Wed, 18 Feb 2004 -- Media Matters No. 42
Using local television news coverage for dissemination

Most of our "Media Matters" have focused on getting national publicity, and most of them have focused on print media -- newspapers and magazines. Articles in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today are great for reaching national policymakers and people who influence program decisions. But if your organization is trying to reach ordinary folks -- or if you have research findings to disseminate that will better the lives of consumers in your own community, one of the best and surest ways to reach them is through your local newscasts.

Local TV is the number one news source for most Americans. And the surest way for your research findings to get local TV news coverage is to tailor it for TV -- making it easy for TV to cover.

Once again, we are indebted to Fenton Communications for the following tips:

-- Make sure you focus on the local angle. If your research concerns voting patterns of people with disabilities, focus on how those findings break down locally. Your release might be headlined like this: "XXX Organization Finds Voters with Disabilities Locally Above National Average in Casting Absentee Ballots." The local angle is the key. Even if the finding isn't the most important finding in your research, focus on that local angle if you want local TV news to cover it.

And, if you can provide a few local people willing to talk about their experiences with problems in voting, so much the better.

-- Provide video footage for local broadcasts to run in the background with their voice-over (in TV newsspeak, this is called "B-roll.") A few minutes' worth of video of people in wheelchairs trying to get into a local polling site, but finding stairs blocking the way, would work well with the news angle suggested above.

-- Hold a local news conference and be sure local TV news knows about it. Alert them to the fact that you can also provide them with "B-roll." Television news, which must have images, relies on local news conferences to provide the quotes for the story. Be sure to have a press statement to hand out to reporters before the news conference. They will work from it as they edit their film clips into a story for that evening's local news broadcast.

-- If your local angle is part of a wider national study or part of findings pertaining to individuals nationwide, say so. If there are national spokespersons you can use to get one or two minutes' worth of video making a statement about the issue, it's even better.

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