Put yourself in the shoes of a news editor...
Written by Shirley Lichti for The Record, July 19, 2006

Getting your company featured in a news story is an ideal way to raise its profile and promote the business.

But before you fire off a news release extolling the virtues of your company, take a moment to put yourself in the shoes of a news editor at a newspaper, radio or television station. Imagine facing a mountain of faxes and emails vying for your attention. How would you sift through them to find appropriate news stories?

Below are some insights that will help you to think more like a news editor and increase your chances of having the media cover your story.

Understand the medium
News assignment editor Dave Carswell at CTV Southwestern Ontario (formerly CKCO-TV) recently returned from a week's vacation to find 520 messages in his email in-basket. On average he gets between 25 to 35 business news releases a day, plus about 50 police emails.

"You've got 30 seconds to get my attention," Carswell says.

He is continually amazed at the number of releases and phone calls he gets from people who don't understand how television works. "One of the first questions I ask myself when I read a release, is 'What are the visuals?' If you don't have visuals, you don't have a good story," he says.

Of course, visuals alone won't ensure you get coverage. Carswell also considers the relevance of a story, if there is a local angle, and the human interest factor.

While I was on the phone with Carswell, he pulled up a few news releases. One from the Toronto Zoo was quickly relegated to his "kill" file. However, he noted that when a baby elephant was born at the African Lion Safari south of Cambridge near Rockton, he sent out a film crew. This story scored high on all four points noted above.

Lori Latter, marketing manager at African Lion Safari, says a video clip of the birth of the elephant had been sent with the news release. It was the first time they'd ever attached video to an emailed release, and while they encountered a few glitches due to the large file size, one TV station ran the clip on its morning breakfast show.

Subject line is key
Kevin Crowley, the business editor at The Record, says he receives 30 to 50 news releases a day. The subject line determines if he will even open an email.

It frustrates him when a subject line is vague because it forces him to open the email. (While this might sound like a good tactic, imagine what kind of mood it would leave you in on the receiving end - and the chances of a story resulting.)

Crowley usually reads at least the first paragraph. Releases have 30 to 60 seconds to catch his interest.

He cited two news releases he had just received. One came via a newswire service and included a number of national reports. He glanced at this email quickly saying he might keep the entertainment report but that he was not interested in the mining and other reports.

However, a local release from Canada's Technology Triangle, a local economic development corporation, caught his attention. The subject line noted that total annual manufacturing shipments from Waterloo Region were worth $16.9 billion. Here was a relevant story with local value.

After chatting with Crowley, I called Linda Fegan, in charge of marketing and communications with Canada's Technology Triangle and the author of this news release.

Who cares about this?
Fegan says before she sends out a release, she ensures its content will be of value. This may sound simplistic, however, when writing a news release you should always ask, "Who else besides me cares about this?"

Brian Bourke, news director at KOOL-FM advises people to "step back from the story and try to understand how it is important to people."

He gets between 30 to 50 news releases a day and says he opens absolutely everything from local sources to see if his listeners will benefit from them. The acid test for Bourke? "Is the person looking for free advertising or is there a real story here?"

Remember, what's newsworthy to the editor of the Cambridge Times is different from what's newsworthy to The Waterloo Chronicle. And as an all talk, news and sports station, 570NEWS looks for different stories than KOOL-FM, where Bourke focuses on meeting the needs of classic rock listeners.

Timing matters
Timing of your news release can be key. Fegan sends releases early in the morning to give reporters the maximum amount of time to connect, do their research and still meet their deadlines.

Remember news has to be current. Bourke stresses that "news is a perishable item with a limited shelf life. If something is two days old, it's not going to get on the air."

Be available to talk
One of the pet peeves of news reporters and editors is receiving a news release only to discover that no one from the company is available to do an interview. News changes constantly. If the contact person doesn't return calls in a good time, the reporter may not pursue the story because something else comes along.

A seasoned veteran, Fegan not only included the name of the study and its author in her release, she also ensured that the author would be available for interviews that day.

Lastly, if you've never written a news release, check out some of those written by professionals and distributed by news services such as www.CanadaNewswire.com or www.ccnmatthews.com. These will help you to understand what constitutes news and good headlines.

Learn from these examples and the tips above to increase the odds of your next news release resulting in a story.

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