The Delta Media P.R. Clinic

Scoops, Embargoes and Positive Media Relations

By Bernard Gauthier, MA

As an association executive, you may be in a position to release information to the news media that you know they will want to publish or broadcast. Your challenge will be to decide if the news should be released to all reporters at the same time, and if that release should go out ahead of time or not.

Scoops – Proceed with Caution

Media outlets will often be a little more interested in running your story if they get to run it first. That’s why it can sometimes make sense to release the information to a major outlet first so they can break the news. You may find the story gets more prominence and deeper coverage. If all goes well, other outlets may take the lead and follow up with their own coverage.

The risk here is that those who are left to follow up on someone else’s scoop will be offended that a competitor received favourable treatment. They may even decide that since your organization’s side of the story has already been told, it’s time to consider what your opponents have to say.

My advice is to resist the temptation of offering a scoop whenever possible. In the long run, positive working relationships with all media outlets are far more valuable than momentary flashes of coverage. Where a scoop can make sense is when a story is not so strong on its own that all the major outlets will want to cover it. By adding a sense of exclusivity to your story, you enhance it in the eyes of the media and increase the chances of coverage. Be sure to use scoops only rarely and to rotate which outlet gets the scoop.

Embargoes – A Request, Not an Order

An “embargoed” media release is offered to the news media in advance (typically one to five days) of an official release date. This can encourage coverage by offering busy reporters extra time to research and develop stories on complex topics. Remember, however, that the word “embargo” on a media release is little more than a request; you simply can’t order reporters not to disseminate information you have given them. When reporters respect an embargo, they do so out of respect for the rules of the game and to ensure your organization doesn’t cut them off from information in the future. Neither one of these are particularly strong deterrents, however, and a reporter may ignore the embargo in the hopes of scooping the competition.

My advice is to use embargoed media releases only when a possible early release will not lead to any serious financial, legal or ethical problems. Be sure to send the embargoed release only to those journalists with whom you have established working relations. Needless to say, that might not include reporters who have ignored requests to embargo information in the past.

return to "P.R. Clinic"