How to Make Your Cause News

Flip through the news and you probably won't see or hear much about nonprofit organizations. Why? Part of the answer is as simple as it is ironic: Most nonprofit staff are too busy saving the world to tell journalists about it.

Nonprofit staffers are overloaded with-as one senior manager put it-the "real" work: volunteer recruitment, program operations and development, fund raising, lobbying, and so on. When it's time to prioritize scarce resources at nonprofit organizations, getting media coverage doesn't make the cut.

Unfortunately, this put-the-media-on-the-back-burner attitude leaves nonprofit professionals struggling to stay afloat in the dim light of obscurity and wondering why more people don't value their work. Even worse, it means they don't reap all the benefits that media attention can bring to the "real" work of nonprofit organizations (e.g., more money, more volunteers, easier staff recruitment, lobbying victories, and so on).

But there's good news: it's easy to get a media program started at your organization, whether it's a nonprofit, a school, a school district, or a government agency-even if you've never done it before. Just make a long-term commitment to getting the word out and invest the time required to get the job done.

Grant seekers are often the type of people who hate the mainstream media, preferring the sanity of public television and public radio. If you're this type of person, get over it. To understand what's newsworthy, you have to consume as much news as possible, including local TV news, talk radio, newspapers of all types, and more. Take in as much as you can, wherever you go. Over time, you will begin to recognize the kinds of stories that appear in, say, the business section of the newspaper or a particular daytime talk radio show. With this knowledge, it will be easier for you to "package" stories about your organization for specific media outlets whose audiences you want to reach.

"Develop a sharp angle," says Bill Boyarsky, city editor for the Los Angeles Times . "Most nonprofits tend to be mushy-and make announcements like 'we help children.' That will never get in the paper."

You will notice that, in general, news stories have one or more of the following characteristics: conflict, novelty, simplicity, romance, shock, kids, celebrity involvement, action, strong imagery (usually outdoors), local impact, humor or cutesiness, and irony.

When you identify a newsworthy story about your organization, you need to tell journalists about it. The most common way to do this is by phone. (A "press conference," where journalists gather to hear an announcement from a newsmaker, is seldom justified for a nonprofit organization.) If you're persistent, you can reach almost any journalist-at local or national news outlets-on the phone.

The best time to call is early in the day and early in the week, but the reality is that journalists are-more often than not-extremely busy all the time, facing new deadlines every day.

"It's always best to send a fax or an e-mail first," says Clifford Levy, a reporter for the New York Times . "Then follow up with a call between ten and one. Avoid calling late in the afternoon."

It's up to you to respect journalists' time crunch and "pitch" your story to them as quickly as possible. Practice your "pitch" repeatedly before picking up the phone, making sure that you've got the strongest, most concise reasons why your story merits news coverage. Also, prior to calling, you should fax or mail journalists about two pages of written background material.

If you're calling more than a couple of journalists about a news story, you should prepare a "news release," which is a one-page explanation of your "news," prepared specifically for journalists. News releases are written like news in the newspaper or on TV, with short paragraphs and quotations. Always print a news release on your organization's letterhead.

"Call first and see who to send it to," says Mike Chapman, editorial page editor at the Record Searchlight in Redding, California. "If it gets sent to the wrong person, it may never get to the right person."

Most of the time that you dedicate to writing a news release should be spent on the headline and first paragraph. The heart of your story-as well as any visual imagery for television-should be described in the headline. If appropriate, be creative and try to grab your readers.

"Get the important stuff up in the beginning," says Boyarsky at the Los Angeles Times , when asked for tips on how to write an effective news release. "Have all the vital information up high. Then follow up with a phone call to whomever you send the release to."

"List as many phone numbers as possible on your news release," says Clifford at the New York Times . "Reporters never know when they have to contact advocates-sometimes it's evenings or nights."

The key to successful interviews with journalists is to keep it simple and interesting. In most interviews, you should stick to one or two central messages, drawing on a couple of supporting points for each message. You should repeat your messages for emphasis.

Develop a soundbite or two to communicate your simple messages. Soundbites are the type of speech commonly found in the news, especially TV news. They are defined by how long they take to deliver (five to 12 seconds) and the style of language they contain (action verbs).

An effective way to write a soundbite is to begin with the phrase, "I'm here today...." (e.g., "Save Our Cities is here today to show that citizens care about preserving historic buildings across the state.") Often the most quotable soundbites are linked to imagery. For example, activists in New Mexico donned large Pinocchio noses to illustrate their opinion that officials were stretching the truth about the safety of a nuclear waste dump. Their soundbite: "The truth about the governor's position is as plain as the nose on my face."

Tips on how to be a Master Interviewee

• Practice answering questions in advance. (Pretend you're Sam Donaldson.)
• Speak slowly and give brief answers to questions.
• Pretend you're Henry David Thoreau: Simplify, simplify, simplify.
• Tell a reporter what you think is the most important point you've made.
• Develop different styles of communicating for print, TV, and radio reporters.
• Realize that it's okay to be nervous; anxiety can actually add vigor and clarity to your thoughts-and, besides, everybody gets nervous.
• Refer to concrete examples, personal experience, and clear images.
• Remember that reporters want stories, as well as data.
• For television, look at the reporter or camera operator-not directly into the camera.
• Warm up your voice before your interview. (Sing to your dog.)
• Never assume journalists agree with you even though they will often act as if they do.
• Eliminate insider jargon and acronyms from your speech.
• Never say "no comment"; if you cannot talk about a topic, explain why.
• If you don't want to answer a hypothetical question, simply say so.
• Suggest questions that reporters should ask of your opponents or critics.
• If you don't have an answer to a question, say so and try to track down an answer later.
• Don't worry about being a "media personality." Be yourself.

With today's intense analyses of "spin," leaks, and power news conferences, it's no wonder many people are daunted when they think of developing a media strategy. But for smaller organizations, creating a media strategy isn't hard. You just have to take time to plan the purpose and timing of your efforts to make news. If it contains nothing else, your media plan should state why you want media coverage. Once you've got a clear answer, you should identify the audience you want to reach and when you want to reach it. Then you should list media outlets that will reach your audience. Your final task in developing your media strategy is to figure out how to convince your target media outlets to cover you when you want them to-at a time that makes strategic sense for you.

For example, if you want media coverage to educate teenagers about the benefits of birth control, you won't want to focus on getting covered by local TV news. Teenagers don't watch it! Instead, you want to devise a media strategy focusing on pop radio or teen magazines-news outlets that reach your target audience.

If you want to link your coverage to a lobbying campaign in the state legislature to pass a bill for the free distribution of condoms in public high schools, you'll aim for news coverage to appear at a strategic time as the bill is being considered. You might even want to target media outlets that will reach the districts of swing voters in the legislature.

Your media strategy should be part of another, longer organizational document: your strategic communications plan. This should explain how you want your organization and your issue to be perceived by your community in the long-term. It should explain how all your organization's communications efforts-from lectures and newsletters to op-eds and annual reports-advance the long-term goals of your organization. Your strategic communications plan should explain how your entire public profile fits together to present your issues and organization to citizens.

The best way to begin to put together a media list is to call groups in your community that work on a similar cause and ask for their lists. You can take what they've done and build on it; any media list can be improved. If you can't get help from a like-minded organization, check the library. Lots of reference books are available.

The more information your media list contains, the better off your organization will be-especially in the long-run when staff leave, taking everything that hasn't been entered into the data base with them. So, while you can get by with a local list of about 12 major media outlets, with names of a contact at each, and his or her phone and fax number, you should aim higher.

Create an exhaustive list that includes all the news outlets in your area, including all neighborhood publications, and even newsletters of community groups. For each, try to include: the name of the outlet, multiple contacts at each, phone and fax numbers, the street and e-mail address, call letters, channel, format (live, taped, talk show, etc.), deadlines, relevant comments, and a detailed history of interactions with your organization.

Below are four major types of news outlets and whom to contact at each. Again, your primary tools for reaching reporters are the phone and fax machine. (E-mail is being used by more and more journalists, but some still prefer to receive information by fax.)

Daily Newspapers . There are many different ways to get covered by large metropolitan dailies. Take advantage of as many as you can.

News . If you have hard news (e.g., a new report with statistics, a protest, or a response to a national news story), contact the city desk or a reporter who covers your issue area. Also call the photo editor if your organization is up to something that's visually interesting.

Features . Features are lengthy human interest stories that aren't necessarily connected to the "news" of the day. For example, you might see a feature on mushroom hunting, driving a taxi, or AIDS research. Unlike news stories-which are usually written one day and published the next-features often take a couple weeks or more to develop and write. Contact the feature page or, preferably, specific feature writers.

Letters-to-the-Editor . Write letters in response to news stories that affect your work. The letters page is one of the most widely read sections of the newspaper. Take a moment to write a 100-word letter, but don't get bogged down trying to make it perfect. Just get it done. (Most newspapers now take letters by e-mail and fax.)

"Follow the paper's letters policy," advises Chapman at the Record Searchlight . "Give your name, phone number, and address. And keep it short. If it's too long, I will either trim it down too much-and the writer may not like it-or I won't use it."

Guest Column . While the pundits whose work appears in the commentary section may not be read by the masses, you can be sure that most policy junkies make a point to read them. Such a column-often called an "op-ed"-gives you the chance to go into more depth (about 750 words) about your ideas, which often gain a measure of legitimacy after appearing in the newspaper. To submit a guest column, run your idea by the op-ed page editor first.

The key to getting news coverage of your organization is to take advantage of the full spectrum of news media outlets in your community. It's your job to identify, create, or tailor stories about your organization to suit the different needs of different journalists.

"People at nonprofit organizations see the news," said Elaine Effort, a reporter with KQV radio in Pittsburgh. "They see what's going on, and they know if a service they provide relates to it. For example, yesterday there was a big shooting at a school. Say there's a nonprofit that deals with grieving children. Here's their chance. Call before the story is old news."

Put your media list to work today. And don't give up. Just because you didn't get covered one day doesn't mean you won't make the news the next. On a slow news day, anything can be news. Also remember that, over time, your job will get easier as you develop relationships with journalists in your community.