As we wrote in the original Indivisible Guide, Members of Congress (MoC) care enormously about maintaining a good image in their hometown media. They want to appear in-touch, well-liked and competent. They want to highlight their work on certain policy issues whenever possible—and they’d never talk about some policy issues at all, if they had their way! Splashy cable TV shows are nice, but local media really is where a MoC’s career lives and dies, and where their legacy matters most.
When your Indivisible group holds events that get the local media’s attention, it puts a unique pressure on your MoC. No coverage is too small. Because of the magic of Google Alerts, whenever a media outlet mentions an MoC, their staff hears about it right away, like a mythical creature in a movie that’s summoned by the mention of its name. Local media coverage forces your MoC and their staff to spend time reckoning with your issues and your stories.
Plan an Indivisible Event That’s Media-Friendly
As your group plans its event, here are some things to keep in mind that can help make it more likely to get media coverage.
- Timeliness: Is your event focused on a topic that’s hot in the news right now? If not, can it be connected with an anniversary, holiday, or other event that journalists will be interested in?
- Visuals and audio: What would a TV camera see at your event? What can you do to make it visually interesting and grabby? What would a radio reporter capture?
- Scheduling: Will it be easy for media to make it? Typically, reporters will be available mid-morning and early afternoon. 5:00pm on weekdays is hard for print journalists because they’re finishing stories on deadlines. Are you competing with any big local events on the calendar? Your group will need to balance these considerations with other factors, of course, like finding a time that makes it easy for your members to turn out.
Invite Media to Your Indivisible Event
- Make sure your media list is in good shape. A media list is your group’s running list of media contacts: four local TV affiliates, one or two local radio stations, the political reporters at your local newspapers, notable bloggers, and the AP Daybook. Consider Spanish-language media outlets too. For help putting this together, see our Group Leader Toolkit. Make sure you’re following these contacts on Twitter and connecting with them there, too.
- Write a media advisory. A media advisory is essentially an invitation for members of the press to attend your event. It’s shorter than a press release (one-two paragraphs) and covers the basics of your event: Who, What, Where, When and Why. Examples here.
- Send your media advisory to your media list—then, follow up. Sending your advisory to the right people with a compelling subject line is the first step. But, reporters’ inboxes get flooded with advisories every day. The critical next step is “pitching” your event—following up to make sure the right information gets seen by the right people at the right time. There’s a routine to this, if you can make time do it. See example below:
- TV newsrooms have two meetings a day to decide where cameras will be sent, one around 8:00am or 8:30am, and one around 3:00pm. The producers who make these decisions start with a “daybook,” or calendar of options, which is put together by the Assignment Desk at each station. Your goal is to make sure you’re in the daybook.
- Newspaper reporters generally have a big weekly meeting, and also run ideas for stories by their editors throughout the week. They need plenty of lead time in order to fit your event into a busy schedule.
- Immediately after your event, send out photos and video and follow up. Post good photos and video to social media, tagging journalists. Consider posting a summary on a public Facebook page, and sending that around to your list. Consider sending out a press release: four-five short paragraphs featuring quotes from key participants/organizers. Examples here.
Example Pitching Strategy
Let’s say your group has planned a citizens’ town hall event at 3:00pm on a Tuesday.
This is what a full schedule of outreach to media outlets might look like. This could be a good strategy to deploy for your most important events. We know that for many of your events, you will likely need to do a lighter version of below given all the demands on your time.
- As soon as the event is confirmed: email a quick heads up to the main reporters you’re in touch with with, so they can put it on their calendars with plenty of time.
- The Friday morning before: email the full details of the event to the print reporters on your list. (This might be your media advisory with a personal note at the top.)
- Monday morning, 10:00am or 11:00am: send your media advisory to TV and radio stations. (If you send it out more than 36 hours in advance, stations will likely forget it.)
- Monday at 12:00pm or 12:30pm: call stations, ask for the Assignment Desk, and confirm that they received your advisory and put it in the stations daybook/assignment book. You’re not asking them if they are covering the event (they won’t know yet.) You’re making sure your event is on the list of events they’ll consider that day. This step is critical.
- Monday before 2:00pm or 3:00pm: call or email print reporters to check if they can make it.
- Monday at 4:00pm: call back to check if stations are planning to attend.
- Tuesday afternoon: 60-75 minutes prior to your event start time, call the stations back and see if they are going to be able to cover. This may seem like cutting it close, but stations often don't make the final call on where cameras will be sent until the last minute.
- At the event: Introduce yourself to the reporters present as the press point of contact for your Indivisible group. Offer for them to talk to someone with a compelling story relevant to the event. Make sure to get their contact information if you don’t already have it. Check with them at the end of the event to see if they have any questions or need information.
- Tuesday Evening: Follow-up. Reach out to the reporters who showed up and see if they need any details, like the spelling of a spokesperson’s name, details about attendance, or your response to anything the MoC may have said in the aftermath of your event. Also, keep your eye for stories that air or are published about your event. If you like the piece, post it to your social media accounts and tag the reporter to ensure its seen far and wide.
Help! We Had a Great Indivisible Event, but No Media Came
No matter how well prepared you are, sometimes not one reporter makes it to an event in person. You could have a spectacular rally planned, but unexpected breaking news pulls media away to other things. Here are some ways to make sure a great event still has an impact:
- Send photos to reporters and photo editors at local papers and TV stations as soon as possible. If you have links to compelling, short videos, then consider sharing those as well. Reporters may be glad to have and promote these on their social media accounts, even if they don’t write a full story.
- Send a press release around that includes the contact info of some of the event’s notable participants. Let reporters know when they would be available to give interviews.
- Tweet at reporters again. Example: “.@reporter I was at Rep. Smith’s town hall in Springfield today. Large group asked about Medicare privatization. I have video & happy to chat.”
- Share everything. Post pictures, video, your own thoughts about the event, etc., to social media afterward. Tag the media outlets, reporters, and the MoC’s office and encourage others to share widely.
- Keep a good archive of photos and video. You never know when something might be newsworthy in future. This is particularly true for footage of your MoC: a clip from a town hall of them making a statement that they later “flip-flopped” on could help make news weeks later.
- Send your stories/pictures/videos our way. Email us at stories@indivisibleguide.com. We can often help boost the signal on your work on social media and circulate good stories to reporters.
Tips on Working with Local Media
Different kinds of journalists have different schedules and different needs. All of them are working with tight deadlines and less resources than they used to. Maintaining good long-term relationships with reporters will help your group make its message heard.