The issues of development aid for fossil fuel extraction, access to energy for development and low carbon development are unlikely to be at the forefront of most students’ minds (or anyone else’s for that matter). This means that, for this campaign in particular, raising awareness and building understanding is absolutely crucial.
The media can be a great way to get the message out there and has the added benefit of putting indirect pressure on the Department for International Development (DFID). This works even better if you send copies of the coverage to DFID as well!
Before your action
Choose the media outlets you plan to target. This could include your local paper, TV or radio station, your student paper, or even the national media.
Do some research. For each media outlet, you will need to know:
The name of the relevant correspondent or editor (eg the environment correspondent).
The phone and fax number.
The deadline for news stories.
The email address to send press releases to.
Contact them in advance. Ring up and introduce yourself and explain about your group, what you do, and what the campaign is all about. When they get your press release, they’ll be more likely to publish the story. You could even offer to write an article yourselves. This can be particularly effective for student papers.
Send out a press release to all your contacts well in advance of your event, another just beforehand and one more afterwards.
Make your story attractive
To get coverage of a story it is important to present it attractively to the journalist. For local news the story must have some obvious local significance or relevance.
Action is often the key to getting in the media. Imaginative, visual stunts will attract media attention and you can use the resulting press coverage to get the campaign message across. If you’re doing a creative, mass petition, this would be a good story for the press, particularly if it’s visual and attracts lots of people.
The Press Release
To be effective, a press release needs a certain format. We’ve produced a model press release that you can adapt to your action. The key points to remember are:
Give it a snappy title.
Use the first paragraph to outline the whole story in brief. Who is doing what, when, where, why and how?
Expand in the second (and maybe a third) paragraph, with extra layers of information in decreasing order of importance. The body of the press release should be structured just like a news story, so that it can be cut from the bottom always leaving the main story intact.
Stick in a quote from a group spokesperson. The print press will often use this in their story, so make it count. Keep it short and punchy.
Your press release should be easy to read (use at least size 11 font) and fit onto a side of A4. Notes to the Editor can be included on a second page.
Email or fax your press release to the relevant contacts.
After your action
Follow up!! Don’t just assume that the story will make it. Ring the people you’ve sent the press release to and check that it’s arrived. This is your excuse to let them know how great the story is — and how exciting the action is going to be.
If you don’t get anyone from the media at the action, don’t despair. Press release it again afterwards and make sure you take good pictures yourselves. Send the photos with the press release if you´re targeting printed media - good pictures will make the story more likely to get in!
Download the template press release and adapt it for your own action.
See the People & Planet groups guide for more advice and tips on using the media.