Using the Media to Tell Your Story Brian Barker

Who is The Media?  Overworked  60+ hours/week, holidays, weekends  High divorce rate  Underpaid  Print – $25,000 - $50,000  TV - $35,000 - $60,000  Feeding the Beast  Afraid for their job

Schedule of the average TV reporter  2:00 p.m. – Arrive at work – begin searching for story ideas  2:30 p.m. – Evening editorial meeting – present story ideas  3:00 – Reporter leaves meeting with assignment for 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 newscasts  3:30 – Reporter and live broadcast truck arrive at scene of assigned story, begin shooting video  3:45 – Reporter begins writing script for 4:00 newscast  3:50 – Reporter hands script to photographer, who begins editing story.  3:55 – Photographer feeds video, plugs camera into truck prepares for live shot  4:00 – Live report for newscast

TV reporter schedule  4:05 – Reporter/photographer leave truck to begin shooting more video and interviews for 5:00 newscast.  4:20 – Breaking news occurs nearby – Reporter/photographer told to abandon story and head to new location across town.  5:00 – Reporter/photographer arrive at breaking news scene and begin doing live reports.  6:30 – After 1.5 hours of live reports, newscasts are over, crew is asked for story ideas for 11p.m. newscast.  6:35 – Reporter begins making phone calls to sources or PIOs to set up story for 11p.m.

TV reporter schedule  7:00 – Crew arrives at new location to begin shooting 11p.m. story.  8:30 – Crew heads to restaurant to eat and write story.  9:30 – Crew parks live truck at live location, photographer begins editing.  10:00 – Breaking news occurs, story is scrapped, crew races to new location for 11 p.m. newscast.  11:30-Midnight – Return to station  Lay awake, worrying about job

Layoffs  TV – Staffing drops 20% since 2005  Newspapers – Staffing drops 33% since 2001

Why is it so bad?  Old days  3 Broadcast networks  Major newspapers  New Era – Audience is scattered  Internet  On-line news websites  Social Media  Multiple broadcast/cable outlets

Change in Ad Revenue by Medium, 2008 to 2009

Daily Newspaper Advertising Revenue,

Evening News Viewership Over Time

Total Average Audiences for Local TV News, Late News % Early Evening News Morning News

Mainstream Media Still Matters!  American legacy outlets like newspapers and broadcast networks accounted for 80% of all items linked to stories on blogs.  International legacy outlets like the BBC and The Guardian in Britain accounted for 20%.

They’re Counting on You  Newsrooms produce more content with smaller staffs  Print  On-Line  Broadcast  Hungry for content

What They’re Looking For (TV)  Controversy  Visuals  Holding the powerful accountable  Easy/Not complicated  Live  What can you do for me?  Save me time  Save me money  Make me safe  Take me somewhere I’ve never been  Deadline = NOW

What They’re Looking For (Print)  Controversy  Government savings/waste  Stories with broad appeal/impact  Stories that make me care about someone  Deadline = NOW

Major Newspapers

Community Newspapers

TV Stations

Hyper-Local Websites

Giving You Control

Press Releases Still Work  #1 Source of stories from government agencies  Broad reach  Be careful – they may be a jumping off point for critics

Social Media  Reporters are obsessed with Twitter

Pitching Stories  Why should I care?  Who does it affect?  It had better happen now, or soon.

They Don’t Care If…  Someone got promoted/retired  Your pitch isn’t local  Nothing is new  They probably don’t care if…  The story is about a process, not an event  It’s not visual  They don’t have anyone to interview

Ideas  Make “friends” in the media  Call them!  They’re nice people  Use press releases – they work  Engage in Social Media  Remember, they’re hungry for content