The story of how a reporter *got* the story matters in media relations
Media relations professionals who work for a company that appreciates the value of publicity will sometimes face a drawback to that enthusiasm: Company leaders want to blast every story you have to tell via press release because they are so eager to inform customers, prospects and industry peers about the great work they are doing.
Press-release-first is not always the right strategy, of course. Most of the time, media relations shouldn’t be the first step in telling the story anyway. The characteristics of the story and the goals you want to accomplish with that story are major factors in determining the tactics for each stage of your storytelling.
Key Points
Every story needs its own storytelling plan.
Reporters want to put the pieces together themselves, not receive a finished puzzle.
The same principles apply in reverse to news you want to downplay.
In the second post in the series Inside Media Minds, let’s examine the psychology of reporters and editors as they decide how much time to devote to reporting on a story, how much space to give it, whether it merits additional forms of coverage (e.g., a podcast or video) and how prominently to publish the story.
Psychology of discovery
Everyone likes to take ownership credit for (good) ideas, and reporters are no exception. Reporters love the feeling of piecing together disparate strands of information into a story. It is how a reporter demonstrates mastery of her subject. I touched on this in a very specific context last year, when I wrote about Epic Systems Corp. founder and CEO Judy Faulkner’s attempts at HIMSS19 to counter the narrative that electronic health records drive physician burnout.
Another psychological consideration: People like to avoid uncomfortable questions. Once a reporter has an idea, she has to convince an editor to give her a green light to pursue the story.
Imagine these two answers to the question, “Where did you get this story idea from?”
The flack from Company Z called about some announcement. As we were talking, he also mentioned that he read my coverage of (topic). He said the company works a lot on (topic), so I asked him to elaborate. Then I was able to connect what he was talking about to a study I wrote about, and I asked to interview his expert.
I’ve been wanting to write about (topic) for a while, collecting research and potential sources. The flack from Company Z sent me an article about a study the company was part of. It’s a great match for this story, so I set up an interview with her expert. What I learned from that interview opened up a lot of new areas to explore.
Versus
I got a press release on (topic).
Use psychology to evaluate bad publicity risk
Consider the psychology of the newsroom when playing defense, too. When you are trying to minimize the coverage, your organization may benefit from putting the information out widely. It lowers the incentive for any one reporter to devote time to it or any one outlet to give it prominent play.
The calculation is easier when you are certain the news will leak out anyway. Then, you face a trade-off: a guaranteed, widely reported one-day story versus a steady drip of coverage that leaves open the possibility of momentum building in the story, spearheaded perhaps by a news outlet that gives your organization a tough time in most cases.
The critical role media relations professionals play in these situations is to estimate the likelihood of a leak:
Ask leaders involved with the decision whether it triggers filings with government agencies. Layoffs sometimes require a WARN Act filing. In regulated industries, many operational decisions require regulatory notices, e.g., to close a hospital or service line.
Ask about visible impacts — will this situation bring state inspectors to your facility? Will regulators require you to stop offering a product or service?
Does this situation involve a very prominent person? The classic example in healthcare is a well-known physician.
Consider your employees, too. Has there been a pattern of leaking internal memos? What is the current mood among employees regarding management?
Breaking the news yourself can take some of the sting out, and it gives you the opportunity to time the communications to your advantage. Rather than a press release, you may choose to provide the internal memo to a couple of reporters that you are cultivating for long-term relationships. Think of the story they will tell their editors if you provided it versus if one of your employees leaked it to them.
Each story deserves its own storytelling plan, starting with owned communication channels like your website and email newsletter. When it’s time to deploy media relations, find the reporter who wants to tell stories like this and then provide all the informative, compelling pieces you can find.
Are you trying to get inside the minds of reporters? Send me your ideas for future articles in this series. And sign up for Coverage Report, my monthly newsletter on health media and PR.
Illustration by Clker-Free-Vector-Images via Pixabay