Students will learn the important role that building relationships with reporters plays in getting stories about their businesses publicized, as well as the techniques they should use when dealing with the media. Students will also learn how and when to address the media, which will include information about understanding reporters' deadlines and the varying focuses of certain trade publications and/or newspapers and broadcast media.
Objectives
Students will introduce themselves by telling the instructor and their classmates a little about themselves as well as what they hope to gain from taking this course.
Students will identify stories that they would like to publicize and will identify the risks involved with releasing their story ideas to the media. Students will identify which media outlets they would like to utilize.
Students will prepare themselves for answering the media's questions. After completing this lesson, students should not be caught off guard by any questions related to their story pitches.
Students will build relationships with three to four members of the media and submit story pitches to those media representatives. Students will write press releases and submit their releases to various mediums. The overall objective here is to get a story published or aired.
Book
The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law
Copy: Published in 2000 or more recent
Publisher: Perseus Publishing
Lesson 1: Getting to know you?
No reading required for this lesson
Lesson 2: Identifying a newsworthy event or issue affecting your business
No required reading from the book for this lesson.
Lesson 3: Preparing yourself for the hard questions
No required reading from the book for this lesson.
Lesson 4: The importance of relationship-building
You will need to refer to your AP Stylebook for the correct way to abbreviate certain words and how to use numbers and dates for the writing of your press releases. Everything may be looked up in the stylebook as it would in the dictionary. Use this as a reference.
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