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Media Relations Tips

Cultivate good relationships with media people, and learn to see things from their perspective. Here are some tips.

  • Do everything you can to help the media cover an event.
  • Treat the media with courtesy.
  • Try to understand the needs of the media. Learn what they perceive as news, and remember that their main task is to report news.
  • Don't procrastinate. If you put off responding to a media request or sending in a news item, you're basically killing it. News becomes obsolete very quickly. Get the news out ASAP.
  • Don't phone in a story. Put it on paper.
  • Don't wait until the last minute to tell them about an event.
  • Let the most knowledgeable and articulate people in the church represent you, especially to broadcast media.
  • Don't demand that they cover your story.
  • Don't ask to see a story before it goes to press.
  • Don't complain if an editor doesn't use part or all of your story.
  • Don't overstate your story's importance.
  • Don't portray as news what is really just routine information, like weekly service times and this Sunday's sermon title.
  • In an interview, expect any kind of question. There are no indiscreet questions--just indiscreet answers.
  • Don't lie. If they've got you on something, take your lumps. Lying and covering up will only hurt things more. If news people must dig out negative news you've been covering up, they're more likely to publicize it.
  • Go out of the way to protect your integrity. If you don't know the answer to a question, say, "I don't know." Don't make up something. Chances are, they'll check it out or try to find confirmation, and when they learn you gave them bad information, they won't trust you in the future.
  • Don't say "No comment." It's annoying. Give a reason why you'd rather not respond.
  • Don't feel obligated to volunteer damaging information. Reporters should do their job by asking the questions, but you don't need to answer.
  • Don't waste their time with chit-chat. They're always chasing deadlines. If you must stop in to talk to an editor, get to the point and then say good-bye. The editor will appreciate your thoughtfulness.
  • Don't expect them to not edit or rewrite or further investigate what you tell them. Do expect them to do their job, which includes editing and rewriting what you submit, and asking more questions.
  • Don't demand retractions or corrections. It just draws more attention to errant information, and angers the media. But it's okay to point out errors.
  • Don't be argumentative.
  • Send thank-you notes to media people--and perhaps to their superiors. It builds good relations.

Be Very Careful and Restrained in Writing Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor are often written in a knee-jerk reaction and come across negatively. They can do a lot of damage to your image, making you appear judgmental, intimidating, and overbearing.

So when something upsets you, and you're ready to write a strongly-worded letter to the editor--relax, take a deep breath, and let yourself cool off.

Try a letter that affirms something that happens--like the way the paper or a TV station handled a story involving religion, or an action by city government which affirms family values, or your positive experience working with the local convention center in putting on a big concert or crusade. A letter gives you the chance to comment further on the subject.

In general: avoid writing letters to the editor unless they are positive.

Quit Being Paranoid

Don't assume that the media are out to get Christians. Ignore those charges by big-name Christians that media people are a bunch of unchurched, liberal, anti-God conspiracists intent on destroying the church. They're just regular people. Give them the benefit of the doubt.