PETA UK > Campaigns: Guide to Becoming an Activist : page 8

Guide to Becoming an Activist: Working With the Media

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Your goal is to become a resource person for the media on animal rights issues. You can do this by letting members of the media know that you exist and by cultivating contacts. Try to develop and maintain professional relationships with local members of the media by being courteous and responsible.

CREATING A MEDIA LIST

Develop a media list and organise it into the following categories:

Wire services
Local print media
Local radio
Local TV
National media

Within these categories, organise information according to whether the publication is daily, weekly or monthly, and find out when each publication’s deadlines are. Record the name, title and e-mail address of each contact person (you may have more than one contact person for each organisation); the name of the publication or station; and the address, fax number and telephone number. When dealing with print media, get the name of the news editor. Personnel turnover can be rapid, so you’ll need to update the list frequently. Try to keep profiles of your media contacts with comments indicating which issues they are interested in or have covered in the past and whether they are sympathetic or hostile to certain issues.

MEETING DEADLINES

Reporters work toward deadlines. The best time to call contacts at a morning paper is in the morning between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Call contacts at an evening paper in the late afternoon, and call radio or TV reporters as early in the day as possible, especially if you’re trying to get on an evening broadcast.

When you are contacted by a journalist, return the call as soon as possible – remember those deadlines! Be enthusiastic, cooperative, friendly and always tell the truth. If you make a mistake, admit it promptly, and don’t be afraid to say, ‘I don’t know, but I can find out’. Then do so.

When you send a news release to more than one person at an organisation, let each person know who else is receiving a copy. Nothing infuriates an editor more than working on a story and then finding out that someone else at the paper was doing the same story in another section.

MAKING NEWS

Reporters sometimes claim that they can’t cover animal rights stories because there’s no new or local angle – and that’s why you’ve got to provide one. Use interesting visuals, such as costumes and props, in your demonstrations; focus on the local aspects of issues by talking about the animal-testing policy of a company that employs a lot of people in your town; or talk about local activists who were arrested during a national demonstration.

Only make a media call or send out a news release if it is for something newsworthy. Your communications should be well-organised and should briefly and clearly state the important points. It’s helpful if you understand what members of the media consider newsworthy. Journalists look for the following characteristics in a good news story:

Timeliness: Members of the media are interested in what’s happening today – not what happened yesterday.

Proximity: The closer the event is to the media, the more likely the media will consider it to be news.

Prominence: If well-known people are involved, the media may respond better.

Conflict: The media love covering opposing factions.

Oddity: If you’re doing something for the first time, the media are more likely to respond; they get tired of the same old thing.

Importance: The more people will be affected or interested, the higher the chance of media coverage.

WRITING A NEWS RELEASE

News directors receive hundreds of releases every day, so if yours doesn’t look professional and present the facts quickly, it will not be read. Here are some tips to ensure that your release gets the attention that it needs:

Keep it short. One page is best.
Write a concise, catchy headline that summarises the story. It should be written in the style of a newspaper headline, using active verbs.
Put the most important facts in the first paragraph and arrange the supporting information in descending order so that the least important information is in the last paragraph.
The first paragraph should tell the reader who, what, where, when and why.
Underline the text that gives the location, time and date of the event.
When providing event details, give the media the ideal time for them to see your event. If your event starts at 11 a.m., for example, tell the media that it’s a little later so that they don’t arrive to find activists trying to figure out where to stand.
Use quotations to express opinions. The quotation should be from a specific individual, not from your group (e.g., Pat Sills, a spokesperson for Animal Action, says, ‘...’).
The final paragraph should describe your group and reinforce your message with a quotation from your spokesperson.
Proofread the release carefully for grammar and spelling before sending it out. Get an objective reaction by asking someone else to read it.
Make it dramatic and attention-getting, but be sure that you can substantiate what you say. Double-check the facts. It is virtually impossible to correct a release once it has gone out, but if you do make a mistake – especially in the time or location of an event – immediately call the media that you sent the release to.

The sample news release illustrates the proper format to use. The following tips correspond to the numbers shown on the sample:

1. Use A4, regular–weight, white stationery.
2. The letterhead should contain your group’s name and address.
3. The words ‘News Release’ should be at the top of the first page. Always use the terms ‘news release’ and ‘news conference’ rather than ‘press release’ and ‘press conference’.
4. List the name of the contact person, and make sure that someone is always available at that number (provide both landline and mobile numbers if possible).
5. In the upper-left corner, type the date and note any photo enclosures that you have provided.
6. The words ‘For Immediate Release’ should appear in the upper-left corner above the date.
7. The headline should be centred, underlined and typed in all capital letters about 3 inches down from the headings above it to provide space for editors’ notes.
8. The body of the release should begin one-third of the way down the page.
9. Leave wide margins for reporters’ and editors’ notes.
10. Don’t use extra zeroes in times (e.g., use ‘11 a.m.’, not ‘11:00 a.m.’) or letters after numbered dates (e.g. use ‘22 August’, not ‘22nd August’).
11. Indent five spaces to begin a new paragraph, and don’t hyphenate words at the end of lines.
12. Never continue a release on the back of a page. Instead, end the first page with a complete paragraph and centre the word ‘more’ at the bottom of the page. Number each additional page at the top, but do not staple multiple pages. Include a topic headline and your organisation’s name on each page.
13. All releases should be double-spaced using normal sentence-case capitalization (not all capitals).
14. At the end of the release, type either ‘#’ or ‘Ends’.

DISTRIBUTING YOUR RELEASE

What you want to accomplish with your release will determine how you should deliver it. If you want something printed or broadcast before the event begins, which is generally the case with activities such as film screenings, meetings and fundraisers, you should mail your release at least three weeks before the event. These releases will probably be sent to the ‘Calendar’ or ‘Notices’ sections of the publication. If, on the other hand, you want the media to attend and cover an event, such as a demonstration or picket, try to fax or hand-deliver your news release one day before the event.

Call the news desk if you are planning a demonstration or something dramatic. Do not read your entire news release. Just say, ‘Hello, I’m calling to let you know that Action for Animals will be holding a demonstration tomorrow at 11 a.m. in front of the Fur Salon at 123 Market St. Our contact number is X if you’d like more information. We’ve sent a release to the news desk.’ If you have a good relationship with a particular reporter, you can call to say that your release is coming out or call afterwards to see if he or she received it. If you call to remind the publication about your event, be brief and polite and don’t call in the late afternoon.

After demonstrations, ask at least two people to videotape television coverage, and don’t forget to check the newspapers for stories and/or photos of your event. You can send these clips out with your next news release to show that what you’re doing is ‘newsworthy’.

WORKING WITH WIRE SERVICES

Wire services are news-gathering agencies that sell stories to newspapers and radio stations around the country, and they should be your first contact when you deliver news releases or make media calls. If you can interest the wire services, your story will be sent to all subscribing local – or even national – media. The biggest wire service is the Press Association (PA).

Getting a story on the wire is a valuable accomplishment, and it is worth a great deal of effort to develop good relations with wire-service reporters. Many TV, radio or print assignment editors will answer a call asking for coverage by saying, ‘We’ll see what comes in over the wire’.

To find out what wire-service bureaus are in your area, check the telephone book or call the local newspaper office.

SETTING UP INTERVIEWS

Before you can do an interview, you must get the radio or TV station interested in what you have to say. It helps to know the gatekeeper at the station: the news assignment editor. Call the station to learn his or her name and the best time of day to call.

You can reach thousands of people through talk shows. Call in with your comments whenever animal-related subjects are discussed or during ‘open phone’ segments. It’s even better if you or someone from your group – especially a visitor with a particular area of expertise – can be a guest on a talk show. Contact the station several weeks in advance. Send a letter to the talk show director, explaining your credentials or those of your speaker, what you’d like to discuss and why it would interest the audience. Don’t forget to provide your telephone number. You might also want to prepare a list of people your speaker would feel comfortable debating, in case the show wants to present both sides.

PREPARING FOR AN INTERVIEW

Once you are booked on a show, listen to it or watch it to familiarise yourself with its format and tone. Do the following to prepare for the show:

Study the issue that you’ll be discussing.
Practise being interviewed. Record yourself with a tape recorder or video camera then review the tape to identify areas where you can improve.
Anticipate difficult questions and plan your answers. Have a friend ask you difficult questions in a hostile, aggressive way so that you can be prepared for a difficult interview.
Memorise good quotations, anecdotes and facts.
Decide on the five main points that you want to make during the show. Memorise a fact or example for each one.

BEING INTERVIEWED

The following tips will help you get the most out of your interview:

When you’re doing a television appearance, dress carefully; avoid solid black, white and bright red, and wear plain solid colours instead of patterns. Green or blue films especially well. Smile and don’t fidget or touch your face or hair.
Talk directly to the interviewer, not to the audience or camera. If you steal side glances at the camera, you’ll look nervous or shifty.
Speak slowly – but not too slowly! – and carefully, and give yourself time to think before you answer questions.
Try to make your five points even if the interviewer doesn’t ask the right questions. Don’t feel limited by the questions; you can answer them and still take the opportunity to talk about one of your points. Practise saying, ‘The real question here is ...’ or, ‘That relates to a larger issue, which is ...’
Don’t get bullied into simple yes-or-no answers to complex questions; give the facts that are necessary to understand the issue.
Try to make your points in 20 seconds or less, and use short sentences. News programmes look for ‘sound bites’ – statements that can be plugged into 60-second stories. If you take 45 or 60 seconds to make your point, your spot won’t be aired.
Never speak ‘off the record’; there is no such thing. And watch out for jokes – you could be misunderstood.
Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t want to be edited out and aired separately. The reporter may interview you for five minutes but air only 20 seconds of it. Don’t worry about repeating yourself; it just increases the chance that your important points will be heard.
If the reporter is hostile, don’t get flustered, raise your voice or become shrill. Stay calm and concentrate on making your five points. Remember, the reporter is not your real audience.

WRITING LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

You can get great exposure for animal rights issues by writing letters to the editors of newspapers or magazines. Make a point to read local papers and magazines for articles that provide fuel for letters to the editor. Using the following guidelines will give your letter a better chance of being published:

Your letter must be short, ideally about 100 to 150 words (10 to 15 typed lines) and should stick to one issue. Most papers or magazines will publish a maximum of 300 words, and it’s much better for you to do the cutting than for the editor to do it.
Write a catchy first sentence that will grab the readers’ attention.

The letter should be timely. If possible, send it in no more than three to four days after the article that you’re responding to has appeared.

Most papers accept contributions via e-mail, but be sure to include your home and work telephone numbers so that the paper can verify that you wrote it.

Send letters to all the papers in your town – not just the largest one. The smaller the paper, the more likely they are to print your letter. Small weekly papers are an excellent way to reach hundreds or even thousands of people.
Sending regular letters to the editor should be a high priority. The exposure that you get is so valuable that it is worth forming a letter-writing committee to ensure that the job gets done.

Occasionally, you may have the opportunity to write an opinion piece for the local paper, especially if you are involved in a controversial campaign. These are longer articles – about 500 to 800 words in length – that summarise an issue, develop an argument and propose a solution. Send the article to the editorial-page editor with a cover letter explaining why you feel that it should be printed. The article has a better chance of being published if it is signed by someone prominent, even if you wrote it for him or her.

APPOINTING A SPOKESPERSON

You should appoint a knowledgeable, well-presented spokesperson for each event that will be covered by the media. Members of your group should answer questions with a brief sentence and then direct further questions to the spokesperson, who is not necessarily the group’s leader. Your organisation must decide ahead of time what the spokesperson should and should not say.

The spokesperson should be equipped with media kits that include such things as fliers about your demo, factsheets providing background information and photographic evidence to support your case. It is important that the spokesperson be well-dressed and professional. If the demonstration involves people wearing costumes, the spokesperson should not be in costume.

Although you must appoint a spokesperson, everyone at the event should be familiar with the topic, as reporters will often want a second comment from others involved.

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