pull environment where compelling stories and two-way conversations engage the media in informative and impactful stories. Clarity, brevity and authenticity are the cornerstones of communicating with the press and building relevancy with journalists in the new year.

If you’re interested, find me at mkathrynschmidt@gmail.com.

My network of reporter/editor friends got some great chuckles out of recent gaffes in regional papers. Nothing entertains a bunch of journalists like implied (or actual) swear words in 36 point type. When you traffic in the printed or spoken word, mistakes are part of the landscape.

Usually an editor reviews final copy before it hits production or the air. Veteran journalists are fairly trustworthy when writing copy or headlines. But that’s just the problem—there aren’t many veteran journalists left.

In the last months, print newsrooms across the country have been slashed to the bone with budget cuts. Staffers with seniority and higher wages based on experience and ability have been trimmed from the balance sheet—along with their institutional knowledge. We can argue the failing business model of newspapers all day long and blame everything on the internet, but there’s a bigger issue here.

Trust me on this: you WANT experienced journalists on the job if only to perform their most important function as a watchdog. That’s an old-fashioned term that has a lot of modern implications.

In your busy life, will you ever attend a city council meeting? Do you have time to sit through floor debate at the legislature? Do you know your elected officials, your zoning committee or your school board personally?

You want a reporter at these meetings questioning why legislation is being proposed. You want a reporter asking why a zoning variance is being granted to a developer. You need a reporter following policy changes that could affect your childrens’ schools.

Journalists are trained to be the fourth estate—the unofficial branch of the government that monitors the political process to ensure the players don’t abuse the democratic process. That means they watch, they listen, they ask questions. But now there are fewer on the street asking those questions.

Journalists are also bound by a code of ethics in their newsroom and answer to editors who verify sources, strive for objectivity and hold them accountable. Sure, you can always find out more on the internet, but it’s caveat emptor. How do you know the author has checked sources or even if the author is a real person? And with a nod to history, most web-based content is only slightly better than the yellow journalism of 1900.

I never thought I would see the day when a local TV newsroom has more feet on the ground than the local paper. But that day is here.

If you’re interested, find me at mkathrynschmidt@gmail.com.