Five Tips for Securing Television Coverage

Have you ever wondered why certain things make television news and others seem to be ignored? We all do—even those of us who work with the news media every day.  It’s like a mystery to solve and only the assignment desk editor has the key to the answer. Sometimes, it’s sheer luck and other times it’s because you’ve put together a great story idea for them. Or, it’s a bit of both as I’ve found in my career. 

As the corporate communications representative covering the workplace wellness “beat” within my organization (a health insurance company), I usually looked for a person to help tell the value of our various wellness offerings.  That meant I spent time identifying someone willing to share their own personal story of a health challenge and how a wellness program helped them achieve success or reach a milestone.

One day, my internal contact who oversaw the employee wellness program, shared that she was looking to redesign the stairwells in the office building as a way to encourage more employees to take the stairs. A real feat considering most employees had no qualms waiting in line for an elevator during the busy lunch hour to go down. ONE floor.

As we talked through her plans to create an event and an experience, I thought, maybe, just maybe this lunchtime event would be newsworthy. I didn’t have high hopes, but it was my job to tell as many good stories about our company as I could, so why not? 

To my delight, that sunny afternoon, three television stations showed up at our corporate office to film people walking up and down stairs. Up. Down. Up. Down. You just never know…

In 20 years of working in this business, it never ceases to amaze me about what does or doesn’t make the news. There are absolutely no guarantees when it comes to getting media interest in a story you’re pitching, but there are a few things that might increase chances for coverage. 

1. Tie your event or source to a larger idea. At the time of the stairs story (late 90s), wellness in the workplace was a somewhat novel idea. Not many people understood exactly what “workplace wellness” meant and this was a way to bring it to life.
2. Offer up sources in addition to your own. Most reporters want to provide the full story and that means interviewing multiple people. While you’d love the story to be all about you/your company, it isn’t very realistic. As one reporter said to me recently when referring to another company that had contacted her, “I’m not in the advertising business.” She’s right. She’s a journalist. Help her do her job by offering sources to comment on other aspects of the story. You don’t have to suggest your competitor, but perhaps you have a professional ally or advocate that can discuss another angle of the story.
3. Provide visuals. A great story can be told and Make sure what you are pitching has compelling visual elements as well. For television news, you may have heard it referred to as b-roll. This is the supplementing video or images used in a story. Think through what will help tell your story—in the example above, it was employees walking in stairwells, the images hung on the walls, and the activities we had going on as part of this event. So, while they interviewed our wellness professional who organized the event (the expert) they used video of the employees walking, etc. to play in the background. It sounds simple and basic, but if you don’t understand how a news story is put together, you will forever be perplexed as to why you aren’t getting interest in your stories.
4. Consider the timing. There is no magic time to host an event for which you want the media to attend, but taking into account when they have photographers available is a good way to begin. Avoid planning an event during these times if you can:
   1. During a newscast.
   2. During shift changes. (This varies by station. Call to find out.)
   3. Sundays or holidays. (There are always exceptions depending upon your topic, its location or who is involved.)
5. Accommodate the media. Make it easy for them to cover your event:
   1. Easy access, simple parking accomodations
   2. Not too far away from the station
   3. Away from excessive external noise
   4. Offer multiple interview opportunities
   5. Have a media check in space and provide a press kit to help them put the story together when they get back to the station. This would include a list of speakers, an overview of the event, pertinent facts and figures, etc.

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Photo credit: Pixabay