Welcome to PRU - High Tech - High Touch! Our first speaker is WINK-TV reporter Judd Cribbs, a perennial favorite in Southwest Florida. He's telling us about "the file", where all the press releases, notices, etc. are kept. They get over 1,000 emails a day! And about 20 reporters have access to it, to spread the work around!
So Judd is about to tell us how to get through "the clutter"....
Building the relationship is still important, it can be as simple as a phone call saying "Hi, I'm Jane Smith and I'll be sending you press releases about Company XYZ".
Must grab TV reporters' attention and QUICKLY. "News organizations have about 6 seconds to get the viewers' attention, and you have about the same amount of time to get ours!"
DON'T bury the lead! If your story is about 28 elephants walking down the street, make sure that's in the first paragraph.
Story angle: Make sure you're clear on the story angle in the press release. Remember that stories for TV must have a visual angle.
Looonnnggg press releases will be ignored, there's just not enough time to sift through them.
When you're writing/pitching, think about the viewers - who will care and why.
Don't tax the reporters' "mental energy units"! Write in "people terms". For example "members of law enforcement" = "cops"!
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