media training the handbook - bbsrc
TRANSCRIPT
Media Trainingthe handbook
Contents
This booklet has been designed to give a brief overview of how the media works, what journalists are looking for and the vital role you can play in communicating science to the public.
The media 3
Telling your story 9
Handling interviews 19
The press office 27
Social media 31
The media
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About the media
The media is multibillion pound, highly competitive industry. Most newspapers and commercial broadcasters exist to make money, with editors and television producers wanting to sell the most papers or win ratings wars.
The news media fulfils many valuable roles, most obviously, making the public aware of local, national and international issues which affect their lives. And many of the individual journalists who make up the media are passionate about portraying information accurately and for the greater good.
But it is always worth remembering that media outlets are predominately driven by sales – they have their own agenda, their own customers and their own unique selling points. They are not a free service for disseminating information.
Understanding this helps explain why some topics get mass coverage, while others get very little. And in terms of medical and science stories, it is no exaggeration to say that the reporting of these stories can save or ruin lives.
Scientists and journalists have a shared responsibility to ensure that information is reported to the public accurately.
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The media
Why engage with the media?
There are many reasons for communicating science to the public, not least because tax payers are often the main funders of research.
Working with the media is a powerful, quick and effective way of communicating messages to millions of people worldwide. Stories covered in the media shape public opinion and influence policy.
Using the media as a channel to highlight your work and the impact of your research is a fantastic way to:
• Inform the public
• Add evidence to a debate
• Enthuse the public and future generations of scientists
• Get your area of research noticed and boost citations
• Inform public opinion and policy debates
• Generate new collaborations
• Increase funding for UK bioscience
The positive side of working with the media can often be overshadowed by the fear of misrepresentation. But the best way to ensure positive coverage is to be clear on the messages you want to convey and work closely with your press office.
Remember: if you don’t talk about your area of science, others will.
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What is news?
News is not an exact science - a story that might fill the papers one day may not have got a mention had it appeared the day before. It all depends on national and international events and the drama of the moment.
As the name suggests, news is new. Maybe not always brand new, but a new take on existing information, an international or nation first, something topical or something unusual.
A good story provokes a reaction from the reader.
Scandal and controversy are virtually guaranteed column inches and journalists like anything with the WOW factor.
Ultimately we are all interested in things that affect us. You need to be comfortable explaining how your work may one day have an impact on peoples’ daily lives, even if this may be a long way off and your work only part of the jigsaw.
Image: iStock. Thinkstock
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The media
What makes a good story Although you can’t predict what will be on the news agenda on any given day, there are ways of increasing the chances of your research being reported on.
Firstly, what is the ‘hook’ - what makes your research newsworthy? Usually for scientists this is the publication of a paper in a peer-reviewed journal or presentation of data at an international conference.
Being awarded funding can also be a hook, but in general the media prefer to know about real outcomes rather than hypothetical ones. A finished project is likely to get more coverage than a new one.
Secondly, a meaningful soundbite explaining the significance of the research and what the findings mean. Journalists love plain English and short sentences work best.
Thirdly, a bit of science and some digestible facts and figures. While most people are not interested in knowing the detailed methodology, they do like to understand the basics, so use a simple, jargon-free explanation of how your findings came about alongside some facts and figures.
Lastly a good picture can work wonders too; what may just be a run-of-the-mill slide shot to you, is often fascinating to the rest of the world.
Image: iStock. Thinkstock
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Science and the mediaScience underpins our everyday lives so it is no surprise that the public are interested in what researchers are up to and why they are doing it.
Equally, it is no surprise that public opinion is shaped so heavily by what is reported in the media, as for many people this is the only science they hear or see.
An Ipsos MORI poll* looking at Public Attitudes to Science found that:
54%said TV was their most regular source of science information
33% said newspapers.
The poll also found that there is an appetite for hearing about science with 82% agreeing that “science is such a big part of our lives that we should all be interested” and 51% think they hear and see too little about science.
*Ipsos MORI (2011) Public Attitudes to Science 2011.
Image: iStock. Thinkstock
Telling your story
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Ask yourself....
Before you start, remember that the media is not the right route for everything - use a range of relevant tactics to get the right messages to the right audiences.
What do I want to communicate?
Who do I want to reach?
Is the media the best route?
What will I get out of this?
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Telling your story
Have a plan
There are many great reasons to tell your story, but before you embark on any communication, you should be clear of the purpose of it.
Aims and objectives
What do you want the communication to achieve? For example, it could be increased awareness, generating partnerships, or encouraging young people to take up science.
Audience
Who do you want to reach? The public, political, leaders industry, pressure groups?
Key messages
What are the most important things that you want to say?
Tools and channels
What tools, communication channels and resources are available to use?
Evaluation
Is there any way to test if the communication is meeting your initial objectives?
Having a plan puts you in control of the communications activity.
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Key messages
Key messages are the most important things that you want to say on a specific subject to your audience.
To help you build your key messages, write a paragraph or two detailing what you would like to communicate.
Image: iStock. Thinkstock
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Telling your story
Your messages
Now it is time to try to distil this text into two or three key messages.
Key messages are short statements. They are the main points that you want people to remember. They provide straightforward, clearly worded information that seeks to engage people and get them interested.
A good key message is:
• Concise
• Easy for people to understand and remember
• Simple to say aloud
• Focused on one idea
• Non-judgemental
• Relevant to the intended audience
Use the space below to write two or three key messages. Write short sentences that summarise your main points. Use simple, jargon-free language. Use active rather than passive voice (“I threw the ball”, rather than “The ball was thrown by me”).
1.
2.
3.
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Perfecting your messages
Refineyourmessage
You can refine your message further by thinking about your audience. Consider what information is potentially most useful or compelling to different groups. For example, emphasise the “big picture” when addressing lay audiences, or the implications for policy when addressing policymakers. Use locally relevant analogies (such as farming if you are in a rural community) to help explain your point. Adapt your language and the level of detail provided to suit your audience’s needs.
To help you to refine your message, try the following:
• Read the message out loud. Does it sound conversational? If not, edit until it does.
• Simplify the language. Try to reduce complex technical language. Remember that key messages are broad statements; they do not include many details.
• Check the length. Keep it short.
• Make sure your key messages frame the main issue.
Test your message
You should test you messages with representatives of your intended audience and make changes to ensure that they are clear, understood, and do not have unintentional meanings.
Test your messages with the person next to you and ask them to relay the meaning back to you.
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A news article or press release
Newspaper articles are constructed very differently to other types of literature.
Because of the fast-changing nature of news, an editor never knows how much space they will have in the paper for any given article, and while they plan a rough layout, if a big story breaks other news will get cut. This can result in a 500 word article about your research being relegated to a 50 word news-in-brief article.
The model used to do this is very simple and often referred to as the ‘Inverted Triangle,’ where all of the vital information is contained in the first paragraph, while all subsequent paragraphs are used to elaborate.
To cater for such severe editing, journalists need to make sure that regardless of whether their article is one paragraph or 20 paragraphs, it still makes sense.
It is good to think in this way when constructing your own news items or press releases too, as it will ensure that a reader gets the main points even if they only read a little of the story.
The story can be cut at any point
Main facts
More detail
Quote
More detail
Additional Quote
Background
Telling your story
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ThefiveWs
To ensure everything is included in the first paragraph, virtually all news articles answer the five Ws in the first few sentences. Answer these questions for your story:
• Who has done something?
• What have they done?
• When did they do it?
• Where did they do it?
• Why did they do it?
There is a 6th W too. It is important to think of your story from the viewpoint of the general public. Why should they care about your story? It should provoke some kind of reaction. Audiences are bombarded with news today so you need to stand out. Write a sentence detailing why people should care about your story.
• Who cares?
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Headlines... don’t let them put you off
The aim of the headline is to grab the reader’s attention – to sell the story. They have to be catchy, intriguing, funny, shocking or ambiguous in order to compete with all of the other stories on the page.
Like them or loath them, headlines are usually very clever – but often infuriating, depicting serious research in one flippant line. But it’s important to remember that although the headline might be wacky, the article is what counts. Journalists use headlines as a lure. They are snappy and in plain English.
It is also useful to remember that headlines and captions are not written by the journalist who writes the article, it is out of their control. It is sub-editors who write headlines and edit articles to fit the available space.
Telling your story
Who
Where
What
Why
When
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Your story
Based on what you have learnt, write the first paragraph of a news article about your work. Include the 5 Ws and use less than 100 words.
Handling interviews
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Image: iStock. Thinkstock
Interview tips
Whether you are being interviewed for a live broadcast in a studio or down the phone for a newspaper article – be prepared. You don’t have to be interviewed straight away: ask to call back at a convenient time within their deadline.
Poll
Find out what the reporter wants to know in advance. What is their angle? Who else is being interviewed?
Prepare
Have your key messages ready, and if possible, rehearsed. You don’t want to sound like a robot, but you do want to sound confident and fluent.
Research
Know your subject - the strengths and weaknesses. Have some key facts or figures at hand. Remember that you are the expert and that is why they are talking to you. Their job is to extract interesting information from you, not to know what you do.
Verify
Make sure you have the correct details to contact them. Confirm the topic. Know their deadline.
Simplify
Hone your messages to a few key points. Imagine you are explaining your research to a friend in the pub.
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Handling interview
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Controversy and hype
Misunderstanding and hype can be avoided by being clear on your messages and the areas you are comfortable talking about.
Controversy can arise either because of the potential application of the research, such as GM crops, or because people don’t understand the need for the research.
When dealing with controversy, the first rule of thumb is to be open and honest. Avoiding such questions does not make them go away, it just means that someone else will answer them.
So if your area of expertise is causing controversy, plan your messages and confidently answer difficult questions to dispel any myths and avoid hype.
Communicatingrisksandbenefits
Statistics can cause misunderstanding. An interview is your chance to put your research in perspective to help the public understand the benefits or risks.
Many of the biggest controversies in science have arisen partly from problems in the process of communicating research to the public.*
Keep things in perspective. If you are talking about a breakthrough, make sure people know it might be 20 years away. Likewise, if you are talking about risk, put it in context:
“Travelling in a car is more dangerous than…”
It is also good to have some facts and figures to help put the need for your research in context, such as:
“Seven million people in the UK are affected by Parkinson’s Disease.”
* The Royal Society (2006) Science and the public interest.Communicating the results of new scientific research to the public.
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Clarity
When you are working in a highly specialised field, it is easy to forget that a lot of the terms you use daily mean nothing to the average member of the public.
Avoid jargon - don’t confuse using simple language to explain your research with dumbing down your work, you can still get across the complexity and importance of your work without using jargon.
Sometimes it is inevitable that there will be technical terms you need to use, this is fine as long as you explain clearly what the term means at the outset.
Endeavour
Erroneous
Facilitate
Necessitate
Obtain
Supplementary
Approximately
Sufficient
Validate
Mechanisms
Methodology
Try Wrong, False Help Need, require Get Extra, more About Enough Confirm Systems Process, way
Science speak Plain English
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Handling interview
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Painting pictures
Try and make your work as interesting and visual as possible. Use analogies and metaphors to help explain complex processes and liken things to everyday situations.
Infection, diseases, corrosion
Diagnostics, monitoring
Energy flow, process
Chemical analysis
Invasion, warfare Surveillance
Finance, expenditure
Menu
Topic Possible description
Image: iStock. Thinkstock
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Do...
…prepare - think about some of the questions that may be raised and think about how best to answer them.
…know what messages you want to get across.
...think about the audience and use simple language – you want to tell as many people as possible about your research.
…be enthusiastic, people will listen to a passionate voice.
…respect journalists’ deadlines; they may only have a couple of hours to work on a story.
…get the contact details of the journalist and the publication, you may think of something you forgot to mention in an initial interview or you may wish to contact them in the future about your work.
…ask when it likely to be published or broadcast.
…stay calm.
…keep your press office posted – they may be able to offer advice, useful information or insights.
Image: iStock. Thinkstock
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Handling interview
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Don’t..
…be afraid to say you can’t answer a question or that it is not your area.
…be drawn in to discussions that you are not comfortable about or that you know little about - stick to your subject.
…feel you have to comment straight away. Take the journalists details and call them back once you have had time to think of what you want to say or to chat to colleagues.
…talk ‘off the record ’or ‘unofficially’. Only say what you are happy to be quoted as saying, that way you minimise the risk of any nasty surprises.
…forget BBSRC and other funders. If you get the chance it is great to name check your funders as positive exposure gets noticed and helps to win the case for UK bioscience funding.
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Quotes
Rational
• Appeal to reason and explain the reasons for doing something
• Delivers accuracy and factual information
• A home for statistics and figures
Emotional
• Emotion will differentiate you; journalists don’t like corporate robots
• Emotion can deliver empathy and demonstrate that you are listening to your audience
Proactive
• Use words in an engaging way
• Capture peoples imagination, take them with you
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Thepressoffice
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Thepressoffice
Press officers work as gatekeepers for individuals and organisations, building relationships with journalists, guiding them to the most appropriate researchers to talk, making sure interviews go as smoothly as possible and helping you to feel prepared.
Press officers work reactively and proactively – responding to an array of queries from journalist as well as contacting journalists directly about the work of the organisation.
One of their main roles is working with researchers when they have a paper coming out to draft a press release. A press release is a one-sided article about your work, conveying the key messages about the research and ensuring that all researchers and partners involved are happy with how the work is being conveyed.
Once finalised, press officers advise on the best time to issue a press release and who to send it to. They then send the release to the most appropriate journalists and help coordinate follow interview requests.
Press offices then monitor and evaluate the media coverage.
In short, press officers are there to make your interactions with the media as easy, enjoyable, beneficial as possible.
Image: iStock. Thinkstock
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The press office
Whatyourpressofficecandoforyou
Most organisations have a press office. You will probably find that you have access to a couple – one at the institution where you work and one at the body you receive your funding from.
So while it’s important to have an understanding of the media process, don’t forget you have people to help you handle the press.
A good press officer has excellent skills and experience and can:
• Act as gatekeepers to help filter calls and achieve relevant interviews
• Help you to plan and prepare
• Provide insights into the publication and their angle on your story
• Provide media support and advice
• Provide contact details for journalists
• Give advice on the best forms of contact for each journalist
• Write press releases to publicise your work
• Provide formal or informal media training
• Provide a range of channels to promote your work
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The
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Whatyoucandoforyourpressoffice
You can also help press officers to get the best chance of publicising your work by:
• Letting them know if you have a forthcoming publication, giving at least two-week’s notice
• Let them know if you are presenting at a conference
• Offer to be an ‘expert’ on your given topic available for interviews
• Think beyond print - provide photos, images, video content and audio
• Let them know if a journalist has been in touch
Getting your voice heard
If you are unhappy with how your area of science is covered in the media, you can make your voice heard. Talk to your press office about:
• Talking to the journalist
• A letter to the Editor
• A blog post
• Twitter (or other social media)
• Press Complaints Commission
Social media
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Digital media
While working with the media is important, we are becoming less reliant on TV, radio or newspapers to communicate about science.
There are many channels and tools that you can use, so talk to a press officer about all of them:
• Videos
• Blogs
• Social media
• Podcasts
• Forums
• Online Q&As
The benefits of digital and social media are huge:
• Great way to engage directly with your community and the public
• Instant reaction – discuss what’s happening right now
• Fun and informative
But don’t forget that there are rules:
• You are in public and act accordingly
• Check if your institution has a social media policy
• Don’t be shy to ask for advice
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Millions of Tweets are written every day – all with one thing in common, they can be no longer than 140 characters.
You can tweet about things you are interested in or simply follow others.
Find influential people and send them a message that they could share with millions of people.
Have some fun and write a tweet to share with the group about yourself and your work:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
For details on how to tweet your science visit: https://twitter.com/tweetyoursci
BBSRC videosBBSRC produces short (30sec to 5min) videos to highlight what our researchers are up to:
• We can supply digital cameras and edit the footage
• Allows us to tell the story of research visually
• A great way to give insights into being a scientist and the research that isgoing on
Social media
Notes
BBSRC Media Office
Rob Dawson (Head of News)
01793 413204 [email protected]
Chris Melvin (Media Officer)
01793 414694 [email protected]
General