Position Your Organization for Success
(in Dealing with the News Media)

MODULE 1...Develop a Media Policy

Successfully dealing with the news media starts even before the media calls. Your organization should develop a written media policy that specifically identifies who may talk to the media, what issues he or she can address, and who handles sensitive and controversial topics. Include examples to clarify any areas that may be confusing. This policy should be communicated to all employees.

MODULE 2...Identify Issues/Programs You Want to Promote

Which programs and services do you want to talk to reporters about? Many of these are ones that you talk about every year or on an on-going basis. Others might be one-time priorities. Each of your departments should help you identify their issues, services and programs well in advance, giving you enough time to plan ahead and be ready to promote them with the media.

MODULE 3...Identify Issues the Media Wants to Talk About...and You Don't

Which controversial and sensitive issues might the media contact you about? The time to prepare for these issues is not when a reporter calls, but when these issues are identified. Are you prepared to talk about the inappropriate behavior of one of your employees, waste and inefficiency, or safety at your facilities right now?

MODULE 4...Develop Messages for These Issues

Generate messages for each of the services, programs, or issues you want to talk about (as well as those you don't want to discuss), and put them in writing. If you don't develop motivating messages for each interview, and have them in writing, how will you ever successfully deliver messages? You will be just answering the reporter's questions and therefore staying on his or her agenda, not yours.

MODULE 5...Develop Organizational Messages

Every organization should develop general organizational messages that it wants to communicate on a regular basis. You can use these messages in a wide variety of interviews, not for just for a specific issue or program. They should reinforce the organization's mission or highlight a specific consumer message, and should be used by all of your spokespersons on a regular basis.

MODULE 6...Develop Talking Papers on Recurring Issues

Talking papers or fact sheets should be easy to read and one-page in length. They should include a short summary of the issue or program and a bulleted list of key points that answer the: who, what, when, where, why and how questions reporters ask. Then highlight your message(s) at the bottom of the page. You will find that many of these talking papers can be used from year to year with only minor updates.

MODULE 7...Gather "Memory Hooks" on a Regular Basis

Do you have a file with success stories, quotations from authoritative sources, examples, analogies, and other "memory hooks"? The time to start gathering these "memory hooks" is right now. Every employee of your organization should gather them on an ongoing basis and share them with a coordinator. This way your spokespersons will have ready access to them at a moment's notice.

MODULE 8...Train Your Spokespersons...and That Means You, Too

Have your spokespersons had media training? Many spokespersons rationalize: "I've done dozens of interviews. I'm comfortable dealing with the news media." All this means is that you are comfortable dealing with reporters. It doesn't mean that you successfully deliver your messages. The best way to identify problems and to see if you successfully deliver messages is to be taped during training.