One big thing to keep in mind with news releases

You have to attribute…

Mega corporation expects HSHM to become the biggest video game

success since Halo, said Ageration.

Few final things about PR

• Who employs PR people?

Few final things about PR

• Who employs PR people?• #1 PR agencies

Few final things about PR

• WPP: Burson Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton, Cohn & Wolfe

• Omnicom: Fleischmann-Hilliard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli

• Interpublic Group (IPG): Weber Shandwick, Golin Harris, DraftFCB

Biggest U.S. PR agencies

• WPP: Burson Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton, Cohn & Wolfe

• Omnicom: Fleischmann-Hilliard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli

• Interpublic Group (IPG): Weber Shandwick, Golin Harris, DraftFCB

• Independent agency Edelman has 4,120 employees and $600 million in annual revenues

Biggest U.S. PR agencies

• Almost everyone: from private companies large and small, non-profits, sports organizations, government agencies, politicians, Hollywood, publishers… and even journalists

Who uses agencies?

• Who employs PR people?• #1 PR agencies• Companies

Few final things about PR

• Most multi-million dollar companies will have in-house PR people

Companies with in-house PR

• Most multi-million dollar companies will have in-house PR people

• Big corporations such as Apple, Exxon and Johnson & Johnson each employ hundreds

Companies with in-house PR

• "If I only had two dollars left I would spend one dollar on PR."

Bill Gates: founder MSFT

• "Using yourself to get out and talk about it is a lot cheaper and more effective than a lot of advertising. In fact, if you do it correctly, it can beat advertising hands down and save tens of millions of dollars."

Richard Branson: founder Virgin Airlines

• Who employs PR people?• #1 PR agencies• Companies• Non-profits

Few final things about PR

• United Way, Red Cross, big churches and denominations, cultural organizations (music, theater, dance, museums), advocacy groups (ACLU, unions) and a lot more

• Found at local, state and national level

Non-profits with in-house PR

• Who employs PR people?• #1 PR agencies• Companies• Non-profits• Sports organizations

Few final things about PR

• All NBA, MLB, NFL, MLS, minor league teams, every college athletic program, WTA, ATP, PGA and so on

Sports PR

• Who employs PR people?• #1 PR agencies• Companies• Non-profits• Sports organizations• Government

Few final things about PR

• All federal, state and most local agencies have PR people: too numerous to count

Government PR

• Who employs PR people?• #1 PR agencies• Companies• Non-profits• Sports organizations• Government• Education

Few final things about PR

• Every college and university has a swarm of PR people

• Also found representing school boards and local districts and private primary schools

Education PR

Year in review

• It’s a great skill to have• Journalism is a big part of our daily lives• You never know where it might take you• Venezuela, France, Japan, China, Canada, Brazil,

Costa Rica, Belgium, Bermuda, U.K., Puerto Rico• You will be a better student by the end of this

year... lead pipe cinch• It should be fun!

So why study journalism?

• the profession of gathering, editing, and publishing news reports and related articles for newspapers, magazines, television, radio or on-line

Journalism:formal definitions

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

First Amendment

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

Luke 1:1-4 (ESV)

• Gutenberg printing press in 1440• 1600: first weekly papers in Europe• 1665: Oxford Gazette (later London Gazette), first true English-

language newspaper• 1690: Publick Occurrences published in Boston; fails• 1704: Boston News-Letter published; it makes it!• 1729: Ben Franklin takes over The Pennsylvania Gazette• 1776: Declaration of Independence printed throughout

colonies• Bill of Rights codifies freedom of press, first established in

Zenger case

History of journalism

• Early 20th century: muckrakers• 1920: first regular radio broadcast, CBS, NBC soon form

networks• 1939: CBS and NBC begin regular television broadcasts• 1941: FDR declares war on Japan, carried live on radio;

Americans turn to radio for immediate WWII news• Television sales boom post-war; “big three” of ABC, CBS,

NBC start to emphasize television news• 1963: JFK assassinated, TV becomes place to go for

immediate news

History of journalism: 20th century

• Impact• Conflict• Novelty• Prominence • Proximity • Immediacy• Emotions

Inside Reporting

• Most mainstream journalists contend they strive for objectivity... even at pubs such as Time, Newsweek, NY Times, Washington Post et. al

• Objective = provable• “Properly understood, objectivity provides the

method most likely to yield the best obtainable version of the truth.”

Which brings us to objectivity

• Without great notes, you can’t write a great story

• It all starts with a notebook• Then your own system of note taking: shorthand,

organization, pen, fact organization, etc.• Learn to write while looking at subject; talk

about one thing and write about another; give yourself time to catch up

Taking great notes

• Rephrase questions if you don’t get what you want or it’s unclear

• Ask follow-ups: How do you know that? Can you give me an example? What is the thought behind that?

• Be flexible, follow the twists and turns• Note the “color” facts

During interview, deux

• Direct quote: Word-for-word what they said. Always starts with a quote mark and ends with quote mark

• Usually ends with attribution: “It’s like running 90 miles an hours with your hair on fire,” said Bowers.

Types of quotes

• Unless it’s a well known fact – the earth is round – you usually need an attribution

• You have to indicate the source of most fact, all opinions and quotes

• Must keep your own opinions out of story: i.e., you can’t say Mrs. M is a dynamo. Mr. Belle can say that and you can quote him

If you’re a reporter, somebody’s gotta say it

• Summarize first, explain later• Information is arranged from most important

to least important• Best way of delivering “hard” news in all

media, from dead-tree newspapers to smart phones

• 69 percent of stories in papers use IP, as do most TV, radio and web stories

Traditional journalism starts with the Inverted Pyramid

• You have to make hundreds of news judgments when you write a lead

• You have to identify and rank the most newsworthy elements in each story

• Sum it up, boil it down• This takes practice but will pay off no matter

you do after high school• Which brings us to....

And that’s where the fun begins!

• Who• What• Where• When• Why• How

Five Ws (and an H)

• Collect all your facts• Sum it up, boil it down• Prioritize the five Ws (and an H)• Rethink, revise, rewrite• Is it clear?• Is it active?• Is it wordy?• Is it compelling?• Is it news??????

Writing great ledes

• A featurette: generally odd or amusing nuggets

• Comic relief from the hard news of the day• Ledes are fun, designed to draw you in... not

inverted pyramid

Brites

• Yes, journalism is a lot more than the IP... but it remains the foundation of journalism

• If time, space and detail are available, we can use the techniques of narration and structures other than IP

• Can be anything from a car wreck, a routine meeting or politics

Beyond the IP (inverted pyramid)

• Schools: primary, school board, colleges• Crime: courts, police, sheriff, gang violence• Sports: baseball, individual teams, high school,

outdoors, football, weekend• Politics: city, county, state, federal• Business: real estate, manufacturing, unions,

marketing, advertising, finance, banking, retail

Typical journalist beats

• Sports are the typically the most-viewed events on television

• Second most-popular section of newspapers• What are the five most popular spectator

sports in the U.S.? Football, NASCAR, baseball, basketball, hockey

• Most popular internationally?

Importance of sports news

• Personality profile• Human-interest• Color story• Backgrounder• Trend story• Reaction piece• Flashback• How-to• Consumer advice• Personal narrative

Types of features

• It’s your or your publication’s opinion• Almost always on a newsworthy topic: taxes,

elections, politics, crime, social issues such as abortion, education

• It’s clearly marked as opinion• Take many of the things we’ve studied about

journalism and toss them out, especially objectivity

So what distinguishes editorials?

• Criticism: “considered judgment of or discussion about the qualities of something, especially a creative work”

• Study, evaluate and interpret• Meaning, social context and significance of the

artist’s work• Which means you have to be an expert in the

field in which you work• More than just unloading on somebody

So you wanna be a critic

• Still gotta get the facts... you are still a reporter, gather as much info as time allows

• Work more in collaboration than at print• Fewer defined beats... cover car wreck to pet

adoptions in one morning• Much of the news is crime and tragedies: “if it

bleeds, it leads...”• Not going to be an expert on any subject, gotta

be a super-quick learner

How to write for broadcast

• It’s live! And you’re talking, without notes, directly into a camera

• Images rule: “Talking head bad. Video good.”• You write to the video: lead with your strongest

shots• Don’t overload with facts: let the pictures tell the

story• Engage emotions• Look the part

Television

• Package: a complete story prepared by reporter usually combining sound bites, voice-overs and stand-ups

• Reader: anchor reads a script while looking at camera; often over-the-shoulder graphic (OTS) identifies topic

• Voice-over: when the anchor speaks over video

Terms

• It’s brief• Gotta gather as many facts and video as time

permits• Use friendly, conversational tone• Active voice• Present tense• Attribution before quotes

Writing a TV news script

• Most of the laws limiting the absolute freedom of the press are related to libel

• Libel: the damage to a person’s reputation caused by making the person an object of hatred, contempt or ridicule in the eyes of a substantial and respectable group

• Dictionary def: “defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures”

So we’re pretty much free to print or broadcast anything, right?

“37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Matthew 22:37-39 NIV

Christian ethics

• “Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics, using methods that don’t require a direct payment.”

Let’s go with this

• Both begin with great writing• Both require news judgment: I Can Never Prepare

Pancakes In England• Both are generally taught in the same school at the

college level• There is a lot of movement between journalism and PR• Both require you to gather information, distill it and

communicate it so your audience gets it• Here’s the biggest difference: journalists serve the

“public” while PR serves a client

Why do we study PR as part of journalism?

• News media relations• Product publicity• Crisis communications• Financial communications• Executive support and speechwriting• Community relations• Government affairs• Internal communications

The major PR areas

• Start with a great headline: active, punchy, catchy… but watch bad puns

• Write a compelling lede, as important in PR as in journalism

• Be on the look-out for superlatives and sell them… first, largest, fastest, latest, et cetera

• But don’t exaggerate or brag… or ever tell a whopper

Writing a news release

• Company newsletters/magazines/videos• Stage employee meetings• Produce management conferences• Ad hoc communications in event of big news,

crisis, emergencies• Run United Way campaigns, blood drives, fund

raisers

Internal Communications

• “He (Paul) lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”

Acts 28:30-31

• We’ll have a Socratic coffee meeting @ Starbucks (Mr. G buys)

• Come prepared to discuss:

Final assignment, 5/6

Journalism roundtable 5/6

• What is the future of journalism?• Is a free (unfettered, un-beholden, objective)

media still possible in internet age?• Can a Christian make it in the secular world of

journalism or public relations? Could you report on abortion, gay marriage, the “war on women,” the “intolerance” of Christians, etc.?

• Any other big journo/PR issues on your minds