Working with the Media Writing for the Media Training
Webinar
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
History of American Journalism The abridged version 1690: First
newspaper printed in America (Bostons Publick Occurrences) 1791:
First Amendment protects freedom of speech 1827: First political
correspondents sent to Washington 1846: First news stories
delivered by telegraph, Associated Press founded 1861: Rise of
inverted pyramid when Civil War armies cut telegraph lines 1898:
Yellow Journalism hits peak, shifts focus from hard news to
editorial 1920: First radio news broadcast, daily newspaper numbers
begin to fall 1930: First television news broadcast, print
circulation falls again 1972: Woodward and Bernstein write first
Watergate stories 1980: First online newspaper published, print
circulation falls again 1994: Fist online news-sharing services
(Yahoo! and GeoCities) founded Today: Digital news publications
continue to increase in popularity
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Everything I Need to Know General News Writing Letter of
Introduction Media Advisory Press Release Opinion Editorial (Op-Ed)
Letter to the Editor (LTE)
www.nahu.org/media/tools/training/guides/MediaGuide.pdf I learned
in Comm211: Writing for Communications
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
The Inverted Pyramid A nonlinear approach to news writing
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Establishing Your Lead Find your selling point Who am I writing
for? Is this topic clear enough for anyone to understand? Is it
specific enough for one article? How strong is my
topic/thesis?
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Everything that Follows After youve hooked your reader Picking your
main points, or strength in writing stems from a strong outline
Your call to action, or what you leave behind
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Making First Contact Introduce yourself to local media Contact a
reporter by: Sending an email Making a phone call Introducing
yourself at an event Networking through a friend Have a specific
purpose or pitch Dont: Send snail-mail or fax Just drop by Let a
month go by without contact
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Making First Contact Write a letter of introduction
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
The Proactive Approach Header/logo Who, What, When, Where, Why
bullets An agenda of activities open to the public and the media
Contact information A boilerplate Invite the media with a media
advisory
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
The Proactive Approach Distribute a media advisory
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
The Passive Approach A crisp headline that captures the significant
news An introductory paragraph that leads with the most newsworthy
information Several paragraphs that describe the news and its
relevancy in more detail At least one quotation from a credible
spokesperson (preferably local) A closing paragraph known as the
"boilerplate" that clearly identifies the company or organization
issuing the release The date and city from which it is being issued
and a contact name and number Give the details with a press
release
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
The Passive Approach Distribute a press release
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Everyone Has an Opinion Pick a topic that is timely and important
to you Know your audience Get your contact information right Look
up submission guidelines Turn to NAHU for help Formulate your
opinion piece
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
The Big Picture Addresses a large, communal concern or current
event Sometimes written by the invited of the editor Usually
between 400 and 500 words What is an op-ed?
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
The Op-Ed Introductionemotionally driven Thesis (or claim)a strong
statement Concessionwilling to look at both sides of the issue
Supportthe facts Planhow to solve a problem Call to actionwhat
readers can do Organization is key
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
A Community Forum Respond to pieces previously published Address a
specific claim in an article or editorial Between 150 and 200 words
What is an LTE?
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
The LTE 1.Introduction and claim 2.Support 3.Restate your claim
Three paragraphs make a point
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Formatting for Print 1.Type a single space at the end of a
sentence. 2.Use rhetorical questions sparingly, if ever. 3.Avoid
exclamation points. 4.Write in plain font. 5.Remove quotation marks
from phrases you wish to emphasize. 6.Dont indent points or lists.
7.Include a word-count directly under your title and byline. 8.Keep
your paragraphs short. 9.Delete transitional phrases. 10.Spell out
numbers below 10, numerate numbers between 10 and 999,999, and use
a combination for 1 million and above. Ten simple ways to look like
a pro
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
When All Else Fails Use one of NAHUs templates
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Brokers Making a Difference Visit www.BrokersMakingaDifference.org
to find out what consumers are saying about the difference you
make.BrokersMakingaDifference Send all stories to [email protected]
and encourage your clients to submit as [email protected] We
greatly appreciate you for helping us reach our goal and your
wonderful support of NAHU! A no-pressure, high-impact writing
exercise
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2011, National Association of Health Underwriters www.nahu.org
Writing Resources Media Kits: writing templates organized by topic,
type and for chaptersMedia Kits "How To" Media Guide for NAHU
Members: training manual with detailed information on working with
media"How To" Media Guide for NAHU Members Webinars: past Working
with the Media training sessionsWebinars Media Tools Video: an
eight-minute guide to media resources available on our websiteMedia
Tools Video NAHU PR Staff: we work full time to help youNAHU PR
Staff Let NAHU help!