Last night, I attended The Publicity Club of New England’s program on Securing TV Coverage in a Major Market. It was a great session! Fred Kocher – from WMUR-TV (ABC) – moderated a panel consisting of Jack Auresto, Planning Manager of WFXT-TV (FOX 25); Lauren Bettencourt, Managing Editor of the Local News Service at WBZ and FOX 25; Linda Olsen, News Assignment Editor at NECN; and last, but definitely not least, Joe Roche, News Assignment Editor at WCVB-TV (ABC).

It’s every client’s dream to get TV coverage, however news assignment editors are swarmed with emails for us PR folk every day, all day trying to fulfill this dream for our clients. The panel was great and offered excellent insight as to how to get their interest. They also said not to take it personally if you don’t always hear back with a response – they’re essentially working in a tornado.

Here are a couple highlights from last night:

After all the fires & robberies are covered, how do they make their decision as to what to feature next?

Roche: He sees what people are clicking on. It’s about giving people news items that they are interested in and want to see. The news is 3 parts: what the audience wants to know, what the audience needs to know and what the audience didn’t know.

Olsen: At NECN keep in mind there are different areas to tap into: the Business Show, CEO corner, etc. She tries to look for a mix of stories and noted 3 very important things a pitch should be packaged with:

1. Make it visually pleasing
2. Make it of human interest
3. Have the story be relatable

Bettencourt: LNS covers many things that some of the other stations couldn’t. She loves community outreach stories.

Let’s talk on-air vs. web, do they choose different stories for each?

Auresto: We don’t wait till the 6 o’clock news to break a story that happened at noon. It’ll be put on the web (but it still may be covered during the 6 o’clock news). The Web is like having a sister-station. Everything is moving to the Web.

Roche: For instance, if there is a news conference, only part of it might be shown on TV – but you’ll be able to see the entire conference online.

What don’t they cover?

Olsen: Dry meetings or events that are more like a dry meetings. Stuff that isn’t visually stimulating.

Auresto: You have to think, “Do I want to watch this on the 10 o’clock news?” Fine a compelling story about what you are pitching.

Bettencourt: Also, if you send releases about events, have an interesting person available at the event.

Top Dos and Don’ts

Bettencourt: Don’t send an email then call 5 seconds later. You can call, but remember she always is checking email, but she might be busy. Give her time to digest. Do, however, leave contact information including cell phone numbers.

Auresto: Contact information is extremely important. Put that up front with details below. *Regarding events

Olsen: Establish a relationship. She’ll take a few minutes to talk to you if you start a relationship with her. Also, remember you don’t always have to pitch the assignment editors, build relationships with others at the station too.

Roche: Relationships are important. Don’t call too close to news time. Don’t pitch the same exact thing to him that you are pitching to another station.

A couple other interesting pieces I got out of last night:

Roche: He said they aren’t a bunch of prima donnas, so do reach out.

Auresto: He files all the experts he receives, so send him a list of clients and what they can talk about/specialize in.

All-in-all, the panel stressed the fact that they just want to put together an awesome newscast. Think about what you would want to see on the news, create a good story for your pitches and offer them a nicely packaged story idea.

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Technorati Tags: FOX 25, NECN, Pitching News Station, Pitching Tips, TV Coverage, WBZ, WCVB-TV, WFXT-TV, WMUR-TV

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I’ve been talking to a lot of reporters lately, trying to secure meetings for clients planning to break news at industry conferences. It’s an uphill push to get in-person briefings at the best of times, but the strikeout rate is particularly high for conferences. It’s a case of too many conferences and too few reporters.

One of my reporter friends (I think of him as a friend, at least) tells me that he’s done travelling, thanks to drastic budget cuts at his publication. He’s not the only one claiming lack of funds – it seems to be the new normal.

So here’s a modest proposal: let’s manage press attendance at conferences as the Europeans do. Let’s pay for travel and living expenses for accredited journalists.

I’m not suggesting pay-for-play here, but a modification of sponsorship agreements that would set up a travel fund that could be accessed by vetted reporters. It’s not a guarantee of coverage, just a way to ensure journalists can afford to attend.

Here’s how it could work: conference sponsors would pay a reasonable, small surcharge – say $2,000 – that would go into a kitty to provide funds to reporters with no travel budget. There’d be a pre-set room charge, a block of reserved rooms at the conference hotel, and a daily allotment for food and such – just enough to cover T&L expenses. Reporters would have to apply – maybe use a lottery system? – and prove their credentials to receive a stipend. They’d have to agree to allot a certain percentage of conference time for briefings, but would not have to agree to meeting any specific sponsor or attendee. The idea is to increase chances of access to reporters, not to promise access.

Handled carefully, conference organizers could ensure that the church/state separation so essential to fair and impartial reporting would be maintained. And journalists could actually go to conferences and cover news live and in person.

What do you think? As a sponsor, would you be willing to chip in to make sure reporters can actually afford to come to conferences? As a reporter, would you turn your back at the handout or see it as a way to help you do your job? Let us know what you think.

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Technorati Tags: Conferences, Event Suggestions, Getting reporters to shows, Sponsorships

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So what’s it like to be a business editor at a newspaper these days, with slimmer budgets but more news to cover than ever?

The Publicity Club of New England held a panel discussion of regional business editors to hear their likes and gripes – and to find out what works and what doesn’t when trying to secure your clients in these highly sought after publications.

The panel was moderated by Tina Cassidy, VP of Soloman McCown & Company, and consisted of the Boston Business Journal’s Eric Convey, The Boston Globe’s Shirley Leung and the Boston Herald’s Frank Quaratiello. The competition among these publications was clear but despite this, or perhaps because of it, the dynamic among them was great – engaging, entertaining and most importantly, helpful to us PR folks.

Here are some highlights:

* Wait for the no *

According to Leung, even if a reporter likes your story it’s almost guaranteed not to be published if they realized you’ve pitched multiple people.

If you don’t hear back from someone in one department, wait for them to say “no” before pitching another department within the same publication. If you must move on to another reporter before you get the “no”, be transparent with the next person you pitch – letting them know you reached out to someone already.

* Phone calls and beyond *

We were all dying to know about follow up calls, and basically what we learned is that every reporter is different. Here’s how it breaks down with these three –

Globe: Leung likes follow up calls, especially after timely pitches

Herald: Quaratiello won’t let you off the phone if he likes your story (but beware if he asks you to send him an email).

BBJ: Convey says not to even bother with phone calls (understandably so, according to Convey he wouldn’t be able to get any work done if he took every call)

* Twitter and Social Media *

Globe: Leung’s staff is adapting to twitter more and more and they have a specific person to keep up their Facebook page with events, postings stories, contests etc.

Leung realizes that social media drives traffic and amazingly, is about #4 out of the top ten facets that do so.

Herald: Quaratiello doesn’t really use Twitter and doubts much of his staff does either. Although, they will check Facebook to get photos to support any crimes/incidents.

BBJ: Twitter is very important to them and an important factor in driving traffic to their site/specific stories. Some of you might recognize one of their biggest cheerleaders, @lvanderpool

One thing they all seem to hate is mass pitching! When it comes to quality vs. quantity, quality always wins.

What are some pitching faux pas you’ve come across (or dare I say tried yourself)?

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Technorati Tags: editors, PubClub NE, public relations, Social Media

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