The Delta Media P.R. Clinic

Finding a Media Relations Angle that Works

By Bernard Gauthier, MA
Managing Partner

Ah, if only you had an unlimited budget for communications. You could buy all the paid advertising you need and guarantee that a specific publication or station will publish or air your exact message, for a planned amount of time or space, thus reaching your target audience.

Of course, your budgets are limited – maybe even very limited. Which means you more often turn to media relations to get your messages out to the Canadian public, governments and other opinion leaders. Getting your message out via the news media can certainly be less expensive than paid advertising but the results are rarely as sure. The risk is that your message will be altered and that your message may not be carried at all. They don’t call it “earned media” for nothing.

There are ways to minimize that risk, however. It requires you to think like a reporter and get a little creative about how you see the news you have to announce.

Thinking like a reporter begins with understanding the news values – the criteria against which any story is measured to determine if, in fact, it is news. Reporters and editors are looking for the following qualities in a story:

Timeliness: News should be fresh and “in season.” For broadcast news and daily newspapers, the “best before date” is most often the very day you made your announcement. Weekly and monthly publications can afford to consider stories a few days old. Stories about Christmas trees, no matter how fresh, will rarely get mentioned in July.

Prominence: It’s true – VIPs will catch the attention of reporters, editors and producers. If your news lacks a high-profile politician, businessperson, professional, academic, athlete or movie star, you’ll have a harder time getting reporters to take notice.

Proximity: Your story has to be close to the readers, viewers or listeners of the news outlet. It has to happen in their neighbourhood (i.e. in the National Capital Region) or affect their community (i.e. the community of antique lovers).

Surprise: Oddities, stunts and unique events often catch people’s attention. The more out of the ordinary your story is, the more newsworthy it is.

Relative Importance: How important is it to others and to the grand scheme of things? This is always a relative measure. After September 11 th, for example, the relative importance of any story not related to the war on terrorism fell drastically.

Human Interest: Often overlooked by communicators, the human interest value of a story is always important to reporters. Is there a compelling human story to tell? Is there drama or humour, tragedy or triumph in your story?

Finding the Angle

This is where creativity comes in. Take a fresh look at the story you want to pitch to the news media. Have you considered it from all angles? Too often, we limit ourselves to a terse media release that covers the facts: who, what, where, when and why. Success comes to those who go beyond the facts to uncover the news angles in the story.

Is there a human interest angle that you haven’t considered?

Is there a community that is touched by your story and that can be reached through a newsletter, magazine or Web site?

Is there an unusual element about the story – a trend that is being broken?

Is there a prominent individual or group associated with the story? A board member, sponsor or donor who could capture the interest of an editor?

Is there a period of time more suited to your story – a season or holiday or historic date on the calendar that could give reporters a reason to pay attention?

Finally, is there a link between your story and the top two or three news stories of the day? Can you “hitch your wagon” to a story that reporters are desperate to cover?

If you have a positive answer to one or more of the above, you are now in a position to write a media release that puts the emphasis squarely on that aspect of the story – including the headline and the lead sentence of paragraph #1. You’ll also be better prepared to call the reporter, editor or producer and pitch your story. You’ll have thought like they do and you’ll be able to show them exactly what they’re looking for – a story angle that works.

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