Top tips: working with the media by Martine Croxall

We were delighted that our Conference compere, the BBC’s Martine Croxall also contributed to two conference seminars where she sought to provide tips for delegates about working with the media.

Here’s some of her top tips:

Journalists are time poor so the more you can feed them what they need the easier it is to get your story covered. They are looking for anecdote, emotion, opinion and case studies that illustrate the story, statistics and facts from research and surveys and success stories.

When trying to get your story covered you may need different things for different mediums, for example something more visual for television items, to bring the story to life:

  • Newspapers – you need quotes from relevant spokespeople and photos or options for a photo to be taken.
  • Online: think of quotes, photos, and also embedded videos
  • Radio: audio interview clips, sound fx, actuality
  • TV: in-vision interview clips, stills, video footage, archive material

Building a contact list for your story:

  • Search for subject specialists relevant to your story type
  • Editors of channels or subject matter within a media organisation
  • Presenters and columnists
  • Ring the desk! – find out how what they would cover –ask them.

 

Preparing for an interview:

  • Think about the medium and think about the purpose of the interview – think of three key messages you wish to get across on the subject.
  • If it is a broadcast interview you need to know if it is live or recorded and how long it will be
  • You also need to know if it is on location, in the studio or ‘down the line’ live into a programme
  • Will you be the only interviewee or will you be giving your thoughts alongside anyone else?