Gaining Coverage

Presenters
Cutis Carlson, Nebraska (Kearny)
David Jarmul, Duke

Curt

Have to be flexible and nimble media relations
Institutions have distinct missions. Different sets of media opportunities and challenges. Understand your mission. Start there!

Communicatioms officerole is to generate pride, support the university, maintain high moral and add value for the institution.

Curt suggests organizing a public relations advisory council that meets quarterly. He will share the model he used at three different institutions. Have to email him for that.

Dos and donts

institutions strategic plan to plan media relations

Work to understand culture and environment--what works in one place usually can't be transferred to another institution

Build media relationships everyday

Don't abandon all news releases. Small town papers print news releases verbatim

Don't hesitate to describe your university's strengths, mission and goals

Highlight faculty and students -- tells human side of the story

Celebrate atheletic accomplishments at university level

More tips but nothing new or surprising.

David

David's presentation involved showing the different parts of Duke's website. He has a good handle on what content is going on which sites and why.

Stories that make national media are not usually about what dean wants...what dean or boss wants does not equal what news media are looking for. Challenge is to figure out the middle -- keeping both sides happy

News tips
Pitch people early for stories....look online for news tips. Anticipate news. Duke has a nice site for press releases that David says has led to media hits.

It works. No magic. If you have the right person with something good to say people will be interested in it. Reporters have a beast to feed.

Duke homepage. News by topic combine external and internal stories...powered by rss each dept stream in own content.

All news on Duke Today.

News releases. Still important. Restrict them to things that genuinely have a shot at appearing in tomorrows news or television. "I won't allow news releases to go out to satisfy internal needs. Want reporters to know news releases are genuinely important. News media will pay attention if you provide real news."

Fellowships grants, etc. are not usually news - find a way to deal with that, Professional news site.

Photos videos important for news outlets good photos help pickup.
Info graphics go viral.

Video to supplement story. Student led interviews.

Opinion sections offer opportunity for national placement. Put a lot of effort into op ed market do this with students too.

Social Media

Blog. iTunesU and YouTube. Duke on Demand. Duke version of Hulu

Storify professors live tweeting during president Obama's speech. (Cool idea provided enough faculty from different areas are willing to participate)

Mobile presence

Build behind the scenes. Provide resources for faculty, media trainings, training on how to write op ed, how to use social media. "We have a responsibility to faculty."

Duke has a policy that news releases must be distributed by the media office to control the quality of what reporters are receiving.