Countdown Timeline for Maximum Media Coverage

"If you build it, they will come" rarely works—unless you’re in a movie. So how can you ensure that the media will promote and cover your Town Hall Meeting (THM)? Whether your event is a small gathering of community decision makers, a Parent-Teacher Association meeting, or a large-scale event, media support is vital to spreading the underage drinking prevention message throughout your community. Media publicity before your event can boost attendance at your THM. Coverage of the event itself increases community awareness of underage drinking and the reasons why prevention is urgently needed. Media coverage also may lead to future articles about underage drinking and how your THM has mobilized your community to take action.

However, working well with the media requires some knowledge about tools, techniques, and timing to use in making—and keeping—the media a partner in underage drinking prevention. These tools vary from a media advisory to alert the media to your THM to an interview that will help establish your organization as a source of reliable information about underage drinking (UAD).

The following timeline is a quick refresher for a media team that has participated in a previous THM or a guide for those who are new. It covers the preparation of media lists, news releases, media advisories, pitching, press kits, and other materials. Be sure to document all media contacts at every stage for later use for making follow-up calls and sending thank-you notes.

Two to three weeks before

• Create, update, and finalize your media list. This is your database or spreadsheet of media contacts by type with contacts’ names (where possible), phone numbers, and addresses. Sources include http://www.radio-locator.com, http://www.newspapers.com, http://www.newslink.org/stattele.html, (TV stations), media directories at your library, a local press club, and the yellow pages. Include contacts for newspapers and radio and television stations that also post news online (which may have separate Web content staff).
• Prioritize the media list. Focus on those with the widest audience and those most likely to run your story. Include the daily newspaper, a few weekly newspapers, three to four commercial television stations, public and government access channels, and three to five radio stations. If you are trying to attract youth, select formats they may listen to such as alternative rock or hip-hop.
• Create a similar list of city or county agencies that address youth, health and substance abuse, and traffic safety; school districts and individual schools; and civic organizations. All these organizations have Web sites that can promote and report on your THM.
• Draft and record important messages. You will use these thoughts later to pitch your messages both by phone and in written materials.
• Assemble your media team. Recruit people willing to write, proofread, make calls, and/or track coverage.
• Draft a new release, media advisory, and public service announcements (PSAs) to submit for calendar listings and community bulletins that public access stations would run. Customizable templates for media outreach and additional tips on their use are available.

Two weeks before

• Send the media advisory by email or fax to the journalists on your media list.
• Send the radio PSA (see tools section below) to radio station public service directors.
• Call to confirm receipt and be ready with your 30-second pitch. The best time to call is between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Fridays are not good days to call most broadcast journalists.
• Talk to the reporter if you know who covers youth issues. If your media list doesn’t have specific names, ask to talk to newspapers’ city editors and radio and television assignments editors. Email the radio PSA to public service directors along with a pitch letter that explains why the issue and the THM are important to the community.
• Check with local access stations to see if they would broadcast a set of slides about the THM in their community bulletin board.
• Email a ready-to-post notice about your THM to the organizations on your outreach list.
• Identify your spokesperson(s): those who would be interviewed. Spokespersons normally will be the presenters at your THM. They should be knowledgeable, confident, articulate yet succinct, and enthusiastic. See the “close-up” section below for interview tips.

One week before

• Continue making follow-up calls to media representatives. Ask if they are planning to attend or would like to arrange an interview.
• Schedule interviews.
• Prepare an interview tip sheet for spokespersons. Set up a meeting with them to discuss and finalize key message points. Anticipate media questions and ask spokespersons to practice—out loud—answering such questions using the message points.
• Prepare and assemble press kits: a pocket folder containing the news release, media advisory, THM agenda, speaker bios, an underage drinking prevention fact sheet with both State and national statistics, a backgrounder, contact information, and handouts.

Two or three days before

• Call the local Associated Press Bureau, if there's one in your area, and ask that your THM be included on the daybook, a calendar of local media events.

One to two days before

• Send the media advisory to your media list again as a reminder.
• Make sure you and any other spokesperson(s) are ready for interviews.
• Arrange for a press area at your event.

Day of your THM

• Have a sign-in sheet for attending journalists.
• Distribute press kits to them.
• Ask if they would like assistance in setting up an interview.

One or two days after

• Send a news release the morning after your THM. Call journalists who’ve not previously committed to write an article and ask if they are interested in doing a write-up. Propose to send them more information: fact sheets about underage drinking prevention, outcomes and next steps from the THM.
• Offer to arrange an interview with you or another authoritative source.
• Respond to media calls. Know the reporter’s deadline and do everything possible to meet it. Most daily newspapers have noon or 4 p.m. deadlines, while many television stations prefer to have news footage back by 3 p.m. for the 6 o’clock news and by 8 p.m. for the 11 o’clock news.

One to two weeks after

• Call or email the journalists who covered your story to thank them.
• Loop back with anyone who was interviewed to thank them and get feedback. How could you have made the experience better for them or more beneficial for your organization?

Are You Ready for Your Close-up?

Make the most of interviews, a prime opportunity to emphasize the importance of underage drinking prevention. The following tips will help you or your spokespersons "sell your story" to the media.

• Write down three to five key message points and make them during the interview. Don’t wait for the perfect question to get important points across.
• Keep answers brief. The average television sound bite is less than 10 seconds. Print media give you more leeway, but brevity will ensure your entire message is carried.
• Show your passion for underage drinking prevention: Don’t drone on and on the way your least favorite teacher did. Deliver your answers with energy and confidence.
• Whether on camera or speaking with a print journalist, look sharp. Strive for a relaxed but professional stature and maintain good eye contact. Wear low-key attire and solid colors. Use your hands to stress particular points, but avoid looking like a school crossing guard.
• Use plain language that allows your answers to be easily understood and relate real-life anecdotes to illustrate your points.
• Include all relevant information in your answer, but don’t ramble. Too much information can distract from key messages you want the reporter to focus on.
• Use a land line, not a cell phone, for all telephone interviews. You do not want to be misquoted because of a bad signal.
• If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so and offer to get back to them—quickly—with the answer.

At the end of the interview, refrain from asking to see a copy of the story before it is published. Thank the reporter and provide a telephone number where you can be reached.