Presenters
Tim Goral, University Business
Mary Beth Marklein, USA Today
Ronald Roach, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
Tim talked about the content they are looking for -- what helps presidents and administration tackle higher ed challenges
Interested in ...
Note: Presenters agreed that finding media contacts online was difficult on many college websites.
Ronald Roach is interested in...diversity and underrepresented with
Mary Beth gave a quick overview but more tips...
Be honest and open when pitching
If we just wrote a story on x we are not going to do another story on x anytime soon
Rarely will president or campus be the focus of the story
Need stories about places and people
Looking for how our campus fits into a national trend-or bucks it
Likes to "dispense with pleasantries" when relationships have already been established and she can contact expert quickly for good quotes
Mary Beth tweets some and has used twitter to find sources. Most reportes use twitter for data mining but Menachem welcomes users to pitch him on twitter and FB
Mary Beth hangs on to her emails and searches them by topics.
She says they are paying closer attention to Gannett papers than 5 years ago
Blog content often fuels story ideas.
Mary Beth uses ProfNet a lot more than in the past. She asks that responses to her ProfNet query say "ProfNet" in the subject line. She responded to a questions that she doesn't mind if people respond both through ProfNet and the email she provides in her query.
She had never heard of HARO or Vocus...several reporters hadn't
Ronald Roach uses PRnewswire
One school mentioned they are doing blogs with faculty experts where news reporters can grab and quotes but reporters said for this to be worth the time it would need superior SEO