TOPICS:
What is news?
If You Have News
The Press Release
Plenty of Notice Helps
Submitting Photos
Saving Stamps
Even for newspeople, defining the word “news” is difficult, but it usually has these elements:
Timeliness — The news value of an event diminishes with time. How fast it diminishes depends on other factors. The names of newly elected officers of your organization could remain “fresh” news even a week or 10 days after the election. But the vote at the city council meeting would not be fresh a week after the decision. We need your news as soon as possible.
Interest — The news value of a story depends on the interest among those in the readership area. The Star News is purchased by over 6,500 people each week and has more than 19,800 readers. The more readers who will be interested in a story, the more newsworthy it is. In general, we especially want to know about news events that will be of interest to those outside your organization.
Proximity — Just because something is local doesn’t mean it is news. However, proximity is a consideration. A public event in Medford, Stetsonville, Rib Lake or Gilman could have more news value than a similar event in Wausau or Eau Claire. The more total people involved or interested, the greater its news value.
Names (sometimes) — A long list of people who attended an event is not news any more than a page out of the telephone book is news. However, a list of names of people who won awards at the county fair, for example, is news. A key element is accomplishment, not activity.
Most organizations’ news can be handled as a press release. We ask that the information be submitted in writing — either mailed, dropped off or e-mailed — rather than through a telephone call, for three reasons:
1. Accuracy is improved when the information is in writing. We suggest the material be typed or printed legibly. Over the telephone, some information — especially name spellings, when an “f” could sound like an “s” — could be misunderstood and appear in The Star News incorrectly.
2. Your telephone call could come when a reporter is unavailable or unable to give the full attention your news item deserves.
3. Most press releases are rewritten by our staff members during non-deadline periods. That time varies from day to day and it’s best to have the information at hand when the staffers’ schedules open up.
Here are some basic tips for preparing information for your organization’s news:
1. Keep it simple — If the thought of writing for publication makes you tremble, don’t panic. We want facts, not prize-winning prose. If you’d prefer, simply list or outline the information and leave the writing to us.
2. Be complete — All press releases should include: WHO (for example, the organization or individual), WHAT (event or honor), WHEN (date and time of day), WHERE (include address), WHY (purpose of the event or award), OTHER NEEDED DETAILS and the name and telephone number(s) of the publicity director. In most cases, it may help to have a one sentence description of your organization, particularly if the name of the organization is not well known or not self-explanatory.
3. Be accurate — Please TYPE or PRINT the information.
Handwriting, especially of names, can be easily misread. Please read and reread your release before you send it. Are all the facts included? Are the names spelled correctly? (We suggest providing given names — for example Mary Jones instead of Mrs. John Jones.) Are the titles and addresses current? This is not the time for guesswork. We also ask that you avoid acronyms and jargon, while you may know what a term means another reader may not.
4. Be timely — We cannot guarantee publication of any press release on a certain date. The timeliness and competitive nature of news won’t allow guarantees. However, we will try to coordinate publication dates with your publicity schedules when necessary and practical. If an especially big news event involving your organization occurs, we would like that information as soon as possible. Please call us for advice on how to proceed; we may want to take the information over the phone for the next issue.
5. Be specific — Rather than reporting that “many people attended the fundraiser” we would like you to report the actual number. Words such as “many,” “recent,” “often” or “few” should be replaced by the specific fact.
6. Keep a record — Keep a copy of press releases sent to The Star News. It could be a benefit to the next publicity director, or to us if we should happen to misplace the original.
In arranging for coverage for advance news stories, it’s best to contact us at least a week before you’d like the first news item to appear. Two weeks or more notice is better. That way we can discuss plans with you — so everyone knows what to expect — and assign our staff members.
For major events, it’s better to contact us even further in advance. Some organizers give us a call months ahead of time so we can place their events on our planning calendar.
If you are unsure when to call, remember it’s much better to contact us “too early” than too late.
Photos may be submitted either in hard copy or digitally. Sorry, because of the poor reproduction quality we cannot accept computer print-outs of digital images. Because of poor reproduction ability, submission of Polaroid photographs is also discouraged.
If sending a photograph via e-mail please follow these steps:
1. Send picture image file by itself as an attachment NOT as part of another document or in a word processing document.
2. Always save as a JPEG format. File extension should be “.jpg”
3. Use the highest resolution setting available.
4. Scanned photographs should be at a resolution of 171 or 190 dots per inch (dpi).
5. Logos and line art can be scanned at a higher resolution (at least 300 dpi).
We use Adobe Photoshop.*
Please contact The Star News for more information on submitting photos.
Some folks prefer to hand-deliver, e-mail, or fax their press releases. The Star News’ public entrance is at 116 S. Wisconsin Street, Medford. View a map of our location. Our office is open from 8 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you need only to drop off your press release, you have no questions for the news department, you may give it to the receptionist during office hours or, when the office is closed, leave it in our news drop box outside the front door. The box is checked periodically throughout the work day. Please include the name and phone number of a contact person on the press release.
Press releases may also be e-mailed to the attention of the newsroom at starnews@centralwinews.com. Because of the number of different word processing programs used, we ask that releases be included in the text of the e-mail message. Our fax number is (715) 748-2699.
Again, please include the name and phone number of a contact person on the press release. We cannot print letters to the editor without this information.
